English style, Italian manufacture

According to The Independent, British clothing labels are moving their manufacturing to Italy.

Prompted by growing concern over sweatshops and exploitation of child
labour, ethical consumers in the West are finding that "Made in China"
labels chafe on their consciences.

The ability to avoid this bias, while mantaining lower production costs, is apparently very attractive to British clothing brands – at least, to those at the higher end of the market.

I have to admit that this has somehow shaken a basic belief of mine – i.e. that keeping labour costs low in order to compete with China is a poor way to keep Italy’s competitivity high.