The Complexities of Luxury Branding

This week, senior fashion reporter Danny Parisi, editor-in-chief Jill Manoff and international reporter Zofia Zwieglinska talk about Victoria’s Secret’s earnings report and the expected impact of its three-day web outage due to a cyberattack on the company. We also talk about the mall brand Torrid closing down 180 stores, and discuss a lawsuit filed jointly by NBCUniversal and Disney over AI image generator Midjourney’s alleged copyright infringement.

Later in the episode (19:39), we talk about recent probes into the manufacturing practices of luxury brands like Dior. One probe, conducted by an Italian competition authority, found that Dior was sourcing products from workshops in Italy where underpaid immigrants worked in grueling conditions to create its handbags. These workers, some of whom were undocumented, worked long shifts, with energy signatures indicating that the workshops were running 24 hours a day. As part of a settlement, Dior agreed to pay $2.3 million over five years toward initiatives to reduce labor exploitation.

Both the probe and its settlement put a spotlight on some of the luxury industry’s open secrets.