We adore Salvatore Ferragamo. Check out the spring summer 2015 collection and fab styles we think you may like. This designer was born in Bonito, Italy on 1898. Since an early age he was an apprenticed as a shoemaker. At the age of sixteen he emigrated to the United States, and soon after found a job at the Queen Quality Shoe Company. In 1923 Ferragamo opened a Hollywood boot shop in Los Angeles where he designed shoes that were handmade for celebrities and silent film stars until 1927. His business had great success and his designs were sold by stores such as Gimbel’s and Saks Fifth Avenue. Private commissions came from celebrities including Sophia Loren, Gloria Swanson, the Duchess of Windsor, and Audrey Hepburn. He also worked with American manufacturers to design mass-produced shoes as well.
In 1927 he returned to Italy and opened a workshop in the city of Florence, where he created custom-fitted, distinctively designed shoes. In 1949, Ferragamo married Wanda Miletti with whom he had six children, Fiamma, Giovanna, Ferruccio, Fulvia, Leonardo and Massimo.
In 1936 Salvatore Ferragamo invented the wedge heel, and subsequently platform soles and metal support in high heels. He created over 20,000 styles in his lifetime and registered 350 patents, including oriental mules with a unique pointed toe, patented by Ferragamo at the end of the 1930s. In 1947 Ferragamo also invented the invisible shoe, made with an upper part of clear nylon and a black suede heel. In 1937, he purchased the elegant thirteenth-century Palazzo Spini-Feroni, one of the most historic buildings of the city, which became his workplace and showroom. By 1939 Ferragamo’s company had four hundred employees producing two hundred pairs of handmade shoes per day.
Salvatore Ferragamo died on August 7, 1960 in Fiumetto, Italy. His family continued to run the business and in addition to producing quality shoes branched out into accessories and designer apparel. Wife Wanda ran the firm; daughter Fiamma took over designing and producing the shoes; Giovanna initiated women’s ready-to-wear; Ferruccio his mother run the company; Fulvia handled all accessories bearing the firm’s name; Leonardo oversaw marketing and introduced Ferragamo to Asia; and Massimo headed the North American operations. Link into the world of http://www.ferragamo.com
