Article New Yorker article about the Chinese presence in Prato

[Jim Zurer]

There is a long, very informative article in this week's New Yorker about the Chinese presence in the textile and fashion industry in the Tuscan city of Prato.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/...workers-who-assemble-designer-bags-in-tuscany

We stayed in Prato a few years ago and the Chinese presence was very strong even then.....

 

[Alpinista]

A friend of ours owns a textile operation near Empoli. We happened to be at his business at midnight once when dropping him off after dinner and the gates opened up to discharge the workers from their evening shift. I was surprised to see a flood of Asian workers on bicycles pedaling out onto the streets. Always made me wonder about reaction to this in the face of such high unemployment rates in Italy.

 

[joe]

We were surprised to see a Sikh worker milking goats on a lovely raw-cheese dairy we visited in Piemonte. Then the owner told us that actually the Sikhs are a significant part of this branch of farming.
This fact is illustrated in the following article :
https://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/08/world/europe/08iht-italy08.html