Goodbye Switzerland. After Kering, Tom Ford is getting ready to abandon its Helvetic logistics’ platform. The American brand is, in fact, ready to leave behind its Canton Ticino site and move to Italy, where the majority of products travelling to Switzerland was arriving in the first place.
First Reason
Breaking the news that Tom Ford was abandoning its Stabio site was Ticinoonline. The press sources explained that some of the 20 workers had already received notice of their contracts’ cancellations. Some of the others, meanwhile, were offered to relocate in the new Gallarate and Florence sites. According to some, the main problem that pushed the brand’s goodbye with the Swiss is connected to the elevated taxation. The same newspaper though, reported the words directly from Tom Ford’s spokesperson. “The reasons are many and have nothing to do with taxes. All that arrived in the Swiss hub arrived from Italy, and the time it took to re-supply retail points had gotten longer over the years”. The difference is, always according to the brand’s management, of about 4 to 10 days less.
Second and Third Reasons
A second aspect is tied to the export-related advantages that EU members have “with countries such as Japan, South Korea and Canada”. Agreements that aren’t valid for Switzerland. Third reason: duties. Those imposed on “imported from Switzerland merchandize, unless it comes from Italy. Thus, we were forced to deal with customs not once but twice, importing from Italy and then moving everything over the border – concludes Tom Ford’s representative -. By cutting out the Ticino-based site, expenses relating to this second operation will no longer exist”.
Image taken from TomFord.com
