History

Filippo Della Valle started the shoemaking business out of a basement in the late 1920s. Diego Della Valle, the eldest son of Dorino Della Valle and 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. Diego brought in innovative marketing strategies in the early 1980s, kept the handmade manufacturing process, and went on to create the lifestyle brands named Tod's, Hogan, and Fay. Roger Vivier, the maker of high-end luxury shoes, was acquired in the mid-1990s and began development in 2000. In 2003, Italian designer Bruno Frisoni was hired as Roger Vivier's Creative Director.

The Della Valle family also has stakes in RCS MediaGroup, the football team Fiorentina, and other companies. All members of the family were born in the middle Italian region of Marche, and many of them continue to reside there.

Tod's has numerous stores around the world, including large flagship stores in Europe, the U.S., China, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Indonesia, and Australia.

The story of Tod’s begins in the early 1900s when Diego Della Valle's grandfather, Filippo, founded a small shoe factory. In the 70's there was a major turnaround: from a family run business to an industrial company. This happened when Diego Della Valle entered the firm and lead the development of the business.

Today, Tod's SpA is the operating holder of a group and is amongst the leading players in the world of luxury goods with the brand names such as Tod's, Hogan, Fay, and Roger Vivier.

The brands of the Group, all with their own personal identity, are linked by the same philosophy, which distinguishes itself for a well-balanced mix of tradition and modernity, high quality, creativity, and functionality.

The high standard of quality met by the products is guaranteed by the strong craftsmanship involved in each and every phase of the production. Every product is hand-made and crafted with techniques of the utmost hand craftsmanship. After various production steps and control phases, the product is destined to become an exclusive and distinguishable object.

In November 2015, Tod’s acquired further stock in the Roger Vivier shoe brand for €415 million. It had previously owned a 57.5% stake, now it was up to 60.7%.

TOD’S

The Tod’s brand is known for shoes and luxury leather goods, with styles that have become icons of modern living; Tod’s is known in the luxury goods sector as a symbol of the perfect combination of tradition, quality, and modernity.

Each product is hand-crafted with highly skilled techniques, intended after laborious reworking, to become an exclusive, recognizable, modern, and practical object.

Some styles, like the Driving Shoe and the D bag, are cherished by celebrities and ordinary people worldwide and have become icons and forerunners of a new concept of elegance for both women and men. All products are crafted in the Group’s factories, with a total of 6 factories for shoes, 2 for leather goods, and a limited number of specialized laboratories (with which the Group has formed long term business relations). The buying of materials, the supervision of all the production phases, and the control of the finished products, are centralized at the headquarters. This is done for all of the products made in-house as well as all products created in the external laboratories.

HOGAN

Begun in the 80s with shoe collections for women, men, and children, the Hogan brand now also crafts various leather goods. The Hogan brand is distinct for high quality, functionality and design.

Every product stems from a highly skilled design technique and is created using quality materials with a particular passion for details and a search for perfection. Hogan products are the highest expression of a “new luxury” lifestyle. Hogan is meant for someone who cherishes the type of luxury associated with product excellence, innovative original design, and consummate practicality.

The Traditional and the Interactive shoe styles endure as continuing “best sellers”.

FAY

FAY is a brand created in the mid-80s with a product range of high quality casual wear. The brand is known for its quality craftsmanship, for the excellence of its materials, a meticulous attention to craft details, and its high functionality without sacrificing style and quality.

FAY products are wearable everywhere: from the stadium to the office, in urban areas and in the countryside. The line which has seasonal men’s, women’s, and junior collections, focuses on classic evergreen styles which are continuously modified and refreshed with innovative and recognizably eye-catching design.

ROGER VIVIER(Paris)

Described as the "Fabergé of Footwear” and accredited with creating the first stiletto heel in the 1950’s, Roger Vivier designed extravagant, luxuriantly embellished shoes he described as sculptures.

The artistic heritage and exceptional tradition of the maison Roger Vivier found new life with the renaissance of the brand in 2003 through the acquisition by Diego Della Valle.

Under the Creative Direction of Bruno Frisoni, the work and vision of M Vivier was pursued, adding new chapters to this unique story each season and extending its expertise beyond shoes to include bags, small leather goods, jewelry, and sunglasses.

Ines de la Fressange, acclaimed figure of quintessentially French elegance, represents the refined allure of this Parisian maison with an irony and fantasy that makes the Roger Vivier style so distinctive and inimitable.

Roger Vivier today proffers a unique experience of imperceptible paradoxes, set soaring through a spectacular universe of dreams and desires, enchanting the most elegant and fascinating of women the world over. A timeless Parisian elegance, sophisticated and extravagant, a rare luxury.

Roger Henri Vivier (13 November 1903 - 3 October 1998) was a French fashion designer who specialized in shoes. His best-known creation was the stiletto heel.

Vivier has been called the "Fragonard of the shoe" and his shoes "the Fabergé of Footwear" by numbers of critics. He designed extravagant, richly decorated shoes that he described as sculptures. He is credited with the design of the first stiletto heel in 1954. Stiletto heels, the very thin high heel, were certainly around in the late 19th century, as numerous fetish drawings attest, but Vivier is known for reviving and developing this opulent style by using a thin rod of steel.

Ava Gardner, Gloria Guinness, and The Beatles were all Vivier customers and he even designed shoes for Queen Elizabeth II for her coronation in 1953.

Vivier designed shoes for Christian Dior from 1953 to 1963. In addition to the stiletto heel, he also experimented with other shapes, including the comma. He used silk, pearls, beads, lace, appliqué, and jewels to create unique decorations for his shoes.

In the 1960s, Vivier also designed silk-satin knee boots outlined in jewels, and thigh-high evening boots in a black elastic knit with beads. His most iconic design, the Pilgrim pumps with silver buckles (worn by Catherine Deneuve in the film Belle de Jour) received international publicity and many imitations.

Visitors flock to his boutique on the Rue Faubourg Saint-Honoré, whose design is famous for being inspired by Vivier's apartment. The collection is designed by Bruno Frisoni. Exclusivity is the hallmark of the line, with many shoes made to order, some with hand-embroidered gold thread. There are now three shops in the USA. The latest opened in May 2012. Vivier's shoes are on display at the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto, and the Musée de la mode et du textile at the Louvre.

The brand has been owned by Diego Della Valle's company, Tod's, from 2006. As of November 2015, Tod's owns 60.7% in the shoe brand.