Fanatic focus drives shoe firm's patriarch

SANT'ELPIDIO A MARE, Italy - Diego Della Valle, the chairman of Tod's luxury shoes, does things the old-fashioned way: by instinct. To find out if a new style of shoes will work in the marketplace, he wears them.

Despite managing Tod's like a traditional, Old World family business, Mr. Della Valle has turned it into a multinational, multibillion-dollar company, whose buttery leather moccasins are worn by the likes of Princess Stéphanie of Monaco and Gwyneth Paltrow. Hillary Rodham Clinton wielded a Tod's handbag on her first day as first lady, and Tom Hanks wears a pair of Tod's in "The Da Vinci Code."

The secret is pure Italian style, which Mr. Della Valle says is identifiable anywhere in the world. "When I am walking in Central Park, I recognize the Italians," he says of his visits to New York. "Because an Italian, even when he jogs, he's dressed perfect."