No Fakes Week at the Casa delle Eccellenze

FLORENCE, ITALY – In the prisoners’ dock of the former courthouse in Piazza San Firenze, counterfeit goods seized by the authorities and, on the desks of the temporary mall created for Expo 2015, the best of original Florentine craftsmanship and know-how. A true anti-counterfeiting campaign launched at the Casa delle Eccellenze on occasion of Pitti Immagine by the Osservatorio Anti-Contraffazione of the Chamber of Commerce of Florence.

In a dramatic layout produced by IED Firenze, until Sunday, 21 June, an exhibit of products seized by the Revenue Service, the City Police and the Customs Agency and occasions for learning more about the economic and social damage caused by imitation goods.

In its last annual report, the Revenue Service notes that in 2014, in Italy, more than 290 million counterfeit and/or hazardous items were seized, to say nothing of 1,400 tons and upwards of 500,000 litres of adulterated foodstuffs. The economic cost is estimated at more than 7 billion euro; what’s more, counterfeiting subtracts 110,000 legal jobs per year from the labour market. International sources estimate, furthermore, that worldwide, 115 million children under age 14 are forced to work to produce imitations – instead of attending school.

‘People who purchase counterfeit goods in good faith believe they are aiding the less fortunate, but in truth they are contributing to sealing the fates of the last links in a slave chain forged by the global criminal organisations which produce these goods. Combating counterfeiting aids Italian labour and legal, ‘healthy’ companies – and this is our mission and our priority,’  Leonardo Bassilichi, President of the Chanber of Commerce of Florence, emphatically stated.

On Thursday, 18 June, at 5:00 pm, the apsidal area of the Casa delle Eccellenze is hosting the seminar entitled ‘Il sistema moda e una corretta informazione a tutela della legalità’ (The Fashion System and Correct Information for Safeguarding Legality) in collaboration with CNA. At the seminar, Franco Baccani, President of the Osservatorio anti-contraffazione, will present a progress report on the prevention and information campaign launched in recent months to fight this phenomenon.