Today is Gucci’s day at the Milan Fashion Week, with Demna at the helm, a designer strongly backed by fashion priestess Anna Wintour, though less so by customers, at least for now. And shortly before the show began, Reuters reported that, for the fashion house, Made in Italy is no longer a dogma: The first sneaker designed by Demna, called Drip, will be made in China. It marks a break with the house’s tradition and can be seen as a betrayal of Italy’s manufacturing heritage. The label appears both on the brand’s website and on the sneakers displayed at Gucci’s Paris store.

It is a move that is difficult to understand except as an effort to lower costs, but it could put the brand’s high-end luxury positioning at risk just as the group is trying to win back aspirational customers. Demna, for his part, says nothing about the issue in the letter he sent out ahead of the show, “The Store Show.”

“This will be the first collection in which I present my complete personal vision for the brand,” he writes. “Gucci is synonymous with a luxury that wants to be seen. It is the tension between accessibility and sensuality.”

But someone should tell him that Gucci also means Made in Italy.