1898–1960 
SHOE DESIGNER ITALY AND UNITED STATES
As a designer [Salvatore Ferragamo] has made an indelible mark on the fashion and entertainment industry, creating timeless, classic designs since the 1920s worn the world over by Hollywood’s elite.
—LINDA J. BRISKMAN, BEVERLY HILLS MAYOR, PRESENTING THE RODEO DRIVE AWARD TO SALVATORE FERRAGAMO
Salvatore smiled as he held the shoes up to the light. His sister would look lovely at her confirmation ceremony the next day. Then his eye caught a droplet of glue seeping out from between the cardboard sole and the piece of canvas he’d used for the toe. He carefully angled his tool to scrape off the adhesive without scuffing the white canvas. There, now they were perfect. Though the materials were basic, the shoes were stylish and comfortable.
The next day, nine-year-old Salvatore watched proudly as his sister strode confidently and gracefully down the aisle of the church. He wondered if other people in the congregation were admiring his handiwork, and at that moment he knew, without a doubt, that his passion in life was to design and craft shoes.
Salvatore Ferragamo was born in 1898 in Bonito, Italy, a small town about sixty-four miles from Naples. He was the eleventh of fourteen children, and though his parents were full of love, the family was poor. When four of Salvatore’s older brothers left for America with dreams of striking it rich, they wanted him to go with them. But Salvatore wasn’t ready yet. First he wanted learn the art and science of shoemaking by apprenticing with a shoemaker in Naples. Then, at thirteen, he opened his own shoe shop in his parents’ house in Bonito.
His brothers wrote from America with news that they had found work in Boston; one was even working in a boot factory! Salvatore was intrigued by the idea of mass producing shoes. So far, all the shoes he’d made had been produced by hand, which took time. Learning to manufacture hundreds or even thousands of shoes at one time seemed to be the way of the future. He started saving his money, and by fourteen, he had a ticket to America, where he would join his brothers.
The factory was disappointing for Salvatore, though. While the machinery was fascinating, the boots were far from comfortable—heavy, stiff, and awkwardly shaped—and Salvatore realized the true value of handcrafted shoes. He wanted to make shoes that were comfortable and stylish.
There were six pairs of ruby slippers for filming THE WIZARD OF OZ. The pair actress Judy Garland danced in had felt bottoms so they wouldn’t make noise on the yellow brick road. Four pairs still exist today—one is at the Smithsonian, and one is displayed at the Disney MGM Studio. The third pair was sold in 2000 for $666,000, and the fourth pair was stolen from the Judy Garland Museum in 2005. Who knows where they are now?
While working on the East Coast, Salvatore watched the West Coast become a major hot spot of America. The movie business was booming. The first movie studio in Hollywood opened in 1911, and by 1919, Salvatore knew that was where he wanted to be. Who better to design and make shoes for than movie stars? He bought a shoe repair shop in Santa Barbara, California, and soon upgraded to a shop in Hollywood, where he became known as the Shoemaker for the Stars. Some of his clients included Audrey Hepburn, Eva Perón, and Marilyn Monroe. He even made the famous ruby slippers for the movie The Wizard of Oz!
But Salvatore thought he could do better. The stars loved the shoes he designed and made—they were fashionable and unique—but his shoes still weren’t known for being comfortable. He started going to anatomy classes at the University of Southern California, studying the way the bones connect in the foot and which part of the foot holds the majority of a person’s weight. With this knowledge, he began to make small changes in his shoe design so his clients would be not only fashionable but also comfortable. It was a brilliant move—his shoes became even more popular, and before long, he couldn’t make shoes fast enough to keep up with all his customers’ orders.
Salvatore’s shoes were truly an art form. He used colors in ways no one else did, and he reshaped the idea of the heel. While other designers were sticking with the standard pump heel, Salvatore made platforms, cage heels, wedges, and stilettos. In one design, he was inspired by recent archaeological finds in Egypt, and the shoe heel is shaped like an upside-down pyramid!
It was time to expand. But the American solution to the need to make more products at a faster rate was mass production, and Salvatore had already witnessed the kind of shoes that resulted in. He thought about hiring other shoemakers like himself to work in his shop, but he felt American shoemakers did not have the same focus on quality he had learned when he was a boy apprenticing in Italy. And so it was decided—Salvatore would move back to Italy, where he would open a shoe shop staffed with the best shoemakers he could find.
In 1927, Salvatore opened his shop in Florence, Italy. He designed the workshop carefully, combining assembly line techniques he’d learned in the Boston boot factory with the manual shoe-making techniques he’d been practicing for years. It worked wonderfully. Orders from American stars, as well as many other prominent people around the world, poured in.
But only two years later, the Great Depression left many Americans poor, and Salvatore’s American sales dropped off. He continued to make shoes for Italians, though, and his business continued to expand. But then he faced another challenge: World War II was brewing, and the materials Salvatore used to make shoes, such as leather, were hard to find. But Salvatore had faced this kind of challenge before, back when he was nine and making shoes for his sister. He knew how to be creative while making shoes!
Some of Salvatore Ferragamo’s most famous shoe designs are from this era. He designed women’s shoes with cork soles that formed a wedge under the heel. Instead of using leather for the upper part of the shoe, he wove raffia to enclose the toe and wrap around the ankle. He also used hemp, plastic, wood, wire, felt, and fish skin as materials.
While World War II was taking over Europe and bombs were falling on Italy, Salvatore fell in love. In 1940 he married Wanda Miletti, from his hometown of Bonito, and they eventually had six children—three boys and three girls.
After World War II, Italy began rebuilding its country. People from all over the world started buying Salvatore’s shoes again, and his success was seen as a symbol of Italy’s bright future. In 1947 Salvatore won the prestigious Neiman Marcus Fashion Award for what he called invisible shoes. The straps were made of thin, clear plastic, but the wedge heel added height and shaped the person’s feet and lower legs. It was a breakthrough in the fashion world, and the crowds went crazy for it.
Over the next few years, Salvatore would continue making shoes—one pair was crafted completely out of gold—while he also opened a store in New York City and started designing handbags. He died in 1960, but his wife and children continued the business for him.
Now, the Salvatore Ferragamo brand is famous for high-end shoes, bags, suits, scarves, ties, eyewear, watches, and perfume. Salvatore Ferragamo stores are open in cities around the world, including Shanghai, China, where a statue of a platform shoe adorns the front of the store. The Salvatore Ferragamo Museum in Italy opened in 1995 and was remodeled and expanded in 2006.
From his early shoe designs of cardboard and canvas to his fanciest shoes of pure gold, Salvatore Ferragamo’s lifelong dedication to shoes has influenced fashion around the world. In 2003 Salvatore was honored as a fashion legend with the Rodeo Drive Walk of Style Award.