Mount Pleasant Magazine Sept/Oct 2014

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Photo courtesy of The Citadel.
59
Donnie Burretto Jr. began designing collars for
The Citadel mascots after he made a gun holster
for a friend and former Citadel grad.
hairdos. Yet his passion outside the
office lies in leather. Over the past
decade, he has honed his craft as
a leather worker, starting when he
purchased his prize custom motor-
cycle that was equipped with a “less-
than-stellar” vinyl seat.
“I call it my Shrek seat,” Burretto
said in reference to the movie charac-
ter’s tight leather vest.
Burretto’s custom leather seat
wouldn’t be kept secret for long. One
afternoon during the annual Myrtle
Beach Bike Week, three young female
bikers were taking a close look at his
seat – the one on his bike, that is.
“They were admiring my bike,
so I walked out of the restaurant
where I was eating and asked them
if I could help them out. ‘We love
your seat’ they told me, and asked
if I could make some for them,”
Burretto recalled.
It turned out that the biker
ladies were members of the New
Jersey A.B.A.T.E (American Bikers
Advocating Training & Education)
chapter, and an order of two custom
leather seats turned into 475 over the
next year.
“Where do you get all the deer hide
for your motorcycle seats?” I asked.
A grin came over Burretto’s face: “I
shoot ’em.”
But the barber’s custom leather
work doesn’t stop at motorcycle seats;
he also makes gun holsters, saddle-
bags, belts, wallets and pretty much
anything else that can be constructed
out of leather. One of the projects he
is especially proud of is the collars he
creates for the Citadel Bulldog mas-
cots, Boo and The General.
Burretto began designing the
Bulldog collars after he made a gun
holster for a friend and former Citadel
grad who had an “in” at the Citadel
athletic department. He got a call
from the assistant athletic director,
asking him if he could make game-
day dog collars for the two Citadel
football mascots.
As a lifetime fan of Citadel
Bulldog football, Burretto agreed to
design “military fresh” custom leather
dog collars that grace the Citadel
mascots on game day.
“It was a real honor for me,” said
Burretto. “When I was a kid, my
father and I would attend all the Cita-
del football games; it’s really special to
be a part of all that.”
THE
TASTE
IS
SCARY
GOOD
EST.2012
The Shoppes at Seaside Farms
1952 Long Grove Drive, Suite 1
843.388.0975
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