Fashion Hub at Risk: Maramotti Retires, Mayor Concerned

Reggio Emilia, 30 June 2025 – Given the “climate of division and exploitation” created around the Fashion Hub , Max Mara Fashion Group announces its “definitive withdrawal” from the project. The decision taken by the group this afternoon seems to have fallen from the sky. The excitement emanating from the Public Interest Implementation Plan (PAIP) for the new headquarters at the former Fiere in the Mancasale area has been dampened in a few, very clear lines: “We must take note of the doubts and divisions that have emerged” says the president of Max Mara Fashion Group, Luigi Maramotti , who identifies the “breaking point” in the city council meeting of last 23 June.

That day the assembly adopted the resolution for the Paip with 25 votes in favor , but the agenda reached the Sala del Tricolore at a boiling temperature. The debate had in fact already heated up at the end of May with the protest of the workers of Manifattura San Maurizio , controlled by the group. The picket was organized in front of the Tecnopolo just as the presentation of the project was taking place. Two days of strike to denounce "denied permits, imposed holidays, unsustainable rhythms that cause physical damage and occupational diseases and no salary recognition".

The real explosion, which reached Parliament , was reached after the complaint of gratuitous insults that the employees had received in the workplace. And while the national politicians (M5S and Avs first and foremost) asked the government to clarify the situation, involving the labor inspectorate, the local politicians (Civic Coalition first and foremost) questioned the healthiness of the prerequisites for the creation of the Fashion Center.

The project “imagined since November 2023, clashed with a political context that undermined its foundations” explains Maramotti. For Max Mara, the city council of June 23 focused “not on the urban and economic merits of the project, but on the industrial relations within the group”. The favorable vote in the council “was actually conditioned by future checks on the behavior of our group – Maramotti emphasizes – as if we needed external stimuli to respect the law and the rights of workers”.

Mayor Massari has released public statements that the group claims to be shocked by: "It is absolutely incomprehensible to us - specifies the president - why the mayor has not in any way tried to investigate the validity of the facts reported before expressing himself publicly, aligning himself with the unilateral statements of a single union component (the Cgil, ed.). A simple preliminary information comparison would have been sufficient to clarify our position".

The company “will not proceed with its acquisition” of the area where the Fashion Hub was supposed to be built. “As president, I cannot allow the reputation of the company and the thousands of workers who make it live to be further damaged during this residual process,” Maramotti concluded. “We cannot expose ourselves to defamatory attacks that unfairly undermine the Max Mara brand on the eve of the 75th anniversary of its foundation.”

And to dispel any doubts about a possible compromise, after having confirmed the intention to continue investing in the area, the company "hopes that the analysis work carried out on the area may still be useful in the future to identify an implementing body capable of realizing an alternative project".