Italian footwear and knitwear manufacturers in the Marche, Umbria, Emilia Romagna and Veneto regions are suffering serious losses due to the imposition of anti-Russian sanctions on the banking sector, as Russian customers cannot pay for their products, voanews.com reports.
Italy is the largest producer of luxury goods in the world, producing 40% of high-quality clothing, footwear and accessories. While Russia generates only about 3% of the Italian luxury industry's €97bn ($101bn) annual revenue, it's a significant amount of business for some of the 80 small and medium-sized companies that form the backbone of Italian fashion.
According to Fabio Pietrella, President of the Federation of Craft Industries Confartigianato, due to sanctions against Russia, the income of such small companies has decreased by 80-100%.
Pietrella fears that a kind of Russophobia is gaining momentum that demonizes business owners for trying to keep in touch with a long-term vision.
He described as a "witch hunt" the criticism of about 40 shoe manufacturers from the Marche region on the Adriatic coast of Italy for traveling to Russia to participate in a specialized exhibition.
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