MILAN — Seven years after inaugurating a new factory in Arquata del Tronto, in Italy’s Marche region, Tod’s SpA chairman and chief executive officer Diego Della Valle and his brother Andrea Della Valle, vice chairman, on Friday were bestowed with honorary citizenship of the small town.
The honor recognized the entrepreneurs’ social commitment for reacting swiftly in 2016 in the aftermath of a devastating earthquake in August that year, which killed almost 300 people in central Italy, including 51 in Arquata del Tronto, a small town located 68 miles away from Tod’s headquarters in Casette d’Ete. In just 11 months after the deadly natural disaster, the Della Valles succeeded in erecting the factory.
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Speaking at the group’s Milan headquarters Thursday, on the eve of the ceremony, Diego Della Valle recalled visiting the area soon after the earthquake and offering support to the local mayor.
“It took me 24 hours to think about it and then I called him. A little miracle happened in 11 months,” he said.
The 21,600-square-foot manufacturing plant, which produces Tod’s footwear, currently employs 80 people, with plans to up that to 200 workers when the luxury company builds and inaugurates a second factory in the area. This would take two to three years, Della Valle said.
“When the public and private sectors want to do something together, and if that’s about common good, things can happen very quickly,” the entrepreneur offered. “I like to think and tell my colleagues who already do a lot of things that the bugbear that with public [institutions] one can hardly do anything is not true,” he said.
The investment in Arquata del Tronto, made in solidarity with the local community, was also instrumental in preserving the group’s Made in Italy production and craftsmanship, a source of pride for Della Valle.
On Thursday the entrepreneur remembered that the group has its own training school, called “Bottega dei Mestieri,” where young apprentices work hand-in-hand with older and experienced master artisans for a mutual exchange of competencies and approaches.
In the Marche region the group has recently inked a deal with the ITS professional school in Fermo, Italy, to support a two-year artisanship course, aimed at tackling the handover of skills between generations, a longstanding issue in Italy’s fashion and luxury supply chain.
Della Valle said he hopes that this kind of partnership can be scaled up with the support of the Italian government and the Minister of Enterprises and Made in Italy Adolfo Urso, with whom he has already engaged in preliminary conversations.
To be sure, the executive has long been vocal about solidarity and the social role played by companies in local territories.
“It’s been our mission for several years now to consider the social value of companies. They need to generate a profit and do whatever is needed to be strong and independent, but we should not forget that the bottom end — and no less important — is to give back part of that strength,” he said. “It’s time to dedicate part of our attention to social [matters].”
Tod’s SpA, which is delisting from the Milan Stock Exchange on June 7, as reported, earmarks 1 percent of its net profits to support social initiatives. According to sources, the investment made in 2016 for the new complex in Arquata del Tronto amounted to 10 million euros.
“The companies scattered on local territories in Italy are also points of reference for the places they are based in. And the more known ones, I think, should commit to collaborate with local institutions,” he offered.
“Considering the not so good economic condition globally, Italy included, we have to do our part and be visible…[the] Arquata del Tronto [project] signals how companies can be at the center of social life in the country and not on the side of it,” Della Valle added.
Tod’s SpA has a galaxy of charity and social support projects, from initiatives geared at disadvantaged people and youth via community centers and sport complexes to projects aimed at combating gender-based violence and the restoration of the country’s landmarks, including the Colosseum and Milan’s City Hall Palazzo Marino, among others.
“Since the 2000s we have got a model whereby the company is at the center of several circles, the first one being the people working with us and how we can make them feel good…and that’s something we achieve with our plants. The second, larger circle is about the territory where the company is based…and the third one is about doing something for the country, for Italy,” Della Valle said.