MILAN — Could a Bottega Veneta alum be next in line to succeed Walter Chiapponi at Tod’s?
Market sources in Milan say Matteo Tamburini, who works with creative director Matthieu Blazy at the Italian luxury brand, is in the running to be named creative director of Tod’s.
He would succeed Chiapponi, who left in September after the brand’s womenswear spring 2024 show and who has joined Blumarine as its new creative director.
Chiapponi shares with Tamburini years of experience at Bottega Veneta, having worked with former creative director Tomas Maier before joining Tod’s.
Chiapponi joined Tod’s in October 2019, in charge of the women’s and men’s collections for the brand. His first collection bowed with the fall 2020 season.
Chiapponi succeeded in developing understated, nonchalant yet sophisticated luxury collections that reflected the high-end lifestyle and Italian craftsmanship that Tod’s stands for. Bottega Veneta shares with Tod’s a time-honed expertise in artisanal leather goods manufacture made by hand, its storied Intrecciato weave an ongoing success, much copied around the world. Perfecting his skills at Bottega Veneta, sources believe Tamburini would be a sensible and plausible fit for Tod’s, since leather and accessories are the label’s core business.
Carlo Alberto Beretta, a former Bottega Veneta chief executive officer, joined Tod’s in February 2019 as general manager of the brand and could be a potential link with Tamburini.
Tod’s Group chairman and CEO Diego Della Valle had 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, until the arrival of Chiapponi, who supervised both women’s and men’s collections. In June 2019, after five years, Andrea Incontri left his role as menswear creative director of Tod’s.
In the first nine months of the year, Tod’s sales rose 12 percent to 408.4 million euros.
Tod’s declined comment Thursday.