Published
Feb 4, 2022
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Tod’s launches new student collab’ with Instituto Marangoni, Florence and Milan

Published
Feb 4, 2022

Tod’s has launched an exciting new collaboration project with students from Instituto Marangoni’s two Italian campuses, in Florence and Milan, which starts today.


A sketch by Leyla Babayeva - Photo: Tod's Academy - Photo: Tod's Academy


 
Entitled Tod’s Re-Generation, the collab links Tod’s with students in Istituto Marangoni in both Florence and Milan.
 
This project launches one year after the Italian luxury marque unveiled Tod’s Legacy, a link-up with students from Central Saint Martins in London, in a “borderless selection” from the master’s course of the UK fashion school.

“After the collaboration with Central Saint Martins in London, we had the desire to support an Italian school within Tod's Academy. Tod's Academy is a laboratory of ideas based in our HQ in the Marche region, imagined as a place for doing and thinking, in which our artisans accompany and support young people, offering them skills and techniques to make products. It is the expression of the highest culture of Made in Italy and is designed with a view to generational continuity, to give impetus to young creatives and help them in their growth path,” explained Carlo Alberto Beretta, Tod’s Brand Manager.
 
For its latest linkup Tod’s Academy has selected 20 students from either college in Milan and Florence, historically Italy’s two most important fashion capitals. The lucky score have already been working at Tod’s headquarters in the eastern Le Marche region of Italy since December. Giving them time to imagine, create and produce their first works, while being supported by high profile industry mentors.


A shoe design by Anita Boiocchi - Photo: Tod's Academy - Photo: Tod's Academy


 
“At the heart of the Tod's Re-Generation project is sustainability. For Tod's Legacy, the first chapter of Tod's Academy in collaboration with Central Saint Martins, the young students were asked to give their own interpretation of one or more codes of our brand, focusing on the creative process that led to the final proposal. For Tod's Re-Generation, the young students of Istituto Marangoni were inspired by the values ​​and DNA of Tod's, creating products with a strong focus on sustainability, an increasingly central theme for all the initiatives that our company has been undertaking for some time," added Carlo Alberto Beretta.
 
The 20 young talents who were invited into the project are Francesca Chavarri, Natalie Baekkel, Anahita Alebuoyeh, Efan Mousavi, Giorgio Cinosi, Leyla Babayeva, Maria Elvira Nates, Phoebe Adams, Pragya Wadhawan, Anita Elena Boiochhi, Salvatore Caropreso, Beatrice Da Costa, Qiongwen Qiao, Giuseppe Danza, Ritika Sankpal, Anna Chiara Mormille, Veronica Tanzillo, Ylenia Anna Caliri, Alexandre Baldissera and Shang Chun-Kai.
 
While the mentor team assembled by Tod’s was decidedly high profile. They are: Laura Brown, Editor in Chief of InStyle USA; Tonne Goodman, Sustainability Editor at Vogue USA; Gert Jonkers, Editor in Chief of Fantastic Man; Gianluca Longo, Style Editor of British Vogue and Style Director of The World of Interiors;  Sara Sozzani Maino, Head of Special Projects Vogue Italia and International Brand Ambassador Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana; and Simone Marchetti, Editor in Chief of Vanity Fair Italia and European editorial director of Vanity Fair.


A T-shirt design by Natalie Baekkel - Photo: Tod's Academy - Photo: Tod's Academy


 
“During the journey within the Tod's Academy, students are supported by mentors, including some of the most prestigious international editors, authoritative characters whose point of view and whose knowledge are an invaluable help and enrichment for students,” stressed Carlo Alberto Beretta.
 
All of the students subtly played on key elements on the Tod’s DNA: the studded rubber gommino; the ever-present lion; leather; weekend boots and, of course multiple moccasins.
 
Baekkel’s theme entitled 'Hic Sunt Leones', or Here are the Lions, featured head of lion T-shirts and soft silk scarves. Alebuoyeh focused on the material cork, with post-modern platform clogs and sandals, and 'T'-trimmed totes.
 
Humor was important in many themes, like Mousavi’s space-age concept of techy spaceship Driver loafers, booties or sliders finished with gommino stubs. Like several students, Mousavi included a whole series of commercial strategies – from storytelling hashtags to guerilla marketing in urban Milan during the runway season.
 
Despite her name, Babayeva’s project 'Ride Out to the Old Sundown' was all about the Wild West, featuring cowboy boots with spurs; posh hiker boots with lion buckles; and suede Comanche moccasins with 'T-'patterned logo soles. Fellow student Adams looked to Venice, with a split platform sole Rain Boot inspired by 16th century Chopine shoes worn in the Lagoon City, designed to be displayed in a floating pop-up during the Venice Film Festival. 
 
Boiochhi combined fine jewelry and Italian movie legends to dream up courtly platforms with chunky crystal straps and trim, and ladylike purses in Zebra skin. While Sankpal concentrated on sculptural shapes in a very coherent display of ergonomic boots, sleek high-collar coats, and shoulder bags in alternative leathers made of Vegan Cactus. Her strategy called for a pottery workshop and dinner. Jour Zéro, a project by Caliri, focused on Tod’s iconic gommino, reinventing the moccasin as a knubby hipster shoe with huge rubber studs. 


Designs by Shang Chun-Kai, inlcuding the bicycle pannier (top left), shade tent backpack and cushion tote - Image: Tod's Academy - Image: Tod's Academy


Among the most striking new ideas from the new generation are a Dolomia bike pannier by Shang Chun Kai, with a 'T'-logo clip to attach to the bike, and a bag that offers both heat insulation and heat preservation; Vesuvio bike shoes and Acqurino hiking boots, often made in a zany patchwork leathers.
 
“These projects can enrich the Tod's world with further facets, new visions and new values,” concluded Carlo Alberto Beretta.
  
A dedicated website allows global exposure and reach for the young creatives. It opened today.

Tod's

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