Having over 40 years of experience, Gerardo Zavala has been around furs since childhood in his uncle’s shop. He went from attaching pockets as a child to cutting furs as a teenager 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, Gerardo 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 passed away and the company was closing, Zavala decided to fulfill his own dream. He founded Elegant Furs, LLC, at 8305 Broadway in June 2005, with 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 created elegant garments using lightweight, short-haired skins. Elegant Furs is known for adeptly transforming beautiful but outdated long coats into contemporary garments. Customers who bring seldom-worn long furs to Elegant Furs for storage are likely to be advised by Zavala to let him restyle them into one-of-a-kind garments. Their options include a fur vest, a 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.