The Teddy case

When corporate values have an impact on society

The fashion retail company is committed to building an authentic and meaningful corporate culture by actively involving employees in the process

by Luca Brambilla* and Federico Frattini**.

27 June 2025

4' min read

In a previous article we explored the concept of purpose, highlighting its transformative potential in terms of relationships. Stopping to reflect on the 'why' of one's actions implies the need to enable relational dynamics aimed at co-designing a shared meaning: an exercise increasingly common in corporate statements but still little translated into concrete practices.

It is therefore useful to tell the story of one of these 'white flies', of an organisation that has embarked on a profound, authentic and structured path of identity definition with the aim of translating its values into tangible behaviour. This is Teddy, a group in the fashion retail sector that includes brands such as Terranova, Rinascimento, Calliope and QB24.

Telling the story is Matteo Lessi, who as Director of Corporate Communications is following this process of defining and adopting the purpose. A work that has its roots in the entrepreneurial vision of the founder, Vittorio Tadei: handed down for over sixty years as 'Teddy's dream', it interprets the company as a social subject and not only as an economic operator.

A vision that gives meaning to work

For Teddy, work has never been a mere question of profit or performance, but rather an opportunity to rediscover the profound meaning of one's life. A vision of values translated into concrete choices: allocating part of the profits to non-profit projects, welcoming fragile people into the company, creating inclusive products. Actions, these, that aim to generate a positive impact on several relational levels: not only on the company and the people who revolve around it, but on the entire social context. An ambitious dream, especially in a market like fashion retail, which is highly competitive and dominated by industrial logic.

From Tadei's desire to bring value to the world, a perspective developed that Teddy is now making systemic through a structured process of purpose emergence and adoption.

Subtract to get to the essentials

Born with a family mould, Teddy has progressively adopted a managerial approach while maintaining a strong participative culture. The management team questioned how to translate this identity, strongly felt within the company walls, into a narrative that would also be coherent externally. The starting point was not to invent something new, but to recognise and formalise what already existed: lived values, concrete behaviour, shared meanings.

A process not of addition, but of subtraction. Just as a sculptor removes layers of marble to shape a work of art, the team worked to 'essentialise' the founder's value manifesto by transforming it into a clear, inspiring and palatable statement. A valuable opportunity to rediscover the social vocation of the organisation, its culture and its greater purpose.

How to define a purpose?

But how does the definition of a purpose come about? One of the practices adopted by Teddy is the so-called 'why game': asking why the company exists, why it sells a certain type of product, why it considers certain values important. It is an almost exhausting exercise, but one that allows one to dig deep into the core of the question.

In the case of Teddy, the aim is to question the innermost needs of buyers of a potentially futile object such as a garment. The aspirations guiding this reflection are threefold: to dress the world with beauty, acceptance and fulfilment. Values that go beyond the hedonistic dimension of fashion to enter a deeper sphere. After all, the purchase of a dress can represent a gesture aimed at expressing one's self, a small piece of personal fulfilment.

From ideal to concrete

The crucial point is the transition from declaration to operational coherence: purpose cannot remain confined to the value plane but must evolve practices, influence the business model. At Teddy, this did not mean changing course, but strengthening what was already in line with the vision and discarding what was no longer.

Lessi defines Teddy's path in three phases. The first is when Tadei acted consistently with his principles by not formalising them, practising impact activities without feeling the need to communicate them. In the second, realising the importance of sharing those values, he made his collaborators aware that their work would contribute to generating good, making them proud and fulfilled and formalising the 'Dream'. The third - and this is the one currently underway - is active participation: it is the employees who become protagonists of the change, acting consistently with the purpose. An active role, also supported by paradigmatic initiatives of this dimension, such as corporate citizenship programmes.

A collective work that requires courage and participation

Openly declaring one's values is an act of courage that involves the proclamation of a promise, the assumption of a responsibility that must be demonstrated. And when the consistency between declared and acted upon is real, the opportunity arises to generate benefits at all levels: to the company, to people, to society.

Evolution is constant, and every day the company matures in awareness like a child growing through daily learning. It is a big collective picture based on collaboration: if the founder defined the frame, establishing the guiding values, now it is the people - with their experiences and dreams - who paint the inside. The result is a dynamic work in continuous transformation: purpose is not a static image decided from above but a participatory experience that takes shape, and strength, thanks to everyone's contribution.

*Director of the Academy of Strategic Communication .

**Dean POLIMI Graduate School of Management