Brought up in a very Italian New York neighborhood, Michelle Fusco was sewing and designing elaborate women's clothes by the age of 10. By her early teens she was making good money selling high-quality handmade clothes. Her skills and natural ability to create one-ofa-kind marvels in the clothing industry soon became legendary.
The spectacular creation of an entire wedding party's garments in leather and deerskin, complemented by a formal, completely white deerskin bride's dress, introduced the world to this incredible lady's talents. Twenty years later, her creative juices and enthusiasm to produce special pieces are still active and Michelle has become a real trendsetter.
Although she could have most likely made millions in the high-fashion world, Michelle choose to pursue the other passion in her Italian blood ...the biker lifestyle. At the ripe age of 16 she also became attached to Harleys and Harley men. The result is a biker lady who knows how to create incredible leathers that work in the real world.
The first motorcycle event Michelle attended inspired her imagination to begin sewing leather. Within weeks she upgraded her machines to handle leather-designed patterns and artistically constructed a sensational leather jacket with inlays and fringe. She still has that first jacket in her collection.
The leather Diva appeared in Daytona with her goods in the early '80s and to her surprise, ran into another legend among our troops: leather guru Dirty Bill. Bill and Michelle became the greatest of friends and realized their work was similar, yet different in many ways. Both became mainstays in the ingenious design of majestic pieces of leather with snake skin inlay, and also brought to our lifestyle a rainbow of colored leathers.
Soon, Michelle's old high school buddy, Joe Tudor out of Buffalo, New York, became instrumental in helping Michelle expand. Joe and Michelle began as swap meet vendors and, in time, became lifetime partners. Gypsy Leathers' apparel was soon placed in Harley dealers from California to Maine. The business grew to incredible proportions. Soon Michelle's infamous inlay Red Rose design began to appear everywhere. Joe began to visit shops and discovered that designs created by Michelle in inlays were being copied by other manufacturers. Realizing her work had been ripped off and placed into the poorest imported leather in existence, the couple got a crash course in the school of patents and trademarks.
But it wasn't long before another exciting opportunity presented itself. One year in Daytona, Willie G. Davidson casually stepped into her store and asked Michelle to design him a couple of "Willie G," one-of-a-kind jackets. Within months, Harley-Davidson corporate was at the other end of the phone offering Gypsy Leather an enormous contract. Michelle's remote, family-run business turned into 50 employees pumping out leather goods 14 hours a day.
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Like in the AMF years for Harley, too many units can mean lower quality standards, and Michelle didn't want that to happen to their little business. Bigger isn't always better. A productive discussion with Harley-Davidson allowed her to gear back down to the art form of design combined with a pace geared for quality. The 50 employees soon were downsized to Michelle and Joe. Shelly Woods, Debbie Tudor, and Penny Jeziorowski have all been beside Michelle for more than 15 years and together inspire special designs and American-made leather work unparalleled in the industry. All the craftspeople at Gypsy Leather have been scooter people since high school.
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A little over a year ago, Joe suggested that Michelle design a line of high-dollar exotic leather jackets for clients who want to make a real individual statement. Last year a one-of-a-kind leather pants, vest, and jacket ensemble designed in leather, deerskin, and snake skin was created for a New York City client attending the VQ Biker Ball in Daytona Beach, Florida. The cost was over $5,000. The client never asked any questions regarding the cost. It simply didn't matter; she wanted Gypsy Leather.
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Michelle has several lady's pieces in process for her "tailor fit" line. Each outfit has the owner's name embroidered into each piece, and it will never be duplicated for anyone else.
The Gypsy Leather team travels to only a few special motorcycle events each year now, only because they have herds of loyal customers who demand Michelle bring them new matching chaps and jackets. She has buyers who own up to 15 separate Gypsy Leather jackets, chaps, and anything else made by Michelle and family. Some folks come all the way from Europe and buy new pieces for the entire family each year.
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And in the middle of all this, Joe still manages to maintain a crew and run his own landscaping business. Somehow he still manages to build a new custom scooter or two every year.
Michelle and her family are remarkable, generous, caring folks. If there are more genuine, hardworking people in our biker world, I don't know them. They remain a family who most definitely care about each other, understand the value of a solid commitment to their customers and live to ride down the highway on their Harley-Davidson.
Call Michelle, Debbie, Shelley or Penny at (800)-63-GYPSY
