Always dreamed of luxury read a blend of the impossible elegance. Like this handbag for example who isnt. But luxury is also worth 300000000. 00 International Market wild Famous Brands who shops populate the most beautiful avenues of major capital cities. But behind the glamorous exterior all the villages is not gold. The back rooms of these luxury boutiques are hidden away on the other side of the outcomes in the heart of tuscany. Hundreds of supply is timing leather for world Famous Brands was subcontracting the lower employees are overworked or in this case i was. For joining our filming. We met some questionable bosses. Welcome to a rather chilling industry. We began our investigation on our home tough. To rule being in fronts we have paris. Paris we have fashion week. But of course you know all about fashion. Star studded hack talk shows. And some want to be stuck. With a no no no theme deal. Who chooses dental chic with little. Happy Smiling Faces at louie vito. But it wasnt really the clothes that stood out to us have you noticed what each of the models is carrying. Handbags of all shapes and sizes and at all prices starting at 1350. 00. And. Accessories a move popular than ever you only need to look at the figures. Take some of the major french brands for example we calculated the Sales Revenue from items such as handbags wallets and shoes. Leather goods here are the results. For gucci 74 percent of the brands total revenue. For each song alone 72 percent and 60 percent for half a mess. You get the picture. In the world of luxury goods leather means record breaking profits. But where does this luxurious leva come from according to our information most of this room material is tanned in italy we call up each tannery one by one it takes there are 700. 00 in total we are as the same question each time and time i was wondering which brands to share tannery work for. Ok and i dont. See anybody. But some of the companies do play bull and 700 phone calls later map of luxury supplies is starting to take shape. The phone calls have brought one surprising detail to our attention all of these tanneries and subcontract is located in one small area of tuscany just 36 square kilometers. Welcome to some to grow. And noticeably less glamorous world than the luxury catwalks of pounds. Worth as a not easily approachable. Clearly a rather secretive place. These are the luxury net the tanneries they generate over a 1000000000. 00 in revenue each year and employ over 7000. 00 people a small very profitable part of italy. We have been given permission to visit one of these tanneries its one of the largest in the region these embry tannery. Movie me is the owners right hand man he will be and he starts his off with the crown jewels the show room. Finished products sent from the let the district and animal skins printed pressed and sold by the square meter these will henceforth be used in major brands manufacture. Workshops to make handbags belts on shoes. That we have. I can say that we work or we have worked at some point he was with almost all of the Big International fashion houses. And so. Polo Ralph Lauren Tommy Hilfiger the Louis Vuitton group chloe. Its a bit of a morrow. Vini is as proud as a peacock. Christie just climbs happy employees a tannery that spic and span and state of the art equipment. Frankly we won over by our day adds up with. Except that here they only perform the final stages of the tanning process the rather more pleasant ones upstream theres a whole chain of subcontractors carrying out dozens of towns no thanks list tasks allow is to explain. At the start of its life a handbag looks like this next the cow skin must be removed with mountains of course salt poured on top of it to preserve it. Then the cowhides are sent to the tanneries to begin a long multistage process. During one of these stages they are put into a kind of cement mixer along with Hydrogen Sulfide to remove all the fur this is what produces the rotten egg smell that lingers throughout the area they are then transferred to these big drums and soaked with chromium salts to stop the decomposition process they are left out to dry. And then soaked again to self then read dried then soaked again. The details of the other 30 stages but they are rather unpleasant and quite painful now that youve understood the huge number of stages involved and the number of subcontractors needed lets go back to sam pre. Remember that the tannery claims to work for the l. V. M. H. Group and its luxury brand kenzo. L v m a the number one luxury goods conglomerate in the world has developed a fairly strict code of conduct. No illegal or undeclared. No excessive overtime a judy to provide workers with a safe environment to reduce the risk of accidents in the workplace. All of the luxury giants have codes of conduct just like this one that supposedly applied to their suppliers and any subcontractors hired by their suppliers it seems like everything is under control in the world of Luxury Fashion every link in the chain is squeaky clean. And so we continue on our journey into this in chanting world. Good news one of his our precept contract is term a plaque has agreed to let his visit. Meet the boss his name is fun so get. Someone. To. Tell black specializes in drawing animal skins large tanneries working for Luxury Brands such as sam pretty send then led to him. Each animal hides ways between 15 and 30 kilos work is carrying hundreds of them every day most of the employees here are senegalese. Advance of ghetto is not the only one hiring senegalese employees you only have to come to the leather district in the early hours of the morning to see the. Hundreds of unskilled workers whose job is in the luxury goods sector a fall from secure. This is what we are about to discover through the documents. In this brief case. Confidential data about the working conditions inside the tanneries 1st up temporary workers here are hundreds of short Term Contracts signed off by various companies. And thats not all an internal documents from the Occupational Health Care Department lists accidents at work by nationality. According to our calculations Foreign Workers are affected twice as much as italian workers. At the department of Occupational Health doctor is in charge of the tannery sector shes been fighting for Employee Health and safety for the past 15 years according to her there is a direct link between short Term Contracts and accidents at work. Which could have been i thought you are my everything i know workers are hired for a week day and hour at a time. And show now days for an tannery workers take these temporary not to mention carious contracts and lack working experience. Theyre much more likely to be victims of work related accidents. For the nice to go. So how is the issue of health and safety addressed at telmo plaque. All day workers are handling animal skins soaked in chemicals. Have fun together the perfect boss claims that he takes it upon himself to provide protective equipment. For the workers for you. Its not that we dont trust him but we feel we need to hear another. Suspect so under the pretext of exploring the frank tree we take the opportunity to ask a few questions filming without a hidden camera how long have you worked here. Ive been here a month i meant yeah ok and who gave you your protective equipment. I bought it myself as you bullshit its not given to you know see how many hours you work a day i work 13 hours a day 13 hours a day dont disturb him while hes working the bosss son has come to intervene. Let him get back to work. In a factory like this there is always a risk of accidents of pairing fortunately each machine has its own safety features the law demands it. We have there been any accidents for the vin a few small incidents but thats all mostly due to negligence or being a bit tired in the morning but nothing serious one already got. So youve never had any and hit asians no no im really very careful about safety issues of are we were i was in ways. Were finding it harder and harder to believe our fun together. After several days in santa croce we gained the trust of an xterm 0 plaque waka this man want to tell me a plank in 2000 volt and claims that the boss alfonso gedda would sometimes disable the safety mechanisms on the machines to increase productivity he lost 3 knuckles he agrees to talk to us as a witness provided he can remain anonymous. That day it was the 1st animal skin id ever worked on and i took it and put it inside the machine i pressed down on the pedals and the blade blocked. Groove so i turned it around put the skin back inside the machine. Pressed down on the pedals and it took my hand with it. Just like that. So. We may go. Live it got hold of my gloves and took off 3 of my knuckles. It was really tough shit. Cried all night long. To the doctor asked me what had happened. And the boss wanted to lie about it. He lied said it was Something Else do you. Buy a lot. And i said no it was the machine you go to see what excuse did he gave. You know he said that a plane had fallen on my fingers and that had cut my hand. So. We may check on foodie just 2 months after they had left. This is what they claim to have received a silly thing present a violent beating for having dead to demand payment. According to them this was the work of alfonso getta along with one of his sons. Monarchical them and we degree to meet here to collect our payment. But when we arrived fonso and one of his sons were here along with some others because there were 6 of them in total to be safe and so on. Just on you they had iron bars naives and everything like the attack to me and my friend to. Wonder when will they hit me over the head with an iron bar plus one of the federal. 40 in check reported the incident the very next day but alfonso get on and his son have still not been called in for investigation. The 2 young men claimed they were undeclared workers and were forced to work under grueling conditions in. A we were treated like animals we couldnt do anything we want even allowed to go to the toilet if we. Its a pizza shop and they told us to do it behind the machine we were working. And to be alice she works from 5 in the morning until midday and then started again from 1 pm until 7 pm 13 hours a day. Right to be sure into a ghetto doesnt pay the senegalese workers who are employed under him. Sometimes he doesnt pay them for 4 months at a time. Since our meeting with check in 40 of fence so ghana is said to have physically abused another one of his employees as far as we know he is still not being prosecuted. A few weeks later we go back to tamil plant to see the books however this time we are not so well received. Hisle phones their. Phones so its very how are you. How do you pay i told you not to fill me up but i thought we agreed no we didnt agree anything i mean. One of his sons quickly intervenes. And then another comes along despite the frosty reception. We attempt to ask about 40 and check. On the Little Friends in the woods is it all a little odd but is there no money for somebody if youve got somebody this is what you want to get if you do a lot of event only. And then back up to see to it. That was not. An impulse is arduous working conditions in the elegant world of Luxury Fashion week no 6. This. Fortunately its really has its labor inspectorate surely they must be on the case. The problem is that according to our information they dont tend to visit the tanneries area of ever since ricardo spello was appointed at the end of 2014 there has been a dramatic decline in the number of inspections in the lead the district since we only have one pressing issue to address here on out how that. They had iron bars knives and everything. They attacked me and my friend. Because you know look i dont know anything about this case i repeat as far as were concerned we dont know anything about it and you know institutionally in case of problems like these we have a Duty Inspector stuck was his own son was of course it does that mean that after today you arent going to do anything about it unless one of these young men who are attacked travel 30 miles to come and tell you about it in person if they have to. Go. In a mob but im convinced that the actions taken by this office i mean even though there is always room for improvement. They are more than sufficient to stop go fishing there are 3 fourths of prechristian features. Well if everythings just fine around here apologies for the inconvenience. And what about the contract in policy are there no sanctions for them is the model tannery claiming to work for l v m h aware of the violent acts allegedly committed by subcontractor because remember zambry and tamil plug work hand in hand we go back to meet me to question him about the behavior of this subcontractor. Do you still work with him a plug no no. Well were in the process of changing some things with our subcontractors. As we come to visit because he told me that youre responsible for yourself contract his is it that you hold them accountable we move it move or or yes were aware of the situation we do everything we can of course. It could be perceived as your but also there are some things how can i say this. Shouldnt you have to have this right to gauge that well yes of course we have to check that everythings going well. But its difficult to know if the employees have been paid or not you should it is. And in any case this they can make complaints to the police. To the factory inspectors try. To the authorities area is this which is that it would. Look to those at the end of the supply chain think about this situation we asked for an interview with the l v m h group but they refused we received email stating the following. With regards to ken so we barely see any sign in books of the company receiving a letter from the zambry tannery. Yet when we are sampling they maintain that this is one of them most important partnerships. Kenzo most definitely uses our leather and their products. In recent years we have made 567 annual shipments directly to kenzo. We have a longstanding working relationship. And its still ongoing yes. For at least the past 3 years people have been aware of the sorts of problems taking place in italian tanneries short Term Contracts accidents that work ever since one man brought these issues to light. He lives in the tuscan countryside an hours drive away from santa croce his name is francesco. He is the president of an italian and geo fighting for fair Labor Conditions for some of the poorest workers and has written a report called a tough story of lana. This report was authorized them funded by the European Commission. Its publication will no doubt provoke the wrath of many let the manufacturers. Almost say. They started to say that what we wrote was untrue but there were i dont know how many errors on the rowing the end they discredited our proport. Part. Of what they said it was obviously written by incompetent people who dont know anything about the sector. Theyre talking rubbish stupidity. A group of manufacturers and the European Commission to call in the authors of the report in spring 20162 meetings were organized in brussels. With one man at the helm Gustavo Gonzalez representing tons the european lead the lobby. Most of all there was the guy from photons who spoke on behalf of the Tanners Association. For he said this report must be taken out of circulation they think for good this suited us you know what was the European Commissions role the strange thing was that the European Commission didnt say ok ok lets see whos for. So really correct me now maybe they just took the Tanners Association side of. A report but by brussels that they themselves later rejected the European Commission one over by let alone it seems like this story is well worth the trip to belgium despite numerous email exchanges clinton says secretary general gonzales refused to meet with us so we decided to pay him a surprise visit. Hello mr gonzales yes i wanted to ask you some questions because were just shooting in santa croce this coming careful search gently but no violence please sir no violence do you also as you said well get on it by you know but im not being violent you know what you knocked over my camera man thats why im saying that you almost pushed me over. To you know thats not true what weve just come back from filming in santa croce that if you dont know you and weve witnessed large numbers of people working overtime undeclared workers accidents that havent been reported for you i know youre aware of this report tough story of mother. To me say it was published in 2016 and it highlights some of the unforeseen actresses in certain town reason around santa croce yet its states that twice as many immigrants have been victims of accidents at work than italian workers if you can i think this is acceptable. Because it 1st of all top story of leather report was discredited because it was spreading false Information Big news. You know it was based on occupational medicine statistics over a 5 year period one of their occupational medicine statistics over 5 years i can assure you thats not the case the 2nd is yes it is the case mr gonzales excuse me but according to these figures you seem to be basing your argument on something thats been discredited it was made up of fake news. This is not always but according to our information it has not been. Credited as you say it was actually you who tried to cover up this report could excuse me yes it was you who tried to cover it up no no all we did was reveal the truth behind the lies that were presented in the report. The former was because so is this statement a lie to you that during a 5 year period according to occupational medicine statistics twice as many immigrant workers were victims of occupational accidents than italian workers do you deny these statistics i dont think they are correct and if not why you dont think theyre correct is no no because they arent real statistics. That show you dispute the statistics but it was you yes or no demanded that the commission removed this report from the internet we yes because it is false as jim also it is false that twice as many immigrant workers are victims of occupational accidents than italian workers so we would need to verify that you dont know no no no youre elaborating the figures here i need to check to see if. Some tell me then what part of the report is false and there was a whole list of points presented to the commission. Such as i dont remember all the individual points that were made to prove the report was false. There must be one or 2 false things that you remember. Madam im getting old. Thats all goodbye. When it comes to big fashion houses and their leather getting on says is decidedly difficult. But what about for the other iconic luxury material. China is the worlds top producer if you really want to see what this industry looks like you need to go to dying. In the vast expanse of china dying. Is a very small town home 2100000 residents and 10000 businesses only 2 for. There are shopping malls full of fur coats. And slippers. There is the mink fur show room and most importantly we have the citys emblem the fox how ironic. You can also go to the market 3 times a month. Home over all tens of thousands of animal skins all different shapes and sizes. Colors all of the. Menu all bets racoons camp. At ridiculously low prices you look at your average look at the 1st one here is 25 you ones a piece you are not the best in the market you wont find any better for you the only. 25. 00 yuans thats just over 3. 00 per animal skin. In china 70000000. 00 animals are killed for their fur each year and Animal Welfare isnt the countrys top priority. She. Works for peta the world famous and geo best known for its crackdowns on phone. And back. This young activist is at the forefront of the fight against fur in china a country which is now peaches top priority. Going to have no actual diner say so its an animals are not protected irish there are no laws to control farming livestock and treasure ship finds. Also the whole of course there are other organizations like ours fighting against animal suffering they are. Because theres no longer we dont have an official spokesperson for the military these animals dont have any protection or rights that from when theyre farmed right up until when theyre carried out at us or some meat miracle. Can you describe be hey jim there i dont know if im clear with that tongue. Out to the animals urinate and defecate in their cages hides out some may develop skin diseases because theyre cooped up inside or some of them go crazy to the point where they attack each other. Weve seen bite marks on their skin from other animals cones of the trunk or alcohol or the kind of. The oil comment that as soon as you enter these farms you are hit by a foul smell its interesting go find it i flick can i just challenge and the way that you know just how in the past and nobody cleans the animals. Treats me. But which companies do these farms what food do major european brands use them. In this Luxury Fashion model in beijing theres plenty of choice of fur. Cuffs scarves all these strange looking fluff boards to be clipped on to bags. We had to mix mara and they tally in brand new 2600 stores worldwide. We even try on this lovely little jacket. Just whats this coat made of rubber for a question where was it made. You really dont know actually was. In china but with italian for. Italian 1st thats the 1st version we are told next the store manager comes over. But. Our 1st comes from a Certified Organization in denmark suffers. All of their fur is of good quality as its a Certified Organization each for has to be checked. And thats why their fur is so good. That we always work with them when they dont end up with the italian fur or rather the danish fur or maybe were not so sure anymore. I am. After leaving the mall we decided to go straight to the sils we email max maras Customer Service pretending to be a client and asked them directly this was their response we would like to inform you that our company is firmly committed to a process of continuous growth and improvement of our products regardless of where they are manufactured furthermore with regards to our fur we can confirm that we only source from certified suppliers. The answer is not very clear to move forward with our investigation we have no choice but to take a new approach. We head back to downing city following the trial of the max mara rabbit fur jacket. But this time we are posing as fashion designers weve even created a portfolio. From now on we will be filming discreetly sometimes with a hidden camera and. We will go around factories making connections talking sketches and the ordering process but we cant seem to find anyone working for max mara. Then one morning across this courtyard we stumble upon a clothing manufacturer bingo we finally found the rabbit fur jackets at this luxury italian brand. We are one of the top marks mara suppliers in china. Do you work with them often weve worked with them for years. The boss is extremely proud of his max mara connections well call him mr lee so max mara jacket is not made of italian or danish it is from china is the chinese rabbit yes from shandong. We finally have an answer but this is just the beginning weve still not found the exact breeding farms. And we are yet to convince the boss to introduces to his supplies we are not off to a good start. And we might for doesnt all come from the same farm its not worth going to see the farms trust me mark smart doesnt go and visit suppliers that hes going to kill you you can inspect the fur right here and others not point in going all the way to the farms were there you know the breeding conditions are bad youre only going to see dirty animals. We dont purchase the fur directly from the farm or mens and we only buy ready to and for. Whom mr levy only knows of one tannery when he still sees his fur after 2 hours of negotiating he finally gives us the go ahead. Hello fine you can go visit the whats the tannery the manager of a commune there. Is 250 kilometers north of dying. Were seeing his home to the countrys lunches tannery. At the entrance polls of rakuten 1st drawing in the sun. And further on thousands of rabbit schemes. How many 1st year produced a day. In this part of the factory we produce 10000 furs a day but during peak times we can do up 230000 or more. 3000 employees work in this factory immersed in the noisy aging stench of rotting carcasses the animal skins arriving from all over the country and sometimes even from northern europe. These workers and above all their salary are one of the secrets behind our beloved max mara jacket our interpreter talks discreetly to one of the employees thanks kiran is 20 fend for animal skin. And he produces 1000 a day. So he earns about 200 u ones a day. 200. 00 chinese one barely 30. 00 a day not even minimum wage in china lets go back to the rapids at the back of the factory we find the 1st set aside for mr lee. Is this where you choose your fare for the next mara products yes i use some of it from ox mara and i resell the rest of it was how many 1st you buy a year for max mara 50000 mr lee finally tells his way he gets his 1st from. This a want to do my trade merchant gets it for me you can call it art from lindsay city. You must really like the for for many yes its very soft. This is mr lees trade much and he is the one who buys the fur for max mara in the more remote provinces. Sir wilfrid i only get 1st from lyn you are mr leach. And if we want to visit the rabbit breeding farms it is him we have to convince. Boss or do you think we could come with you to new york and. Finally after much discussion we have found out ticket to. This region is one of the main rabbit supply zones breeding farms as far as the eye can see. Thanks to mr lees connections we go into one of them. This farm houses approximately 10000 animals multiple rabbits are often crammed together into one tiny cage. With several flavors no more room shots ive sold a few rolls ill be able to have one ravech ok i dont remember those. There are no hygiene rules of thumb. On another farm we find the same breeding conditions animal droppings and left to polar around the cages. Some of the rabbits show signs of breathing problems. Others have behavioral issues. Tumours. Deformities for those rabbits destined for luxury life couldnt get much worse. We all fall far away from max morrows elliptical phrase we can confirm that we only source from certified supplies. But all this is nothing compared to the death of the animals thanks to our much and we are allowed to enter the slaughterhouse. That noise you can hear is the sound of rabbit screeching. Their legs are often broken as they are hung upside down at the start of the slaughtering process next they are slaughtered. And less than one minute later they are skinned. These are the skins used in mr lees factory this is the fire that ends up covering amongst other items max mara jacket. Is this luxury brand aware of the conditions in which these rabbits of forced to live and die the same rabbits used to make their fur coats we tried to get an interview with max mara but they refused and. As our investigation comes to an end we no longer see the world of luxury and point the same way. The tanneries of tuscany the breeding farms and slaughterhouses of china after all of this we are left with one question what if this Beautiful Image of luxury has been nothing but a dream. Morning these shoes are not for beginners. Never creations of god who osorio. Playfully limits. Their song after by women the world over. The colombian designer finds inspiration in florence for his stunning footwear if. You want. To be in the. War. Oh. My 1st vice was a sawing machine. Where i come from women are balanced by the social model and then something as simple as learning how to write them by cycles isnt. Since i was a little girl i wanted to have a bicycle of my home and it took me years to undismayed. Finally they gave up and went on buying young bicycles and returned with the sewing machine sewing i suppose was more appropriate for girls than writing about and now i want to meet a challenge to those women back home who are bound by their duties and social goals and inform them about their basic rights my name is the about of the home and i work at the them. Movement. This is d w news live from berlin trapped in limbo and full of frustration migrants on the greek island of lesbos raise their voices in protest thousands are demanding to be allowed to leave the island after a massive Fire Destroys the morea refugee camp a group say and you camp is not the solution also coming up could there be a new chance for peace after decades of conflict in afghanistan because she should between the Afghan Government and the taliban begin it cantars the