Swinger to make 70 staff redundant, loss of Versace orders proves decisive

There may be trouble ahead for Swinger International. The Bussolengo-based company in the Italian province of Verona, which has been producing jeans (and, for some time now, ready-to-wear) for many major fashion houses since the early 1970s, is about to make almost half of its employees redundant.

It will be a particularly bitter Christmas for the employees of the Veneto-based company which, only two weeks after signing an agreement on extraordinary furlough for eight months covering its entire workforce, on November 25 opened collective redundancy proceedings for 70 of its current 148 employees, as reported in the Economy section of the local daily L’Arena.

Swinger International’s situation has deteriorated in just a few months following, according to union sources, the loss of orders from Versace, a brand officially acquired last week by Prada, which on its own generated about 80% of the company’s turnover (Swinger produced the Versace Jeans Couture line, ed).

On the subject, Prada told FashionNetwork.com that Versace had decided to terminate its licensing relationship with Swinger as early as October 2024, when the brand decided to shut down its second line, Versace Jeans Couture, thus before the start of negotiations between Capri Holdings and the Prada Group for the acquisition of the brand.

Prada also clarified that the decision is not related to any offshoring, as claimed by some sources, but to the choice, dating back to last year, to close the Versace Jeans Couture line.

For its part, Swinger International, contacted by FashionNetwork.com, declined to comment for the time being, while indicating that the company’s owners will communicate their response to this serious situation in the coming days.

It is a real shame for a company founded in the 1970s with a small artisanal production of jeans and then apparel, which over the decades grew to secure licences from international brands (such as Roberto Cavalli, Vivienne Westwood, Missoni, and Fendi), especially in the youth fashion and ready-to-wear segments, and which managed to increase revenues from almost 100 million euros in 2020 to more than 175 million in 2023. In 2011, Swinger International acquired the Genny brand, still in its portfolio, appointing Sara Cavazza Facchini as creative director.

On Tuesday, December 9, the first trade union consultation meeting to handle the redundancies was held at the Confindustria Verona headquarters. Regulations provide for a 45-day period in which the company and workers’ representatives can reach an agreement, and a further 30 days during which the Veneto Region is expected to act as mediator, the Verona daily added, noting that negotiations have so far proved unsuccessful.

The Filctem CGIL union did not sign the agreement. Its representatives say that “their requests, which included, among other things, the inclusion of a safeguard clause regarding the effective date of the redundancies, were not accepted,” reports L’Arena. In their view, moreover, “the conditions imposed by the company are absolutely unacceptable, starting with a wholly inadequate voluntary redundancy incentive.” The union has therefore announced that it will individually assist workers who authorise it to do so.

The current difficulties reportedly began to emerge in May, when Swinger International applied for furlough for 171 employees due to a slowdown in production, but matters accelerated at the end of the summer, when 23 members of the company’s workforce had already resigned.