TORGIANO, Italy — The Prada Group is expanding its production footprint in Italy, including dozens of new jobs at its knitwear factory in Umbria, leaning towards “Made in Italy” as an integral part of the brand ethos and developing new artisan talent to help the luxury group through a generational change. in your workforce.
Andrea Guerra, chief executive of Prada, who arrived last year as part of the generational change in leadership of the Prada family business, said at the opening of the expanded plant on Tuesday that the company is investing 60 million euros (65 million dollars) in production this year.
In Torgiano, Prada has added 30 new jobs this year, along with 65 last year, bringing the workforce to about 220 employees, mostly women, to create knitwear for the Prada and Miu Miu brands, a category key for the group. The site had only 39 employees when Prada bought it in 2001.
“For many years, Torgiano was a small and important place, linked to the tradition of Umbrian knitting,” dedicated mainly to research and product development, Guerra said. “In the last six or seven years, with the extraordinary growth of knitwear, we decided to create a comprehensive industrial center,” adding production to a reinforced R.&Center D.
The innocuous ground floor, identified by a simple, small Prada plaque near the door, is at the heart of a network that includes dozens of smaller companies that together create some 30,000 knitwear pieces a month for the global luxury group. They include cute red crochet Miu Miu culottes and soft gray Prada cardigans that have become a trademark.
Guerra described the Milan-based fashion group’s manufacturing footprint in central Italy as a “network of smart relationships and craftsmanship fused with a constant ability to bring innovation to the market.”
Prada’s investments to exert greater control over its supply chain were highlighted in the context of a recent investigation that revealed exploitative labor conditions in Chinese-owned factories producing luxury goods for other Italian brands in the Lombardy region, where Milan is located, the capital of Italian fashion. Giorgio Armani’s production division has been placed under receivership as part of an ongoing supply chain investigation.
Prada has focused on what it calls vertical integration of its supply chain: working with smaller companies, some with just a handful of artisans, that provide specific, sometimes unique skills. For its knitwear operation, Prada works with about 60 smaller companies that it refers to as “partners” or “collaborators.”
“Contractors, subcontractors, that is not something linked to this world. There are production phases that are assigned to our collaborators, to our partners,” Guerra said, adding: “The way I work inside and the way I work outside has to be the same.”
Lorenzo Bertelli, marketing director and head of corporate social responsibility who will take over the company from his parents Patrizio Bertelli and Miuccia Prada, said strong governance is the key to avoiding “such incidents.” He credited his father with starting Prada on the path to integrating its supply chain in the 1990s.
Supplier audits, which until now were voluntary, will be mandatory in 2025 under corporate sustainability reporting legislation aimed at reining in abuses, said Stefania Saviolo, a fashion and luxury expert at Milan’s Bocconi University. Publicly traded companies like Prada, which are used to some level of transparency and reporting, will probably have an easier time than others, she said.
Integrating the supply chain doesn’t just mean that a major player buys smaller companies, he said, but it can also invest in specific machinery or help them get bank financing. “It’s not about ownership, it’s a longer transaction following the partnership model,” Saviolo said, adding that such relationships also provide a sense of security to smaller companies more vulnerable to market downturns.
Noting that the luxury and fashion industries have long relied on third-party manufacturing, Bernstein global luxury goods analyst Luca Solca said Prada’s type of investments to integrate in-house manufacturing processes ” It’s kind of catching up with the best in the business.” class players in the industry.”
A key part of Prada’s investments aims to secure knowledge for the next generation, a transition that the company has also been preparing in its creative and management roles.
Finding new workers with experience and passion is difficult, even in a region where knitwear is part of local tradition, said Lorenzo Teodori, who runs the Torgiano plant.
To fill that gap, Prada runs an in-house academy as needed at its 23 Italian production sites to train young artisans. The next one in Torgiano will begin in the fall and experienced workers will train the next generation.
“Through the Prada Academy, we have seen how this dialogue is still alive and successful,” Bertelli said. “We need it to train the future technicians of tomorrow, who in turn will be the teachers of the future. “It is a fundamental cycle for our group.”