Gucci owner Kering to open chemical lab in Italy

MILAN (Reuters) – French luxury giant Kering is opening a laboratory in Tuscany that will carry out chemical and other tests on its products and raw materials to check their quality and sustainability, it said on Thursday.

The Test & Innovation Laboratory (TIL) will be based in the town of Prato, where many textile suppliers of luxury groups are located, and is expected to begin activities in the first half of 2021.

The tests will be carried out on products and materials for fashion, leather goods, shoes, watches, jewellery and eyewear. The lab will be open to local and foreign companies outside Kering, it said.

The French group, which owns a number of Italian brands including Gucci, has been buying manufacturing sites and artisan workshops in Italy in the past few years, tightening its grip on the supply chain.

(Reporting by Silvia Aloisi; Editing by Edmund Blair)