The crisis at Aeffe and Gilmar: the Florence Group’s solutions in training

Labour disputes are the most visible sign of the difficulties facing the Italian fashion industry. Behind the restructuring and redundancies lies a broader issue: the resilience of the production system that serves the brands, whilst orders are slowing and the drive for profitability is imposing new conditions on suppliers. The question is how much industrial capacity will remain once consumer spending recovers. The figures from luxury goods companies help to put this phase into perspective. 

In the first nine months of this year, LVMH’s Fashion & Leather Goods division recorded a 2 per cent decline, which fell to 5 per cent in the third quarter. Gucci saw a 6 per cent decline on a like-for-like basis during the quarter, whilst the Prada Group’s growth stood at just 1 per cent. This slowdown is also reflected in employment and production figures. In the Rimini area, in San Giovanni in Marignano, Aeffe is undergoing a restructuring that may see 389 workers placed on short-time working schemes. Gilmar, which also produces Iceberg, has initiated negotiated settlement proceedings, whilst Fuzzi is under a simplified composition with creditors. In Veneto, the relocation of the logistics hub linked to Valentino from Valdagno is putting 83 jobs at risk. The nearby Riviera del Brenta district, which specialises in footwear, is under scrutiny due to the difficulties faced by companies such as Him Co and Calzaturificio Michielon.

Adding to this picture are the ‘sluggish’ figures from the Manufacture de Souliers Louis Vuitton in Fiesso d’Artico, with 2025 revenues down by 5.1 per cent and a slight reduction in the workforce. These are cases that differ in scale and cause, but which demonstrate how a reorganisation of business activities can have profound consequences for the local areas and the professionals involved. The overall figures on short-time working paint a less uniform picture. According to Confindustria Moda, in the first half of 2026, authorised hours in the textile and clothing industry fell by 29.6 per cent compared with 2025, totalling 17.8 million. However, critical issues for businesses remain: in Prato, according to Ebret, the Bilateral Body for Tuscan Crafts, 200 fashion businesses ceased trading between May 2025 and May 2026. 

In Tuscany, over the past year, the craft sector has lost 1,248 businesses and 7,919 employees: the fashion industry accounts for over half of the fall in employment. “The concern is that a cycle of crises and recoveries will ultimately leave structural consequences,” observes Giordano Fumarola of the national Filctem Cgil. The fall in orders could result in a permanent loss of production capacity if companies close down and skilled workers cannot find employment. Even planning operations has become more difficult: development times are getting shorter, seasonality is less rigid, and demands for traceability and circularity are on the rise. “We used to carry out projects that lasted five years. Today, it is no longer possible to plan for the future,” observes Riccardo Colletti of the national Filctem Cgil. Adapting is necessary, but reducing staff numbers and plant capacity may weaken the ability to respond to the recovery. One solution is to invest in training and internal mobility. This is the approach adopted by the Florence Group, a platform of contract manufacturers established in 2020 and controlled by the Permira fund since 2023. 

The group employs over 4,500 people across nine Italian regions and operates around 70 production sites. This scale makes it possible to consider the transfer of activities between companies, the retraining and redeployment of staff – processes that are more difficult for a small supplier, often tied to just a few clients, to implement. “The luxury sector is undergoing a period of transformation that affects the entire production chain,” say representatives of the group led by Attila Kiss, which, in the two-year period 2025–2026, involved 50 people in job rotation schemes, complete with training and mentoring. A total of 120,000 hours of technical training were provided, including through the group’s twenty-three academies in Italy. Where it was not possible to redeploy workers immediately, social safety nets were utilised, accounting for 1.6 per cent of workable hours. 

These tools do not eliminate market challenges, but they help manage the reorganisation whilst preserving skills and experience within the industrial platform. The relationship between brands and suppliers remains, as fashion houses have a direct impact on production volumes, timelines and organisation. The Hugo Boss case, reported by the German trade press and confirmed to Il Foglio della Moda by those directly involved, is indicative of the tensions that can arise. According to reports, the group is said to have asked certain suppliers, including several Italian ones, for a discount on outstanding invoices in exchange for faster payments. 

This is a case that should not be generalised, but it does highlight the risk of shifting an increasing proportion of the costs of transformation onto the most vulnerable businesses: those that have to cope with falling orders whilst, at the same time, investing to adapt to new regulations and customer demands. The possible recovery in consumption from 2027, as indicated by analysts and trade unions, requires us to think in the medium term. Social safety nets are necessary, but they are no substitute for an industrial strategy. As Riccardo Colletti of the national Filctem Cgil union summarises: “It is not a question of preventing all reorganisation, but of making it compatible with the continuity of the production system”.