Tod's announced on Tuesday, November 10, that Matteo Tamburini is stepping down as creative director, closing a tenure of just under three years at the Italian house. The company named no successor and published no departure date. In the same statement, Tod's tied the change to its own strategy rather than to the designer: the move is in line with a decision to communicate the brand's values more decisively, naming what makes its codes distinctive and "the artisanal quality of its products", alongside the Italian lifestyle the house represents.
Tamburini arrived in December 2023 from Bottega Veneta, where he had spent six years as a head designer for leather garments, outerwear and tailoring for men and women. At Tod's he succeeded Walter Chiapponi and took charge of both the women's and the men's collections, a single pair of hands across the whole wardrobe of a house whose fame rests on a shoe. His first collection, for fall 2024, was shown during Milan Fashion Week. His last, for spring 2027, was shown in Milan this September.
The farewells, as published, were courteous on both sides. Diego Della Valle, the group's chairman and chief executive officer, said: "I would like to thank Matteo for his creative and professional contribution throughout his tenure, for his commitment and for the work carried out in close collaboration with the company's teams." He wished the designer every success in his future professional endeavors. Tamburini replied in kind, calling his time at the house "an important chapter in my professional journey". He said it had given him the opportunity to bring his creative vision to the brand, that he was proud of what they had achieved together, and that he was grateful to the Della Valle family for the opportunity.
Read the company's own explanation closely and the vacancy explains itself. Tod's did not say the clothes were wrong. It said the communication of the brand's values should be more decisive, which is a different complaint: about how the house describes itself, not about what its ateliers make. The products named in the statement are values, codes, artisanal quality and lifestyle, a list in which the ready-to-wear collection appears only by implication. For a house built on the Gommino driving shoe and on leather goods, the statement reads as a decision to lead with the product codes that made the name, and to let the wardrobe follow.
The change also completes a year of new leadership at the group. Tod's was taken private in 2024, delisted from the Milan exchange after the tender offer backed by L Catterton. John Galantic took the chief executive job in September 2024 and left it at the end of April 2026, a tenure of under two years. Della Valle now holds the chairman and chief executive roles together, which means the next creative decision at Tod's, whether that is a named successor, a studio arrangement or no creative director at all, will be taken by the family principal himself rather than delegated to a hired chief executive.
That open question is the real story of the announcement. The single creative director model, one name across men's and women's collections, is the arrangement Tod's has used since Chiapponi. Nothing in the November 10 statement commits the house to keeping it. A brand that announces it wants to communicate its codes more decisively has left itself every option: a new name, a collective studio, or a product-led structure in which the shoe and the bag carry the identity and the clothes are designed around them. Each option tells models, stylists and the Milan calendar something different about how the next Tod's show will be cast and credited.
For the trade, the immediate facts are narrow and should be kept narrow. A creative director of three years has gone. His final collection is already shown and will sell through as spring 2027. No successor, no interim name and no effective date have been announced, and any name attached to the job before the company announces it is speculation. What Tod's has put on the record is a reason, a thank-you and a direction of travel: back towards the codes. The house that built its name on a sole with rubber pebbles is telling the market that the pebbles were the point all along.
