The Milan-based high-fashion company that specialises in bags and accessories, is “considered incapable of preventing and stemming phenomena of labour exploitation within the production cycle,” a Milanese court order said.

Profits were allegedly maximised by using Chinese sweatshops and resorting to illegal and clandestine labour, said the receivership order.

An investigation has ascertained “a connection between the so-called world of luxury on the one hand and Chinese workshops on the other,” said the measure requested by prosecutor Paolo Storari.

“[The connection has] a single objective: cost cutting and profit maximisation through the circumvention of labour laws.”

ANSA