Gallery: Go Inside the Workshop of the Custom-Sneaker King
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This Space Is the Place Headquarters for JBFcustoms (Ferrato’s middle name is Blaise) is 5 minutes from downtown Cleveland. The 25-year-old sneaker guru sews his ultrarare wares here, in a 2,000-square-foot warehouse loft. “There weren’t any YouTube videos for this when I started,” Ferrato says. “It was all trial and error—mostly error.” | Designer Desk Elevated on cinder blocks, Ferrato’s triplex bench allows him to stand while he works. He built it with cheap Home Depot parts, but the materials stored in and on it are precious: exotic leathers, industrial glues, specialized hardware, and well-used hand tools—the stuff that sneakerhead dreams are made of.
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Sole Man Annual production hovers at 75 pairs, making every shoe a limited edition. Although Ferrato focuses on designing his own line and indulging the whims of celebs with exclusive one-of-one collabs, he still does the occasional Nike homage to appease loyal customers. To order a JBF reconstruction, you can tweak an existing brand’s model—clients specify colors, materials, and things like piping—but you can’t make changes to the shoe pattern. Prices start at $1,000. Well-heeled sneakerheads who prefer to design their own silhouette can commission a signature shoe. This is serious grail territory and entails multiple sketches and intensive brainstorming. The conversation starts at $2,500 and rises quickly. Of course, Ferrato’s shoes, no matter the price, get special insoles: cork layered with suede. “Suede is more comfortable and grippy than smooth leather,” he says. “It prevents your foot from sliding around.”
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Built to Last The shoe last is a fundamental element in the craft of cordwainery. This is the foundation on which patterns are cut and leather is stretched. These lasts, in sizes from 6 to 15, were custom-made to precisely fit the premium rubber outsoles Ferrato prefers.
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Rubber Baron A box of Margom soles waiting to be married to JBF uppers. Adidas Boost and Nike Lunarlon tech is nice, but for long life and understated elegance, nothing beats a beefy rubber sole. These are the same Italian-made cup soles used by tony design houses and chic footwear brands. For a tight fit, each sole is cemented to the upper and reinforced with stitching.
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Assembly Line Sewing leather shoes together is like filling out the *NYT* crossword puzzle with a pen. There’s no margin for error. Mistakes will happen if you use a puny Singer. That’s why there are four industrial sewing machines at the JBF loft. Each has a different configuration that allows the needle to reach various parts of the shoe.
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Home Stretch Those aren’t steampunk nail clippers. They’re lasting pincers: blunt-nosed pliers used to stretch the upper material over the last. Those skinny tacks are hammered into the underside of the last to secure the upper in place.
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Look Sharp Old-school fanatic that he is, Ferrato uses only Japanese and European skiving knives. What is skiving? It’s the tedious process of thinning the edges of a piece of leather so that all the pattern pieces fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. “One hundred percent handcrafting, zero percent bullshit,” Ferrato says proudly.
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Snake Charmer Ferrato has a thing for exotic skins: ostrich, lizard, and even shark. His most in-demand luxe leather is python. Dyed in a wide spectrum of vivid colors, this hide is coveted for its bold scale pattern and texture.
