The future of Sixty Group seems darker than many might have expected. According to the local press, the brand's new owner, the Pan-Asiatic Cayman Islands-based holding Crescent Hide Park, canceled a meeting with the Italian Minister of Economic Development, local unions and other authorities last minute. The meeting had been scheduled to clarify the label's future development and was supposed to take place in Rome on Friday, September 14 and has now been moved to September 20.
At the start of the month employees of the Chieti-based company that produces Miss Sixty, Energie, Killah, Murphy&Nye and RefrigiWear, occupied its headquarters and showroom, tired from waiting for clear explanations as to the company's relaunch strategy. According to the Italian daily paper MF Fashion, the contract that ties Luxembourg-based Sixty International and the owner of the brands with Chieti's Sixty Spa will finish by December 31. ?From that moment on, Sixty International has the option of not renewing its contract and? could get involved with other companies based anywhere else.
414 workers expressed fear that the crisis would lead to the closing of the Chieti-company and job cuts that would go well beyond the 170 expected as part of the first industrial plan. Unions and workers have long been asking the new owner for clear indications concerning the new industrial plan and about new eventual agreements with banks in order to face the ?300 million debt the company has accumulated.
According to a source close to the company, since collecting orders for the new fall/winter 2012/2013 season, Sixty has only delivered 20% of the products. However, at this time of the year, it is usual for 70% to have already been sent. Sixty Group declined to release an official statement regarding the situation, despite Sportswear International's attempts at contact.
