Diego Della Valle

Diego Della Valle is chief executive of Tod’s Group. Widely regarded as an embodiment of Italy’s Dolce Vita combined with the passionate independence of The Marches, his native region, Della Valle is the driving force behind Tod’s hugely successful expansion from a leather manufacturer into a global luxury group with annual revenues of more than $1.2 billion.

Following his graduation from the University of Bologna, studying law, Della Valle began his work at Tod’s in the marketing department. Della Valle scored a coup when he asked a friend, Luca di Montezemolo to pass on a pair of Tod’s driving moccasins to Gianni Agnelli, who later wore them while attending highly publicised football matches, which helped to increase sales dramatically.

Della Valle is passionate about maintaining the standards and cachet of the ‘Made in Italy’ brand, saying in an interview with Town and Country that "there's a dearth of craftsmen, but luckily we’re okay here for the next decade." Along with his wide, architect Barbara Pistilli, he designed the Tod's compound located in Casette d’Ete, which spans 2,690,977 sq ft and accommodates all of the shoemaker's operations.

Della Valle sits on the board of a number of companies, including Ferrari, Maserati, Banca Nazionale del Lavoro and LVMH. He bought the Tuscan football club, ACF Fiorentina, in 2002.

In a bid to curb waning consumer interest in the brand, Tod's announced in the autumn of 2019 the launch of Tod's Factory, a series of Moncler Genius-style "drops" of collections created by star designers. Starting with Rochas Creative Director Alessandro Dell'Acqua, the brand has since tapped Alber Elbaz to create a capsule collection.

According to Forbes, Della Valle has a net worth of $1.4 billion. In August 2019, he raised his stake in Tod's Group to 81.2 percent, making good on a pledge to buy shares after disappointing first-half results earlier the same month.