Gucci to check Chinese suppliers after TV exploitation charges

Italian fashion house Gucci said on Monday it would strengthen controls on its suppliers after a television program showed Chinese employees working more than three times their official hours to assemble its handbags.

The head of a Gucci subcontractor told an investigative program broadcast by RAI state television on Sunday that Gucci was aware it irregularly employed Chinese workers.

Aroldo Guidotti of subcontractor Mondo Libero (Free World) said the employees toiled away for as long as 14 hours a day, while they were supposed to work only for four hours, to assemble handbags that he sold to Gucci for EUR24 (USD29).