On Monday, an Italian court placed a company owned by the Italian subsidiary of the French fashion group Christian Dior under administration for having subcontracted its production to Chinese companies accused of forced labor.

A Milan court placed Manufacturers Dior Srl under court administration for a period of one year, according to a court document seen by Reuters.

According to the document, the company failed to apply "appropriate measures to verify the actual working conditions or technical capabilities of the contracting companies".

LVMH, Dior's parent company, was not immediately available for comment.

The Milan court took similar action against two other fashion houses, Armani Group in April, and an Italian handbag company last year. (Emilio Parodi reports; Zhifan Liu, edited by Sophie Louet)