Look, That Shoe Ignores Speed

We know that in this world, most shoes are related to speed, while Tod's, led by Diego Della Valle, can be said to be a shoe that ignores speed.

"As far as the luxury market is concerned, China has the fastest development speed. However, we are not interested in speed!" Diego Della Valle said this sentence with his usual downward looking expression, and waved his hands forcefully to emphasize the tone. "The purpose of our coming here is to let Chinese consumers know more about luxury goods. The taste of Chinese people is exactly the same as that of other markets, and they are ready to accept the information about luxury culture. "

Diego Della Valle is not the first time to come to China, but this is the first time that Tod's, his leader, has made a "loud noise" in China - Tod's has implemented a funding plan for Milan Scala Opera House, hosted by Diego Della Valle, held a dinner at 751 Design Park in the center of Beijing Art District, and announced the one-year cooperation between the two sides. Different from other luxury brand activities, Tod's action seems to be less commercial, more like a matter in the field of corporate social responsibility, and Diego Della Valle is willing to spend a lot of time on such matters. He said, "This cooperation is not just about sponsorship. Every time we make such a plan, we must have strong cultural and social elements, which is very important."

Why only walk but not run?

When the New York Times visited Diego Della Valle to make a big report, it gave the title of "Shoe Makers who walk without running".

Diego Della Valle was born in a traditional Italian craftsman's family. His grandfather and father have been making shoes meticulously in the workshop in Marche, the traditional Italian shoe industry center, for decades. Diego Della Valle built Tod's Kingdom based on family businesses in the 1970s and quickly became a model in the luxury industry. However, it seems that studying his business strategy is always someone else's business. Diego Della Valle is still not used to talking about business and speed; He still thinks that he is a successor who "passes on from generation to generation, nothing special and natural" compared with his predecessors. The Italian family has a strong sense of family. The father of Diego Della Valle, Dorino, is 85 years old and still participates in the company's affairs. When he is happy, he rides his old bicycle to patrol the large factory room of Tod's. When asked to evaluate whether his son's shoe empire satisfied him, "it all depends on the weather."

Perhaps it is the background of this handicraft family that makes Diego Della Valle pay more attention to tradition, culture and emotion. Like the word he used to say, “Roots”。

In this "Roots", Diego Della Valle summed up the core of "Made in Italy": "You might think that France also has advantages. However, Italy has many workshops with profound traditions and exquisite skills, which is unmatched. There are thousands of collaborators working for us in Italy. They are very successful and experienced SMEs, with a large number of excellent craftsmen. You know, some success is not accidental: it depends on details, excellent craftsmen and selected excellent enterprises. "

Diego Della Valle insists that Tod's production should be completed as close to home as possible. The design center is sunny and designed by his wife and architect Babara Pistilli; In the proofing room and shoe making workshop not far away, the staff work in an orderly manner. Here, a famous Tod's bean shoe can only be completed after 100 processes, 35 pieces of leather and ancient saddle tools. Craftsmen must have mature leather selection skills, precise manual cutting and meticulous sewing skills. The 133 pieces of glue on the sole of Doudou shoes are not nailed on, but two layers of leather are overlapped. One is the upper of the whole leather outside, and the other is the inner of the shoes with Doudou. Overlap the two pieces of leather, and then push out Doudou little by little. The most severe one is that when the shoes are made, even if there are the smallest defects, they will be destroyed. This Doudou shoe made Tod's famous.

Tod's is a listed company and is responsible for the statements every year. However, the bigotry of insisting on Italian handicraft determines its "walking without running". "We are committed to creating a stable relationship with our customers and hope that the market will develop steadily rather than rapidly." Diego Della Valle used two "stable" words in a row.

Intentionally promote traditional business models

When Diego Della Valle lived in Milan, he especially liked watching opera and ballet. In Milan, the most famous theater is Scala, which was completed in 1778. This palace level opera house is called "the cradle of Italian opera and ballet".

Diego Della Valle goes to Scala several times a year because of watching plays, and has become a good friend with the dean. He likes watching Aida best. "Next time you play Aida, you should go to Scala for this!" When he said this, he put aside the president's calm and showed obvious excitement.

What impressed Diego Della Valle most about Scala is its workshop. Ansaldo Handicraft Workshop, located in the center of Milan, is an important place behind Scala Opera House. Here, there are many skilled craftsmen, and every inch of scenery and performance clothes are completely handmade. Many of the handicrafts for making these classical and exquisite objects are on the verge of being lost.

It should be the growth background of three generations of handicraft families, which makes Diego Della Valle pay special attention to this craft and the Italian handicraft tradition and culture it represents. In addition, he also had an idea, "We are a big brand in Italy. I think big brands represent history, and it is also our responsibility to transmit historical, cultural, and artistic information." Diego Della Valle later decided to provide Scala with production costs for the whole performance season throughout the year, so that Ansaldo's carpenters can better reproduce the old craft; Stage artists can continue to painstakingly draw scenes of background and create props by hand. The clothing department produces as many as 1000 new costumes every season, and 1500 more need to be redesigned.

Scala's gratitude can be imagined. For the first time, the theater party made an exception to cooperate with luxury brands and sent 13 dancers to perform the fine production process of Tod's shoes with exquisite ballet, and produced a short film, Italian Dream. The film was choreographed by Gianluca Schiavoni. In addition to the grand stage of Scala Opera House, it also included the auditorium, box, balcony and corridor into the scene for the first time. It vividly reproduced the dynamic creative process of Tod's shoemaking workshop with ballet: leather selection, cutting, hammering, raw leather stitching... until exquisite shoes were created.

This year, when this short film was released in the latest season of Milan Fashion Week, its high artistry surprised the audience. In terms of thinking about tradition and interpreting "Made in Italy", Diego Della Valle is obviously willing to promote a very good business model: "I hope other Italian brands will also choose this approach, thinking about history and culture when doing business, which is helpful for tradition. In turn, doing so itself will also be helpful for business."

Diego Della Valle's view of national boundaries

Because Tod's business is developing rapidly in China, Diego Della Valle began to come to China more and more frequently. "China is a huge market, and everyone must pay attention to it. We just want to bring the best and our imagination to this market, so that people can know who we are and what we are doing."

On the other hand, as China's manufacturing industry has become more and more developed, many luxury brands have begun to set up factories and foundries in China. Diego Della Valle's position has always been very strong and clear, "Never move the factory away from Italy." He would rather pay the price: a pair of men's crocodile leather LOAFER sailing shoes, with a retail price of 3500 euros, The production cost in Italy is 1590 euros. If it is produced in China, this cost can be reduced by half. However, "Made in Italy is worth so much", Diego Della Valle said in a very light but apparently unquestionable tone. For brands like Geox, which bring Italian designed products to foreign countries for production, Diego Della Valle never wants to talk much about it. He just said, "Made in Italy contains a lot of things, and it will lead the world for a long time."

As for China, what Diego Della Valle has learned is that "Chinese culture and tradition are very profound and worthy of respect." Then give some suggestions to "Made in China"? Diego Della Valle smiled, "Why do you have to give advice? China can independently do a good job of 'Made in China'. It is now making rapid progress and moving in the right direction."

Maybe Diego Della Valle will one day go to China to support culture, art and tradition, like Hermes and other brands, in addition to focusing on Italian traditional handicrafts and culture? Diego Della Valle was not surprised by this question. Without too much hesitation, he answered the object of his interest, "Chinese movies." But when asked for details, he kept silent.

Maybe it's his quiet nature! Just like Tod's series of quietly funded art projects: Whitechapel Art Museum in London, Milan Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art... This is open to the world without borders. Let's wait for Diego Della Valle's next attention.

　　Diego Della Valle

Tod's SpA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. In December 1953, in S Elpidio a Mare was born and took over the family business from his father in 1975. At present, Diego Della Valle is a member of the board of directors of many enterprises, including Commerzbank Italia, Zhongli Insurance LVMH、 Ferrari, etc. At the same time, he also served as Vice Chairman of Marcolin and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Della Valle Onlus Foundation.