Del Toro Expands Into New Shoe Categories This Summer, Aims to Have ‘More Fun’ With Designs

Del Toro is kicking off summer with an expanded product offering as the luxury footwear brand looks to widen its assortment.

According to Del Toro owner and chief executive officer Brady Perrigo, the made-in-Italy shoe brand has launched a new collection consisting of 12 new silhouettes and 49 new colorways, including nine new silhouettes for women. This collection includes the debut of unisex sandals and boat shoes in time for summer.

Perrigo told FN in an interview that the robust lineup of newness came after the team created a large portfolio of new ideas over the past four years, but never put them into production. “We finally had the opportunity to sit down and knock out some of the designs we’ve been sitting on for a while,” the CEO said. “Some of the silhouettes are super timely, like the boat shoes, but I also can’t believe we waited this long to make them. Overall, though, I’m really happy with the way it turned out.”

The footwear executive also credited Del Toro’s Ryder Cup collaboration last year as the turning point in terms of “adventurous” new designs.

“I think coming out of the Ryder Cup is really when we kind of sat down and decided to ramp up our design pipeline,” Perrigo said. “We have a fairly high repeat purchase rate for our footwear category. What happens is that people either buy the black velvet slipper and convert over to the Milano or vice versa. And we realized that our customer wants more from us, so we should probably give them more.”

Looking ahead, Perrigo continued to tease the brand’s second collection with Greyson Clothiers. In April, Del Toro released a limited-edition green velvet loafer with Greyson just days before The Masters tournament. Later this year, the duo will be back again with another drop. “Collabs are a big focus for us moving forward,” the CEO said. “We have some fun ones coming up that will see us expand into more accessory categories, like jewelry, as well as home.”

But ultimately, Perrigo wants everyone to know that Del Toro is about to have a whole lot more fun this year. “Going forward, we are going to have more fun with our designs, for sure,” he added. “More fun from a silhouette perspective, from a colorway perspective and from a material perspective. We’re also going to really expand the women’s line a bit. That’s one thing that we’ve taken a step back from in the past that we’re revisiting now.”