MILAN — After three years, Alessandra Facchinetti is leaving her role as creative director of Tod’s women’s collections. Her last collection was for fall.
“I would like to thank Alessandra for her contribution to Tod’s,” said chairman and chief executive officer Diego Della Valle. “We wanted to develop the Italian Style as well as a strong point of view in fashion, presenting a show not to be missed in Milan and we have reached these objectives. I have given much consideration to this decision; we came to this conclusion after a thoughtful conversation and I wish Alessandra all the best for her future endeavors.”
To be sure, when he tapped Facchinetti in February 2013, Della Valle had big plans to expand the luxury brand with a ready-to-wear division. The first collection under Facchinetti bowed for spring 2014 in Milan.
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“This is a project about luxury and culture. It’s the right moment to further boost our products that are made in Italy, with a top designer,” said Della Valle at the time.
Facchinetti said she was looking at focusing “on other projects that I have put aside in order to be able to achieve Tod’s strategies. It has been an honor to work with this extraordinary family company which puts quality, craftsmanship and excellency at the center of its business and I am grateful to Tod’s and especially to Diego and Andrea Della Valle, who have given me outstanding support and who will remain dear friends.”
Prior to joining Tod’s, Facchinetti, a former Gucci and Valentino head designer, had worked with Pinko to launch the Uniqueness brand in 2011. At Tod’s, Facchinetti succeeded Derek Lam, but her remit was much broader than Lam’s, who did primarily capsule collections rather than the full line of ready-to-wear that Facchinetti designed.
With Facchinetti, Tod’s began to hold runway shows in Milan and was always careful to emphasize the company’s craftsmanship and leather expertise.
Tod’s is the leading brand under the Tod’s SpA group, which includes Hogan, Fay and Roger Vivier and is publicly listed on the Italian Stock Exchange.
In March, Tod’s reported a slight decrease in net profit for 2015 as a result of higher operating and financial costs. The company said net profit in 2015 was 92.7 million euros, or $101.22 million, down from 97.1 million euros, or $129.9 million the year before.
Revenues reached 1.04 billion euros, or $1.14 billion, up 7.4 percent on the year earlier, on the back of global growth in the company’s retail and wholesale channels, combined with an acceleration in the last quarter of the year. At constant exchange, sales rose 1.8 percent.
Dollar figures were converted from the euro at average exchange for the periods to which they refer.
Commenting on the results at the time, Della Valle said he believed that — along with the company’s having completed its product range — a strong attention to costs, enhancement of the digital presence and “good acceptance” of the summer collections now in store “will allow us to achieve good results also this year.”