At the recent Milan Fashion Week, it was finally announced that Alessandra Facchinetti - former creative director of Valentino and Tom Ford's successor at Gucci - would present her first collection under Tod's banner this September.

The announcement was a surprise since Diego Della Valle, Tod's chairman, had only hinted at hiring a new talent with a background in ready-to-wear when we spoke to him late last year. "Three seasons from now we will have more apparel, with an important focus on leather," he had said then. "Basic, high-quality products that people need, like a leather jacket and leather jeans. I would love to have a person who knows leather."

And now he has. After building an enviable retail empire on Gommino driving shoes, ballerina flats and other classic accessories (consolidated group sales were 749.9 million euros, or S$1.2 billion, in the first nine months of FY2012), any spectacular growth plans would require expanding Tod's range.

Enter Ms Fachinetti, who made headlines when she was dismissed just two seasons after replacing founder Valentino Garavani at the luxury house in 2008. Despite a patchy track record, the Italian designer knows about quality - she created a high-end range for outerwear brand Moncler and spent seven years at Miu Miu.

She will be charged with, no doubt, satiating the demands of the label-loving Chinese consumer.

"It was very early days, when we opened our store in the first luxury shopping mall in China, Plaza 66 in Shanghai," recalls Mr DDV (as Tod's staff call him) at an interview in the brand's new office in Hong Kong which he was visiting en route to China. "Before, there was no market, and now there is a big market. The Chinese love quality and especially exclusivity. If you sell too much in too many cities, this may become a problem in future. You want to remain exclusive, without any brand dilution."

Rapid growth in China

Not that his plans for China have been anything close to conservative. Nine years since its first store opening, there are currently 30 Tod's stores in 22 cities. "We didn't think there would be growth so quickly," admits the 59-year-old grandfather. "The very top level of shoppers in China are as sophisticated as Europeans or Americans, and the rest who perhaps don't travel much still love the brand and are on their way to reaching the same level (of discernment)."

Although he has picked Asian-American designers like Derek Lam and Thakoon Panichgul to lead the creative operations of his brands, an understanding of the Asian market isn't a prerequisite. "Asian customers are very similar to those around the world," he points out.

"It is important that the designer has a special sense of creativity, and at the same time does not forget the roots of the brand." Indeed, one of the retail maverick's many talents lies in his ability to align his labels - which include Hogan, Roger Vivier, casualwear label Fay and a pending relaunch of couture house Elsa Schiaparelli - with tastemakers du jour.

Having unveiled its second collection by Jefferson Hack, publisher of Dazed & Confused magazine and Kate Moss's ex, Hogan recently launched a collaboration with fashion stylist and long-time Marc Jacobs collaborator Katie Grand. Main line Tod's has also tapped fashion blogger Denni Elias of www.chicmuse.com for its Tod's Touch project, an online lifestyle magazine.

Perhaps Mr Della Valle's penchant for spotting young, up-and-coming talents could be attributed to his own lofty ambitions as a young business upstart in the 1970s.

Then, his father had a thriving business producing high-quality shoes for foreign stores like Neiman Marcus. After a visit to New York to improve his English and to learn more about international retail business, Mr Della Valle returned home to show dad a pair of shoddy Portuguese-made moccasins. There was a global demand, he explained, for well-made, casual-luxe accessories.

"The idea of 'sportif-chic', with a focus on leather, was an experiment because I thought there was an opportunity in the market," says the mogul.

When asked if he had imagined growing the business to its current glory, at the beginning of his career, he says: "Yes. Maybe not the results that we have today, but the idea was precise. It was my focus. The idea is to do what I do today but with one difference: when I was young I thought it would be a fantastic life. Now, not so much!"

A way of life

This Spring/Summer season, Mr Della Valle is once again offering a pragmatic product to his customers - a range of man bags under the Double Stripe collection. "It's not a trendy product and it's not just one bag, it's a way of life. We have 250 stores in the world and there are always requests from male customers with precise tastes for hand- and custom-made bags."

While he hosts vacations for journalists and business partners in his villa at Capri (housed in an old monastery on a hill), or on his yacht, once owned by John F Kennedy, Della Valle has an aversion to affectation, as revealed through an anecdote he shares at dinner when the conversation turns to wine appreciation: during a party on his yacht, a wine aficionado acquaintance was waxing lyrical about a particular vintage that he thought they were consuming.

Mr Della Valle didn't have the heart to confess that he had set aside the bottle of vintage, and the decanter was actually filled with a very pedestrian wine.

He makes it very clear what his priorities are. "Business is part of life, but it's not my whole life. What is important to me is important to everyone else: family and health. That's it. Normal. And free time. Luxury would be if I could go out, take a taxi, leave and come back in three weeks, without notice."

When asked if he's made mistakes during his 40-year career, Mr Della Valle replies: "Every day! But my people are very nice and don't remind me of my mistakes. It's important not to be nervous, to go back and find the right path. It's only bags and shoes at the end of the day." Now tell that to the shareholders and consumers with a ravenous appetite for luxury.

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