“When I was very young at school, we made the tour to see Rome. And I remember, very well, the Colosseum was, ‘Wow,’ ” says Diego Della Valle, sitting in his office, which is also pretty wow—larger than a tennis court, illuminated by natural light, and filled with contemporary art—in the sprawling factory complex in Le Marche, Italy's central heartland, that is home to his company, Tod's. “It was super big. And it is one of the things from life that is big when you are little but remains big when you are big.”
Tod's, too, is big—one of the most significant fashion brands in Europe— producing refined, Italian-made shoes, bags, and clothing for men and women. The Tod's Group, which includes shoe and accessories manufacturer Roger Vivier, lifestyle brand Hogan, and apparel label Fay, posted first-half results of almost $623 million, of which Tod's represented over $311 million, both up over 21 percent year over year. The Tod's Group exceeded $1.1 billion in revenue in 2022—around 10 percent more than pre-pandemic levels.
The factory, designed by Della Valle's third and current wife, architect Barbara Pistilli, and built with gleaming Italian travertine marble, is also vast: nearly 1 million square feet, with almost 16 acres of gardens. It's so large that Della Valle's father, Dorino, used a bicycle to get around. (After Dorino died in 2012, the bike was installed in the lobby as a kind of tribute, surrounded by contemporary art.) When construction began about 25 years ago, the campus was one of the
