Chinese garment workshop

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Chinese garment workshop

The submerged tier of the textile supply chain

By Luca Zanussi

50mm f/6.3 1/50s ISO 220
Camera: Nikon Z 7II — NIKKOR Z 24-50mm f/4-6.3
Date: 2025-10-11
Italy's National Labour Inspectorate found irregularities in 80% of companies inspected in the fashion-textile sector in 2023, with widespread violations regarding working hours, pay, and safety.
On 1 December 2013 a fire in the 'Teresa Moda' workshop-dormitory in Prato killed seven Chinese workers trapped in the plasterboard cubicles where they both lived and sewed. The trial established undeclared work, illegal dormitories and systematic safety violations.
In Prato Chinatown is not a neighbourhood: it is a parallel production system, with its own rules, hours and hierarchies. It runs at the margins of the official city, where its rhythms remain unseen.