Le academy dell’artigianato dei brand funzionano davvero? Dalla sartoria napoletana ai grandi gruppi del lusso, la formazione interna come risposta concreta alla crisi di competenze
The year 2025 has not been a good one for the Italian production system, which, despite often being perceived as a collection of machines, is in fact made up of thousands of people. If making a garment or an accessory by hand is an activity that requires constant practice, in Italy, fewer and fewer people are choosing to put their manual skills to work. The Italian landscape, however, is not entirely bleak and doomed, as it is often portrayed by the press, between investigations, accusations of labor exploitation, and questionable decisions. There are also different realities, such as the craft academies created directly by brands.
The Neapolitan tailoring tradition
Among the innovators is Kiton, which in 2001 opened a school of high tailoring born from the vision of founder Ciro Paone. The program lasts three years and is entrusted to retired master tailors, tasked with passing on the first fundamentals of the craft. Three years, however, are not enough to master all the secrets of tailoring. This is where the rule of seven years in the workshop proves to be as relevant as ever. Students who complete the school are then gradually introduced into the company. Over the first nineteen years of activity, around one hundred professionals have been brought in, all based in Arzano, at the heart of Campania’s production district.
Staying within the world of tailoring, Rubinacci follows a different logic thanks to the work of creative director Luca Rubinacci. Speaking on the Made in TAM podcast, curated by students from the technical institute of Biella, Rubinacci explains that this is not a structured school starting from scratch, but rather a period of apprenticeship designed for people who already possess a basic level of knowledge. From there, a progressive selection takes place, and those who demonstrate skill and consistency are permanently integrated into the tailoring house, which today employs around seventy people.
The academies of major luxury groups
Beyond Neapolitan tailoring houses, Prada also decided in the early 2000s to develop an internal craft training project, giving rise to the Prada Group Academy. The goal is to cultivate technical know-how and preserve high-level manual skills within its production facilities. The Academy offers programs that combine theory, practice, and direct mentorship with master artisans, with courses focused on leather goods, footwea,r and ready-to-wear. In recent years, training activities have intensified. According to Corriere della Sera, between 2021 and 2024, 29 training programs were launched with over 570 students of different nationalities, and in 2024 alone, around 120 young people were trained, with more than 80 entering the company on a permanent basis.
Finally, there is the Labor et Ingenium Academy of Bottega Veneta. The brand has always made craft its mission statement, as reiterated by the recent campaign «Craft is our language», launched to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the iconic intrecciato. The Academy was conceived as an internal training project designed to pass on artisanal skills through direct mentorship with master craftspeople, following a model that explicitly recalls the traditional workshop. The programs are strongly practice-oriented and focused on long-term professional continuity, with the aim of training profiles to be permanently integrated into the brand’s production structure between Montebello Vicentino and the Veneto district, strengthening the link between manual knowledge, time, and collective work.
LVMH and the defense of the French supply chain
There are, however, also shifts in direction in the way these initiatives are managed and communicated. LVMH has recently scaled back one of its most ambitious projects in terms of the public valorization of savoir-faire. As reported by Glitz, the group has decided not to open to the public the Maison des Métiers d’Excellence planned for Paris, a space that was meant to function as a showcase for the group’s craftsmanship, with workshops, exhibitions, and educational activities.
The building on rue Bayard, just a few minutes from the Champs-Élysées, will be used exclusively for internal staff training, marking a clear downsizing compared to the original project. The question remains whether LVMH, too, is beginning to realize that today it may be more urgent to truly train these professionals rather than continuing to invest resources in the narrative of slow craftsmanship, which, in some cases, risks remaining nothing more than storytelling and smoke and mirrors.
Takeaways
1. Brand craft academies are becoming a key tool to address the shortage of skilled labor within the Made in Italy fashion system.
2. In-house craft training, from Neapolitan tailoring to major luxury groups, is now a strategic lever to preserve production know-how and local supply chains.
3. The contrast between craftsmanship storytelling and real training highlights how investing in brand academies is increasingly central to the sustainability of the European fashion system.
