Nearly everyone has heard of the brand Tod’s yet few people know how it came to be founded by a young Italian named Diego Della Valle and from where he derived its name. The story goes that in the 1920s, Della Valle’s grandfather set up a modest cobbler’s workshop in the confines of his basement in Casette d'Ete in the Marches region of Italy. In the 1940s Diego’s father, Dorino, took over and expanded the premises, turning them into a factory that manufactured shoes for clients like Azzedine Alaïa, Calvin Klein and Neiman Marcus, among others. It wasn’t actually until 1975 that Diego, Dorino’s eldest son, joined the business, but when he did the house’s fortunes changed dramatically.
One of the first things the then 22-year-old did was to change the name of the company, deciding upon J.P.Tod’s (though he later dropped the initials). He came up with the deceivingly simple appellation after having searched for an appropriate name while scrolling through a Boston phone book, choosing this particular one because it was short and easy to pronounce in nearly all languages. Clearly off to a good start, it was the 1978 release of the brand’s first product that would prove to be the game-changer.
Inspired by a Portuguese slipper, the brand’s signature Gommino driving shoe was a leather driving-loafer with rubber stud-embellished sole. “Almost everyone wears rubber on their feet these days, but there was a time when it was considered cheap. Luxury shoes had leather soles, which were rigid and heavy. We turned that concept on its head,” says the now 62-year-old founder.
Having enjoyed celebrity endorsements almost from the off, when Gianni Agnelli, the late Italian industrialist and owner of the Fiat Group, was seen wearing a pair Gomminos (that had been gifted to him by Della Valle) on a television interview, the brand went on to become a darling of those in the spotlight. And if imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then Tod’s must have spent the next few decades blushing from an embarrassment of riches, as copycat designs proliferated across the industry.
Nevertheless, Diego Della Valle has always prided himself on the unique craftsmanship that goes into making his famous shoes and it’s actually one of the features that has allowed Tod’s to keep an upper hand in a now saturated market. Gomminos are still made from leathers sourced from the finest tanneries in the world, precise attention is still paid to the cutting and sewing of each piece, and most importantly, the whole process is still skilfully performed by hand, in Italy.
What’s more, Gomminos are one of the few items of footwear that are as suitable in casual settings as they are semiformal ones, and now they’re going to be cherished even more with the onset of a personalisation service, previously only possible at the very pinnacle of the bespoke business. Thanks to a new app called My Gommino, available exclusively on iPads at Tod’s boutiques, you can now customise a pair of your own driving shoes and make sure no one ever has a pair like yours. Options include the colour of the sole pebbles, the type of leather, as well as unique stitchings and linings. You can even add your own initials – perhaps making up for the ones that Tod’s decided to lose years ago.
