Naples, shop revolt: open with underwear in the window

Naples, shops revolt: open with underwear in the window. Federmoda: "You get covid with clothes and not with underwear?"

"It's absurd! If you sell underwear you can stay open, why? With clothes you get covid and with underwear you don't? In a year we were closed for five months, we can't take it anymore". Roberta Bacarelli, president of Federmoda of Confcommercio Napoli asks this from the door of his shop in via Carlo Poerio, where he has displayed women's panties, as dictated by today's protest of hundreds of shops in Naples and throughout the province from Pompeii to Pozzuoli.

"To Mr. De Luca, to Mr. Speranza, to Mr. Draghi - says Salvatore Amente, a men's fashion retailer in Chiaia - we say that we are at the limits of endurance. We are all under eviction, as soon as this pandemic ends, we will have another one, because they will kick us all out. They will have to find a vaccine for rents too". Many shops are open, without receiving customers, with underwear on display as a provocation.

In Naples, from Chiaia to Vomero, from Corso Umberto to via Toledo and in some shops, the police arrived to make sure that there was no sale in progress, verifying that the shops are open for a protest that began today and continues indefinitely. Tomorrow, it will also continue with a demonstration in Piazza Plebiscito, parading with 15 crosses.

The data provided to Dire by Federmoda

It is estimated that around 800 shops in Campania reopened today to protest against the government measures introduced with the aim of containing the spread of Covid in the red zone regions.

Clothing and shoe shops, but also jewelry stores no longer display shoes, dresses or necklaces, but leggings, sweatshirts, boxers and bras.
"Our idea - explains Roberta Bacarelli of Federmoda Campania to Dire - was like a wave that overwhelmed the main commercial centers not only of Naples but also of Caserta, Salerno, Pompeii, Castellammare di Stabia and other very populous municipalities. It is a form of civil protest that must make us reflect on how it is not the product category that can decide the fate of our commercial activities, but the safety and compliance with anti-Covid regulations in the places where we sell. If they close us because we sell clothes or jewelry, we put underwear in the window ".

The retailers who decided to join this initiative also thought about how to comply with the rules to avoid sanctions. The trick is to add to the Ateco code also the numbers that represent underwear, children's clothing or sports goods stores. The decree currently in force provides, in fact, that these categories can continue selling in stores even in the red zones.

Bacarelli:

The protest “will continue indefinitely, or at least until the provisions change. From today we are open and will continue to do so. It is clear that selling lingerie will not save us, we have to pay rent and utilities in exchange for support that is paltry to say the least. It is a way to defend ourselves, we remain open and our customers will be able to buy the goods we usually sell, but online. What is being said is absurd, selling flowers or toys is not dangerous due to the pandemic, while selling clothes and jewelry is. In the hope that something changes for everyone, we feel discriminated against because, in fact, we are the only ones in the sector to suffer the effects of these closures”.

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