ITALIAN FASHION IS TRULY "GANGSTA"

the author of the book, posing with his best seller. (viewimages.com)

a spokesman for dolce and gabanna, above, has responded to claims made in the book saying, dolce and gananna is "sensitive and attentive to the social responsibility of the company and, in light of that, demand that its external manufacturers guarantee the respect of safety standards and of the workers' rights."

a spokes person for versace, headed by donatella versace above, says as an answer to the book, "Not only does Versace put a label on every Versace item that states 'Made in Italy,' but we also have a label that affirms that each piece and item is made and produced in a Versace-owned Italian factory,"

like the pieces designed by miuccia prada, above, a company spokesperson kept their statement simple and bold saying, " "practices evoked by Saviano in 'Gomorrah' cannot be applied to the Prada Group"

milan - well! have you heard of roberto saviano? no, he's not the latest designer from italy - but he might as well consider designing bullet proof vests. the young writer, (he is only 28 years old!), is getting death threats from the italian mafia over the publication of his new book: "gomorrah." the book aims to expose the correlation between fashion and organized crime in italy. womens wear daily gives more detail in today's newspaper saying, "the author describes in detail the interaction between fashion and the Camorra via illegal workshops and factories, how fashion is also a vehicle for money laundering, the industry's ties with Chinese textile suppliers and the lightning speed at which the region's workshops can turn out perfectly crafted pieces — but at the cost to workers of long hours and underpaid shifts. It tells of auctions for contracts where the winning formula for manufacturers seeking to produce for luxury brands is highest quantity-lowest price-shortest time frame." in my ever-so-humble opinion, i see nothing wrong with wanting good service, at a low cost, in record time. isn't that what the average consumer wants as well? so why not retailers? of course if they are incorporating organized crime to achieve this, that's awful. but at times the end justifies the means...no?