Following June’s report that that Dior has being exploiting and mistreating workers in Italy, it has been revealed that the company is in breach of the UK’s Modern Slavery Act.

According to reports from Reuters, LVMH owned Dior was behind on disclosures required by UK law about working conditions in its supply chain until last month and also made statements on its website about a third-party certification that it had in fact terminated more than a year ago.

Between March and April, Italian police carried out inspections at the suppliers, named Pelletteria Elisabetta Yang SRL, New Leather Italy SRLS, AZ Operations SRLS, and Davide Albertario Milano SRL. Workers were discovered operating in “hygiene and health conditions that are below the minimum required by an ethical approach” and were forced to sleep in the factories. They were also paid less than minimum wage and were using dangerous machinery that was overused and posed a danger to their safety. Dior handbags are sold via the company’s website for as much as $9500.

Historically, the ‘Made in Italy’ merchandise mark has been a signifier of quality and prestige but a series of reports coming from Milan about the use of unskilled labour and the exploitation of workers in filthy, unsafe factories has cast a dark shadow over it. Prosecutors in Milan claim that the violation of rules was not a one-off among fashion companies within Italy, but systematic. In April it was revealed that Giorgio Armani Operations had outsourced the production of bags, belts and leather goods to two firms which in turn subcontracted the work to four Chinese companies on the outskirts of Milan. Workers for these companies were paid just 2-3 euro an hour, working seven days a week to make these goods and required to use machinery with safety devices that had been “purposely and maliciously removed”.

In its updated modern slavery statement, Dior states that Christian Dior UK plans a training course to raise employees’ awareness of modern slavery and to encourage them to take action if they suspect wrongdoing.

Christian Dior is a subsidiary of LVMH, the luxury goods conglomerate, controlled by Bernard Arnault, listed by Forbes as the world’s richest man, worth an estimated 214 billion dollars.