Tod's

Filippo Della Valle started the shoemaking business out of a basement in the late 1920s. Diego Della Valle, the elder son of Dorino Della Valle and a grandson of Filippo Della Valle, expanded the workshop and turned it into a factory that started manufacturing shoes for American department stores in the 1970s. He says he became interested in the retailer on his first visit to the United States as a youth, when he stopped in at a Saks Fifth Avenue store, to which his father used to sell shoes.[4]

Diego Della Valle brought in innovative marketing strategies in the early 1980s, kept the handmade manufacturing process and went on to create lifestyle brands with the American-sounding names J. P. Tod’s,[5] Hogan and Fay. The first Tod's product was a hand-made casual loafer in soft leather.[6] By 1997 he added handbags to the Tod’s brand.[7] In the late 1990s, Della Valle turned over the day-to-day operation of the business to Andrea, his younger brother.[8]

Tod’s was one of the few luxury companies worldwide to increase sales and profits through the 2007–2008 financial crisis, with profit growing from 77 million euros in 2007 to 83 million in 2008 and 86 million in 2009.[9]

In 2014, Tod’s teamed up with Japanese design studio Nendo to create the “Envelope Boat Shoe”, a rubber-soled slip-on.[10]

In January 2017, Italian businessman Andrea Bonomi – through his Strategic Capital fund – took a 3 percent stake in Tod’s to support its long-term growth.[11]

In late 2017, the group launched a new business model dubbed Tod’s Factory to reverse falling sales and refresh its namesake brand, offering new products and more frequent collections, backed by significant marketing investment.[12] As part of Tod’s Factory, it launched the “Tod’s X Mr Porter” menswear capsule collection for Yoox Net-a-Porter in a bid to increase its reach to online customers.[13] For the first Tod’s Factory release, the brand hired Alessandro Dell'Acqua in 2018.[14] The brand later commissioned Alber Elbaz for a line of shoes and bags in 2019.[15]

From 2019, Diego Della Valle started buying more Tod’s shares as they came under pressure due to sliding sales, increasing his ownership to 81.2%.[16] In April 2021, Italian influencer Chiara Ferragni joined the board.[17] In early 2021, LVMH raised its investment in the group from 3.2% to 10%.[17] In May 2021, the market value of Tod's was €1.6 billion.[18][19]

In 2022, Della Valle and his brother Andrea offered to buy out other investors at 40 euros a share for up to 338 million euros ($344 million) – valuing the company at 1.32 billion euros ($1.3 billion) – and to de-list the company via a merger with their holding company DeVa Finance.[20] By September 2022, the Italian Companies and Exchange Commission (CONSOB) approved the proposed buyout.[21] Shortly after, the Della Valle family abandoned its plans for a buyout of the group, after failing to reach the 90% ownership threshold needed to take it private.[22]

• 2006–2012: Derek Lam[23][24]
• 2013–2016: Alessandra Facchinetti[25]
• 2014–2019: Andrea Incontri[26]
• 2019–2023: Walter Chiapponi[27]

Tod’s headquarters is located at Villa Brancadoro, a restored 12th-century monastery and the home of a former count in Sant'Elpidio a Mare.[28] It was designed by architect Barbara Pistilli.[29] There are also three company-owned factories where the shoes, bags, belts and small leather goods are made.[30]

Since the early 1990s,[31] Tod’s has had numerous stores around the world, including large flagship stores in Europe, the U.S., China, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Indonesia, and Australia.

Tod's moccasins

Tod’s marketing campaigns have featured model Yasmin Le Bon (1998),[32] actresses Gwyneth Paltrow (2008)[33] and Anne Hathaway (2011),[34] dancer Roberto Bolle (2018),[35] model Kendall Jenner (2018)[36] and actor Xiao Zhan (2022).

In September 2010 Tod’s bestowed $350,000 on Milan’s La Scala theater; a $7.4 million gift followed in June 2011.[45]

In 2011, Tod’s emerged as the only private sponsor willing to fund the restoration of Rome’s Colosseum, after a tender fell through; the agreement granted the company exclusive rights to the Colosseum’s logo and images for 15 years in exchange for 25 million euros ($31.99 million).[46] Shortly after, Tod’s suspended the agreement pending the outcome of two judicial inquiries and a probe by Italy’s antitrust competition authority into the deal, triggered by complaints by the Italian Labour Union (UIL) and Codacons, a consumer organization.[47][48]

• Italian fashion

• Official website