Ferragamo realized that US methods of mechanized shoe production were the most advanced in the world and wanted to educate himself in its industrial processes.

He set up a business specializing in handmade shoes and repairs for the movie industry.

"Women must be persuaded that luxury shoes need not be painful to walk in; they must be convined that is is possible to wear the most refined and exotic footwear because we know how to design a supportive shoe modeled to the shape of the foot. Elegance and comfort are not incompatible, and whoever maintains the contrary simply doesn't know what he is talking about." To this end, he studied physic, mathematics, and comparable anatomy at the University of Southern California and became an expert on the load-bearing properties of the foot's arch. 
Ferragamo realized that shoes had to be reinforced in that area and began to insert steel rather than the traditional leather shanks or cambrione into his designs for added support. Similarly many of his toe shapes were either overly or subtly rounded during this period so that the foot could stretch and flex.

His daughter recalls, "There was an ambition within my father to know everything he could about feet in order that he be able to them create shoes that would be as close as possible to perfection. Studying the anatomy of feet was no strange thing for him. It was simply part of his desire to be the best at what he did. What he discovered was that deformities of the feet often attributed to hereditary factors were indeed attributable in a large part to poor shoemaking."