Meet our Designer & Master Furrier: Gerardo Zavala

Having been around furs since childhood in his uncle's shop, Gerardo Zavala went from attaching pockets as a child to working part-time after school during his teen years to working 17 years as an adult full-time in Alaska’s fur industry, including ten years with Alaska's largest fur manufacturer, David Green Master Furrier. There he designed and custom-made luxurious fur garments, including many for celebrities. Larry Hagman’s timber wolf coat and Willie Nelson’s buffalo coat were among his creations. 

In 1985, Gerado Zavala came to San Antonio as the protégé of Michael Mouratidis. The House of Mouratidis was the fur designer for Balenciaga Paris and it was Mouratidis Furs that represented the opening gala of the renovated Louvre Museum in 1989. Mouratidis’ international reputation for couture design and his renowned salon proved the ideal setting for Zavala to perfect his design skills.
When Mouratidis died and the company was closing, Zavala decided to fulfill his own dream. He founded Elegant Furs, LLC, at 8305 Broadway in June 2005 with the advice from Helen Noumas, a co-worker of Mouratidis who had 50 years of fur business experience. Four years later, in 2009, Elegant Furs was relocated when Zavala purchased the Ram Leather Care Building at 4434 Blanco Road.
Today while designing exquisite fur garments for an appreciative clientele, Zavala considers San Antonio’s climate and individual preferences. He creates elegant garments using light-weight, short-haired skins.

“When I design for the next season, I look for what a lady will love to wear. If you have a garment you like, you are going find ways and occasions to wear it,” says Zavala.

Elegant Furs is known for adeptly transforming beautiful but outdated long coats into contemporary garments. Customers who bring long, seldom-worn fur coats to Elegant Furs for storage are likely to be advised by Zavala to let him restyle them into a one-of-a-kind garment. Their options include a fur vest, reversible stroller, or a jacket – whatever catches their fancy.
Elegant Furs has the largest climate-controlled, fire-proof fur cold storage vault in San Antonio. The experts clean, repair and care for all fur, leather and suede garments.

We'd love the opportunity to serve you! Please feel free to contact us Monday through Saturday. We're here to serve you 9:30am-6pm. You can also send us an email and one of our friendly representatives will respond within 24hrs. Thanks in advance!