Shoes are the new cars

How a collaboration between heritage fashion label Tod’s and renowned designer Alber Elbaz is bringing happiness the world over with a new capsule collection

Getting behind the wheel and onto the open road can evoke strong emotions: joy, happiness, excitement, a sense of freedom.

Happiness can be elusive, yet for car enthusiasts, it’s easily found; buckling yourself into your beloved automobile, and experiencing the joy of the finely-tuned engine as you weave through a bend, accelerating out the other side.

Towards the end of the 70s, Diego Della Valle, owner of Italian luxury fashion label Tod’s, saw an opportunity to build on the original design of the driving shoe, which first emerged in the 60s to give the driver a more intimate feel of the pedals. Della Valle wanted to design soft, comfortable driving shoes for everyone, not just the wealthy — and not just for driving.

He enhanced the shoe with a rubber sole — at the time considered cheap and lacking class — and combined it with fine leather; the result: a pair of gloves for the feet. It was a turning point for Tod’s and set the future direction for the renowned fashion brand.

Tod’s latest evolution in the fashionable driving shoe is a “happy” development, a collaboration between renowned Israeli designer Alber Elbaz and the heritage fashion label.

Elbaz’s starting point for the collection, which also includes bags and T-shirts, was the iconic and beloved driving shoe. He says he wanted to capture and transform its true spirit for the next generation.

Of the driving shoe, Elbaz says: “When you come to Paris, where I live, there are a lot of roads that are saturated because now there are so many roads for pedestrians only. So maybe shoes are the new cars — that’s how I imagined this project. I also wanted to change the shoe’s sole without changing the soul of Tod’s.”

Elbaz, a former creative director of Lanvin in Paris, famous for its impeccably chic cocktail dresses, signed on with Tod’s after its chairman, Diego Della Valle, invited him to visit “just for pasta”. Elbaz’s impression of Tod’s was a beautiful group of artists and artisans, working together like one big family.

The renowned designer has given his spin to Tod’s DNA, imagining new contexts for the driving shoes, making them aerodynamic, bright, unstructured or mounted on sneaker soles, sometimes swarming in logos, other times not.

Bringing happiness to the world, Tod’s Happy Moments was unveiled in Paris at the beginning of July and will now tour other international capitals, landing in the shops through two different in-season drops.

Happy accidents do happen. Alber Elbaz found ways, by accident, to use neoprene for a dash of tech or metallic finishes for a sprinkle of shine. His idea of happiness is all-encompassing, touching everything from the logo to the packaging, from shoes to bags and T-shirts. Happiness is contagious and is immediate, he says, as joy should be.

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Content produced for Tod’s. Read our policy on commercial content here.