In a Profession Under Fire, an Old Time Furrier Thrives By Saving Vintage Fur Coats
Raffelo’s Furs in Chelsea is run by a second generation furrier. And while the fur of animals used in pelts and coats has come under fire, the owner who learned the trade as a youth in Tajikstan, says these days he is mostly restoring vintage coats.
| 14 Jan 2025 | 01:59
There’s always a steady hum of customers coming to Raffelo’s Furs. Most of the customers to the shop which has been at the same W. 13th St. shop since 1994, are interested in restoring their vintage furs. (
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While the sign on the door says “Raffelo’s Furs,” the proprietor, Rafael Allayev, has a special affinity for shoes. He learned the cobbler trade from his father, growing up in Tajikstan. (
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Winter took its time to pull the mercury down to its properly frigid levels, but now that temperatures seem to have hit their infernal stride, it calls for warmer, cozier and more substantial apparel.
As such, walking past the small storefront on W. 13th St. for Raffaelo’s Furs just became all the more attractive. Filled to the brim with mink, sable and chinchilla (his favorite), there remains only room for the proprietor, Rafael Allayev, and the customer with whom he is working, of which there always seems to be a steady flow.
Allayev learned the cobbling trade from his father, Khanan Allayev, as a youth in Tajikstan. The elder Allayev, now age 94, was an expert cobbler, which is also how his son began his own craftsmanship. He still gets advice from his dad, although his father is no longer practicing the art, proudly proclaiming himself “real cobbler... no joke!” And it is truly an art; while the junior Allayev began with shoes back in Tajikstan, he branched out into furs and outerwear when he moved to Moscow, motivated by the extreme cold.
Since then, he has become quite a notable presence in the garment district with his own shop since 1994. He has evolved with his customer, focusing now more on rehabilitation and redesign of garments and footwear, rather than selling new creations, but is capable and worthy of both. With this strategy, though, much of the disdain for furs is avoided, in that he deals with vintage pieces and salvaging heirlooms.
His favorite task, however, is still the shoes–the apple falling not far from the tree. He specializes in custom shoes for problem feet, and can completely reimagine a shoe into something both wearable and appealing to its owner. In fact, he highlighted his favorite project of all time for me, a redesigned Dior bootie, taking it from its scuffed, dated, squared-off pointy toe to a sassy, contemporary rounded silhouette, improving the look of the shoe exponentially. The client was thrilled to say the least.
Much of the business fluctuates with the season, though, so now is high time for furs and outerwear. Liz Khalevich, a teller at a nearby TD Bank, came across Allayev by chance, and is now a repeat customer. They discussed the details of the fur she was having remade in their native Russian, but Khalevich confided that it not just their shared heritage: “he is fast and good,” she boasts, and has only been happy with the results. As soon as she left, another client came in to pick up her commissioned jacket: the store is almost always humming.
And these are just the day-to-day layperson customers, but Allayev caters to a celebrity clientele as well. He has worked with Fifty Cent, Mark Anthony, Busta Rhymes, Lil’ Kim, Britney Spears... but he is reticent to drop names. His work speaks for itself, and he doesn’t need star-studded endorsements to float his ego. In fact, he often works with A-List clients without even recognizing them until after the fact. He is focused on the work at hand; not pop culture and who might be gracing the big screen.
Any current contempt for furs or animal products has for the most part left Allayev unscathed. “They don’t come” to bother him, he says adding, “they don’t affect me.”
To his point, as well, there has been a pivot focusing more scrutiny on the deleterious effects of microplastics, synthetics and faux fibers that are polluting oceans and killing coral reefs, so he feels relatively insulated. It is easier to say you don’t want to kill a cow when the alternative isn’t killing the entire planet, so people are rethinking the gravitation towards synthetics. And in his defense, fur and animal pelts, especially rejuvenation and rehabilitation of vintage pieces, is hugely more sustainable at this point than faux.
Allayev also makes bags, belts and wallets, some of which are repurposed from scrap pelts or remnants from redesigns. But his favorite thing is still the practice that started it all with his father, cobbling. And its a good move for him, for while fur might be surging now in the wintery depths of mid-January, shoes are a year-round prospect.
RAFFAELLO FURS
204 West 30th Street