Restyle Your Fur with Orlando's Iconic Furrier - LaBelle Furs
Join us at Rhodes Boutique on May 30th from 10am - 5pm for an exclusive event featuring seasonal storage and cleaning with Alex LaBellman. Fur cold storage is $119 for the year and cleaning and glazing of the fur is $149. Call (843) 225-5244 or email sales@rhodesboutique.com to schedule your appointment.
Take a look at this story featuring Alex LaBellman of LaBelle Furs!
From the Orlando Business Journal:
A second act for downtown Orlando’s iconic furrier LaBelle Furs
Here's how the 105-year-old business is serving customers today
A fixture on Orange Avenue, LaBelle Furs is run by the great-grandson of the man who founded the business in 1919. Alex LaBellman is enthusiastic about his profession, having devoted himself to the fur trade for decades. Now 50, LaBellman does much of his business on the road. “I stay in a Holiday Inn 150 to 200 nights a year." He’s not selling furs in Buffalo, New York; Plano, Texas; or South Florida. The bulk of the business now is in restyling existing furs. The nationwide tours draw crowds, he said, often of grandmothers wanting something new made with their fur coats — things like teddy bears, rabbits, vests, purses, pillows and throws. “Grandmas come to us with their fur that they haven't worn in a while and want us to make pieces for their daughters and granddaughters,” said LaBellman. “It's about a 12- week process to get it from the original to the finished product, and it means so much to them.”
“I get big turnouts every show I do,” said LaBellman. “It can be borderline crazy when you have women in line to see you all day long. And I don't get a chance to use the restroom, take a break or eat lunch.” Friends, upon hearing of the frenzy around his shows, have told LaBellman he should pitch a version of "Antiques Roadshow," he said. “It's so sentimental. Someone will come with a picture of their mother wearing fur during the holidays, and now she’s gone. The daughter wants to have something made with the coat because mom had always talked about doing that but hadn’t gotten around to it. 'I’m here,’ they’ll say. ‘I saw your ad,’ whether it's here at the store or somewhere on the road, they're going to come in.” About two-thirds of LaBelle Fur’s revenue comes from its restyling services. The team of eight — which includes LaBellman and his wife Santa — make a thousand bears and rabbits per year.
Repurposing furs is one approach. Another is changing a coat by giving it a fresh look. Shearing — cutting the long hairs to expose the softer underhairs — is a regular request, and Santa LaBellman is one of just a few shearers remaining in the U.S. “There’s one other one, in New York,” her husband said. “And we’re the last remaining full-service furrier in the state of Florida.”
The LaBellman family — once called Roshavskei — is Ukrainian, with Benjamin and his wife hitchhiking from Odessa to Marseille, then immigrating to Montreal, eventually moving to Chicago, then New York, then Philadelphia, Raleigh-Durham and finally Orlando, with six kids in tow. At 3,000 square feet, the showroom is the tip of the iceberg, with another 6,000 behind it for cold storage and workrooms. The showroom hasn't changed, save for new flooring. New product on display is rotated in and out of cold storage. The balcony is reserved for consignment.
Operations at 351 N. Orange Ave. include all the original services: fur storage, cleaning, glazing (a treatment to promote the appearance and longevity of fur), sales of new and pre-worn furs, alterations and appraisals, plus the newer restyling service.
Alex LaBellman seems wholly focused on the future. He officially took over the company from his father in 2018. His 15- and 19-year-old sons have shown interest in the business, he said, recently working a show alongside their mother in Naples. That could mean a fifth generation will keep it going in downtown Orlando. “It’s because I‘ve never forced them into it,” said their father. “My dad never did that to me, either. He let me decide what I wanted to do, and they can decide, too.”