Diego Della Valle

Diego Della Valle is an Italian entrepreneur and product strategist who joined his family’s footwear business in 1975. He entered an established workshop-and-factory system rather than founding the family trade, and soon directed it towards proprietary products and international buyers.

Around 1976–77 he presented Della Valle-labelled shoes to department-store buyers in New York. At the beginning of the 1980s he led the transition to the J.P. Tod’s name and an internationally positioned product identity, later shortened to Tod’s in 1997.

Della Valle also set the commercial and product brief for the driving moccasin that became the Gommino. The surviving account credits Dorino’s factory and unnamed artisans with the technical adaptation, distinguishing Diego’s concept, market and brand direction from hands-on footwear construction.

Della Valle’s creative contribution is strategic: identify a functional product type, refine it for daily use, control its materials and presentation, and build recognition through buyers and visible wearers. The method connects product management, naming and retail positioning rather than conventional seasonal fashion design.

The result established a durable house logic around low-key leather goods, comfort and recognisable construction. Later appointed designers expanded that logic into ready-to-wear and runway collections, while the manufacturing network and internal studios retained technical authority beneath the public brand direction.