Why Tod's Pashmy is the perfect warm-weather leather
Light as a feather
By 
LEATHER that moves feels like the softest of fabric may sound like a contradiction – leather is prized for its sturdiness – but that is precisely what TOD’S has achieved with Pashmy, the material at the centre of its Spring Summer 2026 collection.
For Italian luxury brand TOD’S, this signature material is a natural fit for a collection shaped by the rhythms of genuine Italian summer that requires clothing to be lived in. It forgets the glossy fantasy of the summer resort, instead embracing a more grounded ease of villeggiatura: beaches, yes, but also the weekend escape from the city for countryside open shade. For days that stretch without insisting on much. Silhouettes offer a balanced sense of comfort, with every piece articulating functionality and sartorial flair. With the light touch of activity-inspired movement.
Across the ready-to-wear, Pashmy appears in jackets, shirts, dresses and outerwear that are cut to follow the natural shape of the body but done so deftly that it never confines it. Movement and fluidity of form are achieved from a perfect balance between cut and the material – its weight and drape do the heavy lifting, which is to say they barely lift at all. Alongside the clothing, Pashmy also finds its way into footwear, including the Gommino, TOD’S most enduring design. The same softness that defines the garments carries through to the shoe, giving the collection a coherent sensibility from top to foot.
The colour palette takes its cues from Josef Albers’ studies in colour theory – hues that shift depending on what sits beside them, that change in different light. In the context of Pashmy’s smooth, fabric-like surface, that responsiveness to light becomes part of the material’s own character.
Named as a nod to pashmina, the fibre it most closely resembles in touch, Pashmy is sourced from the most prestigious tanneries and selected by master artisans who sign each hide personally – a mark that celebrates the artisanal nature of the material and the tradition of craftsmanship.
The leather can be reduced to just 0.5mm in thickness without losing structural integrity – an uncommon technical achievement, given most leathers lose body or durability long before that point. A double-dyeing process during tanning gives the leather a depth and chromatic consistency that conventional dyeing rarely achieves, while the water-repellent and stain-resistant finish is embedded directly into the fibre structure rather than applied as a surface coating, meaning softness and breathability remain entirely intact.
Only highly skilled craftspeople are capable of working Pashmy to this degree – among them, the artisans at TOD’S production facility in Italy’s Marche region, where the leather’s particular demands require both precision and experience accumulated over years.
TOD’S work with Pashmy offers a refinement of a material that they have already worked into a luxurious fabrication – taking a material with deep craft roots and asking what it can do when worked by the hands of the master.
You can now feel for yourself just how soft the craftsmen have manipulated the leather at the newly opened TOD’s flagship store on Level 4, Westfield Sydney.
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