Salvatore Ferragamo Italia S.p.A. designs, manufactures, and distributes shoes, leather goods, accessories, fragrances, and apparel for men and women in Italy. It offers handbags and small leather goods, scarves and ties, men's and women's ready to wear, bijoux, watches, and eyewear products. Salvatore Ferragamo markets its products through a network of stores. The company was founded in 1927 and is based in Florence, Italy.
Salvatore Ferragamo emigrated from southern Italy to Boston and then California in 1914. He opened the Hollywood Boot Shop in 1923, and made shoes for movie stars such as Joan Crawford and Gloria Swanson, as well as for films such as Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments. He returned to Italy and set up a shoe shop in Florence in 1927. However the modern shoemaking company regards 1928 as the date of its foundation and so is celebrating its 80th anniversary in 2008. Salvatore filed for bankruptcy in 1933,during the Great Depression, but by 1938 he was in a position to buy the Palazzo Spini Feroni, one of the great palaces of Florence, which now houses the company's flagship store and museum.
The company flourished after World War II, expanding the workforce to 700 craftsmen producing 350 pairs of hand-made shoes a day. After Salvatore's death in 1960, his widow Wanda took over the running of the business and expanded its operations to include eyewear, perfume, belts, scarves, handbags, watches, and a ready to wear clothing line. Production has expanded from 6500 pairs of shoes in 1960 to 10,000 pairs in 2007.
Salvatore Ferragamo received most of his initial popularity from his incredible footwear designs. Ferragamo shoes were designed with the utmost quality and style and were a huge hit among consumers and fashion critics. After receiving so much popularity from the footwear collection, Salvatore began branching off into other sectors of the fashion industry. His outstanding handbag and accessory lines were also a huge hit and have become some of the most popular designs in the industry. The pieces found in Salvatore Ferragamo handbags and accessories collections are highly professional and exude sophistication and class.
Source: Wikipedia , Businessweek
