admin Citing Milan-based sources, WWD Milan bureau chief Luisa Zargani reported that Tod’s has tapped a new designer to potentially lead its team. Walter Chiapponi was identified as the latest hire, but no further details of the role were available. He would join the company following years at Bottega Veneta with the label’s former artistic director, Tomas Maier. (Tod’s general manager Carlo Alberto Beretta had also previously served as CEO at Bottega Veneta.)
Beretta left his post as chief client and marketing officer of Kering at the end of 2017. He had taken up that post, a new one, in September 2016, when Claus-Dietrich Lahrs succeeded him as ceo of Bottega Veneta.
Details about Chiapponi’s role were not available at press time and Tod’s had no comment on the speculation.
Tod’s chairman and ceo Diego Della Valle last year started a shake-up of the brand’s executive ranks to help push a new strategy and business models of collaborations, introducing the No_Code project, which includes a trademarked “shoeker” — a mix between a shoe and a sneaker, and Tod’s Factory, in a reference to Andy Warhol, and eyeing a younger customer through capsule drops and limited editions. This has led to an overhaul of production, design, marketing and logistics facilities, to which the group’s 5,000 employees, plus another 5,000 to 6,000 “satellite” workers, have had to adapt. After Alessandro Dell’Acqua, Alber Elbaz designed a capsule of accessories under the Tod’s Factory moniker, launched last summer.
Della Valle has been reviewing the role of a creative director of the women’s collections after the exit of Alessandra Facchinetti in 2016, leaving the job to the brand’s team. As reported, after five years, Andrea Incontri left his role as men’s wear creative director of the brand at the end of June. London’s Department Stores Will Get a Makeover to Celebrate the Suffragette Movement
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