Tod's S.p.A.

Diego Della Valle pulled a name out of a Boston phonebook in 1978 and called his new brand J.P. Tod's. That bit of Americanized branding helped the Italian shoemaker crack the U.S. market, but the real story starts decades earlier. Diego's grandfather, Filippo Della Valle, had opened a small artisanal workshop in the late 1920s in the Marche region, quietly handcrafting shoes for local customers. Diego took over in the 1970s and scaled the operation into an industrial factory, setting the stage for what would become a global luxury powerhouse.

The brand's breakout moment came with the Gommino driving shoe, a moccasin with rubber pebbles on the sole that debuted in the 1980s. It was an instant hit, blending comfort with understated style, and it remains the company's most iconic product. Diego was also an early adopter of influencer marketing, sending shoes to celebrities like Princess Diana and George Clooney long before the term existed. By the 1990s, Tod's had expanded into leather bags and accessories, and in 2000 the company went public on the Borsa Italiana.

Today Tod's Group is a portfolio of four brands: the flagship Tod's, French luxury shoemaker Roger Vivier (acquired in 2000), the casual luxury label Hogan, and the contemporary brand Fay. In 2022 the group's revenues hit the €1 billion mark for the first time, and 2023 saw €1.1 billion in revenue. The Della Valle family still controls 64.4% of the company. Tod's has also made headlines for its cultural patronage, most notably funding a €25 million restoration of the Colosseum in Rome, a project that sparked both applause and debate about private sponsorship of public heritage. [edit]