Italian fashion should be recognized as UNESCO intangible cultural heritage after Armani and Valentino

Following the deaths of Giorgio Armani (2025) and Valentino Garavani (2026), the article argues that Italian fashion must be nominated as UNESCO intangible cultural heritage. The author, Angelo Argento, contends that the industry has long been treated solely as an economic sector, despite functioning as a cultural system. Citing ISTAT data, Italian fashion generates over €110 billion, employs more than 600,000 people, and exceeds €70 billion in exports. However, the real value lies in non-delocalizable knowledge, skills, and production relationships that meet UNESCO's 2003 Convention definition of intangible heritage. The absence of political will has prevented recognition. Judicial investigations into Chinese-run workshops in Lombardy, Tuscany, and Emilia-Romagna revealed opaque subcontracting, labor exploitation, and cost compression—structural effects of treating fashion as industry rather than cultural heritage. Internationally, documentaries on Brunello Cucinelli, Giorgio Armani, Valentino Garavani, and Gianni Versace on Netflix, Prime Video, and Sky have been widely viewed, indicating that foreign audiences already perceive Italian fashion as cultural heritage. The article calls for political action to secure UNESCO status, framing it as a long-term industrial strategy to preserve quality, traceability, and territorial responsibility.