Todd Marchard
Diego Della Valle, the chairman and CEO of Tod’s, is a man who loves the sea. He also loves the mythology of American casualwear and sees this epitomised in the enduring style of one John Fitzgerald Kennedy. These two passions combine happily in the fact that since 1998 Della Valle has been the owner of Marlin, a boat that was for many years in the Kennedy family.
Della Valle’s forebears were shoemakers in the Marche region of Italy, where Tod’s is still based, and the company has been built on a combination of Italian craftsmanship and the relaxed weekend style of the US, which the young Della Valle saw while working there for his father’s shoe business. It struck him that, while Italians oozed style, it was based around formal wear, while the Americans dressed down to relax. Della Valle recognised in the humble driving shoe a perfect opportunity to express his new vision for an Italian casual lifestyle and created the now famous Tod’s moccasin, the Gommino. It has a sole covered with 133 rubber pebbles, or gommini. Since its launch in the 1970s, the model has been rendered in a multitude of versions in a variety of materials and colours, featuring various details. Peter Howarth
Tod’s Leo Clamp Gommino, £380, tods.com