At Prada’s leather atelier in Scandicci, on the edge of Florence, Andrea Guerra is taking his time. “If you are in a hurry in the luxury field, you’d better change business,” the Prada Group chief executive says with a shrug. “We are in a world that should be, and should remain, slow. It is a world that should embrace technology, while at the same time valuing creativity and human values.”
Florence is one of Italy’s historic craft districts, famous for its leatherwork since the 13th century. Last month, the normally private factory floor opened its gates to mark the 25th anniversary of the Prada Academy, the maison’s training ground for the next wave of artisans.
There is now an academy in four Italian regions: Tuscany, Marche, Veneto and Umbria, which feed talent directly into Prada’s 23 Italian factories. Since 2021, the Scandicci site alone has trained 571 leather-workers.
For Prada’s chief marketing officer, Lorenzo Bertelli – who is also the son of the brand’s co-chief executives, Miuccia Prada and Patrizio Bertelli – the academy is not just an addition to the business, but its backbone. “My father always insisted the factories should be our own,” he says.
“People didn’t understand why we chose the hard way, but the problems our competitors have now, we have experienced in making our supply chain as transparent as possible.”
The conversation today around “Made in Italy” has become complicated. Long a label that guaranteed excellence and quality, recent investigations have revealed a network of poor practices at its outer edges, with murky subcontracting chains where wages and working conditions fall far below the level of the dream being sold on the shop floor.
Now, in an attempt to salvage the industry’s reputation and erase exploitation, Italy’s government is preparing legislation that will force all companies to audit every level of their complex supply chains.
Prada, meanwhile, is happy to let a few dozen journalists wander through its workshops. Calling it a factory feels like a misnomer, as the vast space is all-white and spotlessly clean and tidy, with the hundred or so employees dressed in white coats. The workers, who are predominantly under the age of 35, are focused on the many steps that go into making the Galleria, Arcadie and Cleo bags.
“Eighty per cent of what we do,” Guerra says, “is hands, hearts and thought. Leather is a living matter – no two skins are alike, you have to start from there. It’s manic attention to detail, but these are the details that build the overall picture. This is a total focus we have put in place.”
The academy is Prada’s answer to a challenge facing the luxury sector, of how to make craftsmanship feel not nostalgic, but contemporary. Students are paid during their four-and-a-half-month training and during the seven-month apprenticeship that follows. If their work meets Prada’s exacting standards, they join the factory floor full-time.
Two graduates, both in their twenties, Francesca Rettori and Leonardo Nesi, speak about the shift from student to expert. “Every stitch, every gesture matters,” Rettori says. “The academy taught me to see the accuracy behind every detail. I like to see something coming out of my manual skills.” Nesi adds: “The main reason I decided to pursue this career is curiosity. I’m interested in everything that’s behind what we do – the materials, and the processing. At first you think tasks are repetitive, but once you understand the process, you realise how complex it is. You need patience.”
As AI is reshaping the world of work, Lorenzo maintains that white-collar workers are most at risk. “Technological advances mean that knowledge-based jobs that were seen as high-value can be replaced by technology. But the jobs that require manual skills will stay and survive, even though they were considered low-value in the past.”
“The Wolf of Wall Street was the hype for a whole generation, but today, most are presenting PowerPoint and Excel files,” he jokes. “But in a world where technology is replacing process, technology cannot replace craftsmanship. These are people who are not going to lose their jobs, because working with your hands cannot be replaced.”
Inside the Scandicci factory, that sentiment feels tangible. One worker guides the quilting of a Miu Miu Arcadie, where a layer of Lycra beneath the leather and cotton wadding creates the bag’s softly ruched signature. Another perfects the chamfered curve of the Prada Cleo, a line so distinctive that only one craftsman is permitted to stitch it. Nearby, a table is devoted entirely to folding tissue paper for the final packaging, an unhurried ritual of its own.
Work at this factory is not just assembly-line labour. Guerra says: “When we say manufacturing, we think about assembly lines, repetitive moments, components, but we’re not talking about that. This is totally different; it’s industrial craftsmanship. ‘Made in Italy’ craftsmanship is a part of our culture.”
Prada wages, Lorenzo says, match or exceed industry standards – “if they’re not competitive, people leave” – but salary is no longer the only measure of value. “Young people are interested in health and health conditions, they think about their families, their children. Also, we have many young women with us and it’s important to provide them with support – a woman by definition is a multitasker.”
Guerra agrees. “I see younger generations interested in manual work and things created by hand. Even in Milan, I don’t think all young people want to be consultants, they want a work-life balance and to reduce alienation in their work.”
The company’s chief people officer, Rosa Santamaria Maurizio, points to the academy’s deeper purpose “Luxury is about emotion, even in the workplace. The academy preserves Made in Italy, transfers knowledge between generations and builds pride in what our people do.”
As the industry wrestles with pricing, responsibility and the role of technology, Prada seems clear on one thing: the future will be made by hand. Or as Lorenzo puts it: “What was once seen as nostalgic is now our most modern source of value.”
Guerra adds: “What matters is to have the continuing ability to plan, to be patient and to look ahead. When you have an academy, you can’t think that after just three months someone will be able to produce a bag. It’s a long path and journey – but we are not in a hurry.”
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