Dance's Sole Makers

By K.C. Patrick

Behind The Capezio Label: Family Ties

Who and what is behind the Capezio®/Ballet Makers label? The name alone is universally known, familiar to dancers worldwide—students, enthusiasts, professionals, and the world’s greatest performers alike. Other makes of dance shoes and clothing have not escaped its impact. Fashion leaders have offered accolades, and even street wear reveals the Capezio influence. Where did it all begin, and what are the secrets to this family-owned-and-operated company’s success?

The story begins with a determined and astute Salvatore Capezio, born in Muro Lucano, Italy, in 1871. He immigrated to New York City in his youth and began working as a shoe repairman and cobbler. At age 17, the enterprising young man founded his own shop, and the company that still bears his name, across from the old Metropolitan Opera House at Broadway and 39th Street. It was 1887. Four generations later, the business is still a family affair.

According to Paul Terlizzi, Salvatore’s great-grandnephew and the company’s CEO, family members grow up in the business. “Like Salvatore, each of his descendents has learned the business from the inside out. That is at the heart of what we do,” he says. “My generation is no different. Because my father [Nick Terlizzi Jr.] was a factory guy, my brothers Danny and John, my sister Dawn, and I came [into the business] through the factory by working during vacations and summers, then moved up through payroll and buying. The first jobs we got were designed to keep us busy and not pay us much, so we learned how to stamp sock linings with sizes—things like that. Sometimes the job was cutting and preparing parts and pieces or packaging elastics and nails—all the little mundane factory-oriented tasks. Not until well into or after college did we get jobs with continuing responsibilities.”

But Paul learned to make pointe shoes when he was still in high school, and his fate was sealed. “I had told my guidance counselor that I wanted to be a doctor, but my grandfather said, ‘No, you have to go into the family business.’ It didn’t take much to persuade me.” He claims that if his children want to come into the business, he’ll train them the same way he was. “I don’t think you can learn a business unless you learn it from the ground up. That’s our philosophy here. You learn retail and you learn it well.”

From Shoe Repairman to Entrepreneur

The Capezio company began as a shoe-repair service for the performers at the Metropolitan Opera House. But dancers often need their shoes custom-made, so Salvatore soon branched out into shoe construction, albeit on an extremely small scale. “He was an innovative cobbler,” says Paul. “His reputation grew, and so did his business. The Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova bought pointe shoes from him for her whole company during her first U.S. tour in 1910.”

Eventually Salvatore began trying to improve on pointe-shoe design. “We have a catalog from 1929, saying that he had won first prize in something called the ‘Paris Exposition.’ It was awarded for a ‘Capezio toe and ballet slipper,’ ” remembers Paul. “He had already patented several inventions—one was something called ‘Masterbuild—1,000 stitches,’ which was built into the box of a pointe shoe and provided a softer cushion. He probably got that from the way dancers darned the toes of their shoes, but he actually commercialized it. And he came up with something called a ‘concave arch last,’ which is the type of last that most pointe shoes are built on today. The old catalogs are amazing.”

The Next Generations

Although Salvatore married, he and his wife, dancer Angelian Passone, had no children. Lacking an heir, he instead passed his skills down to two nephews, Nick Terlizzi Sr. and Frank Giacoio. Frank, who began as a cobbler, was already making pointe shoes by the time he was a teenager, a practice he continued into his 80s. Nick was a leather cutter; until he died at age 76, he was still going to work every day, supervising the construction process.

When Salvatore died in 1940, the small company—then consisting of two or three locations with about 50 employees, according to Paul—was handed down to Frank and Nick. Frank’s son, Tony, a teacher and electrical engineer, came into the company in the late 1970s, taking over for his father. He brought the company into the 20th century by computerizing the business. “After the computers came, we went from almost a third of the business being back orders to less than 5 percent, with 95 percent of the orders going out the next day,” says Paul. “It was a huge change, and the effect trickled down throughout the company. Lead times in the factories went down, which allowed inventories to go down; we turned inventory very quickly.”

Nick’s three sons, Alfred, Nick Jr., and Donald, followed in their father’s footsteps but took different paths in the company. Alfred gravitated toward marketing, sales, and finance. “He became a spokesperson, doing a lot with customers, marketing and philanthropy,” says Paul. “My dad, Nick Jr., and Donald were factory-oriented individuals. My dad started as a leather cutter, like his father had; he made ballet slippers and tap and character shoes. Donald gravitated toward pointe shoes, and later, bodywear. Both were very hands-on, working in the factory, buying and testing leather, and color matching—all the routines they had learned from their father. My grandfather was a stickler for that stuff.”

The Fourth Generation

Only recently has the fourth generation of the Capezio family assumed top roles in the company. In 1998, when Alfred died, Paul was in a position to move up, but the other top managers were not family members. Gradually, through attrition and retirement, Capezio once again became a family-run business. Paul, who describes the company as “a very big boat,” says that as CEO he is “more like a steward than a captain.” Tony Giacoio’s four children— Dianne Matthews, Anthony Jr., Lisa Egan, and Louisa Colaiacovo—handle sales and customer service; merchandising and the European end of the business; human resources; and merchandise inventory, respectively.

Two of Donald Terlizzi’s children call the company home: Marc is in charge of apparel manufacturing and distribution, and Troy is a key accounts manager. Paul says that Donald’s daughter, Robin, a former sales rep, started the company’s skatewear division almost single-handedly.

Paul’s brother Dan (two other siblings chose careers outside the family business) covers shoe manufacturing, including custom ballet and theatrical shoes. “These shoes are hand-made to the exact specification or design and primarily sold to professional dance companies and the Broadway stage,” says Paul. “This part of the business hasn’t changed in over 100 years. If Salvatore himself came back to life and walked into our factory in Fair Lawn, New Jersey, he could pick up an apron, cozy up to a bench, and get right to work.”

What was once a one-man operation is now a company large enough to warrant a board of directors (one member is Alfred’s son, Michael) and a charitable arm, the Capezio Foundation (see sidebar). It has branched out by acquiring Harmonie Knitwear and Frontline, which Paul says “have grown very well.” As for the future, “we seem to be pulling a page right out of the family-business management textbooks,” he remarks. “We are content with where we are, growing nicely as a company. Right now, we’re taking a pause and looking at what opportunities there might be.”

The Results

Paul describes the family’s attitude toward business as “attentive and serious,” which may explain in part how the company has lasted over 100 years. “We put a lot of time, effort, and study into the development of all our products. We believe that good products give better results, that quality and integrity and innovation pay off in the long run.” Those values have certainly paid off for the company, but Paul is emphatic that those who buy their products win too. “It’s like good instruction—good instruction does pay dividends.”

Special thanks to Paul Terlizzi for providing the information for this article.

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