Leather Gloves

[TVD]

I know, some are fabulous. But I have seen them in strange foreign places, quite clearly second choice ones left over from the shipment that went to Dents.

One pair I had in black leather started to "smear" after a few weeks. I mean that the leather started to disintegrate and left black marks on whatever I touched. I found out when rubbing some snow of my brow I was left wit a black eye (unknowingly) and people asked whether I had a fight.

[Phil]

I swear by the Dents lambswool lined with wrist snaps. I have seen some dubious stuff carrying the Dent name, mostly on web sites but have never run across it in shops, so I can't attest to the veractiy of the offerings.

[rjman]

I think Chester Jefferies hates me -- I've had an order with them for close on three months now -- my first order took them only three weeks. However, their capeskin isn't as soft as real kid, and I don't know if they can source real kidskin. They give an option of wool or a 85% cashmere - 15% wool lining. I stipulated all cashmere and the lining I have is OK but not as thick or lush as I would like. I asked them to make the gloves MTM for me, and filled out lots of hand measurements iformation for them as well as provided them tracings. One pair of gloves fits OK, not appreciably better than RTW. The other pair, which are silk-lined officer's gloves, have a horrible fit -- fingers too short but distance between index and thumb too wide, etc. I am not certain if my measurements were not properly taken, if I can't trace right, or if the error is in fact exacerbated on this latter pair as its lining, being much thinner, is less forgiving to fit. The leather I speciied for the second pair was also capeskin, but it's less soft and less fine than the other gloves'.

I am having them now work on carpincho gloves for me with an astrkahan trim. Hopefully I will get them before my exile. That said, my Merola gloves impress me more and more, and from Souliers.net I have the name of a Paris glover who supposedly puts Hermes to shame.

[RWS]

. . . . I have the name of a Paris glover who supposedly puts Hermes to shame.

Do tell!

[Cantabrigian]

I in fact just ordered some from there myself with the button closure.

TVD,

Chester Jefferies makes gloves with button enclosures. Their website is: http://www.desertstar.co.uk/chesterjefferies/index.htm

It leaves much to be desired, but email or call them for a catalogue and order form. There are about forty leathers and fifteen to twenty styles listed in the catalogue, and on request, they most likely can source other leathers and dig out old, more obscure glove patterns.

Also, Budd of Piccadilly may sell officer gloves with button enclosures; perhaps some of the military tailors of London do, too.

[david_carnell]

Connelly on Conduit St does a rather fetching pair of driving gloves with the Agincourt fingers picked out in contrast red to the base black leather. Very useful when manners depart and a fellow driver needs to be shown the error of his ways.

[rjman]

Connelly on Conduit St does a rather fetching pair of driving gloves with the Agincourt fingers picked out in contrast red to the base black leather. Very useful when manners depart and a fellow driver needs to be shown the error of his ways.

Magnificent.

My Merola gloves have come apart at the palm-thumb seam. Sigh. They told me to send them back for repair, but my other gloves are at Chester Jefferies still after months.

The Paris maker, named on souliers.net, is Gerard Durand. Specialist in peccary. I just want some real damned kidskin, which almost no one seems to have, certainly not the British.

Hermes' own glove atelier is La Ganterie de Saint-Junien.

[TVD]

With a bit of silk button hole thread and patience you can repair those recalcitrant gloves that decide to split at the seams when you least need it. I know the feeling.

The only thing I still have failed to figure out is how to keep pigskin or pale peccary look new for longer than a single outing. Bit of an old fashioned snob issue, new pigskin...

[Incroyable]

Connelly on Conduit St does a rather fetching pair of driving gloves with the Agincourt fingers picked out in contrast red to the base black leather. Very useful when manners depart and a fellow driver needs to be shown the error of his ways.

Magnificent.

My Merola gloves have come apart at the palm-thumb seam. Sigh. They told me to send them back for repair, but my other gloves are at Chester Jefferies still after months.

The Paris maker, named on souliers.net, is Gerard Durand. Specialist in peccary. I just want some real damned kidskin, which almost no one seems to have, certainly not the British.

Hermes' own glove atelier is La Ganterie de Saint-Junien.

Have you tried vintage gloves?

I have seen 1950s Hermes kidskin gloves.

[Cantabrigian]

RJman, do you have a good contact e-mail address for Merola? The one listed on the site (info@merolagloves.com) no longer works...

Connelly on Conduit St does a rather fetching pair of driving gloves with the Agincourt fingers picked out in contrast red to the base black leather. Very useful when manners depart and a fellow driver needs to be shown the error of his ways.

Magnificent.

My Merola gloves have come apart at the palm-thumb seam. Sigh. They told me to send them back for repair, but my other gloves are at Chester Jefferies still after months.

The Paris maker, named on souliers.net, is Gerard Durand. Specialist in peccary. I just want some real damned kidskin, which almost no one seems to have, certainly not the British.

Hermes' own glove atelier is La Ganterie de Saint-Junien.

[TVD]

RJman, please let me know what exactly you mean by kidskin, to avoid misunderstandings. What comes to my mind is leather similar to calf, but about one third of the thickness. The animal from which it is sourced is actually some sort of goat, I believe. Used to be the only stuff a lady could wear on her hands without blushing before the war. I have never seen men's gloves made from it, probably a question of durability.

Most female gloves now are made from leather that originally protected lambs from the elements. If its properties in bookbinding are anything to go by (bookbinders call it roan), it is genuinely dreadful stuff.

This thread motivates me to call a few of the numbers I know in the Czech Republic and see what their bespoke capabilities are. I will try to enquire about kidskin at the same time.

By the way, talking about kid, I have a wallet originally owned by my greatgrandfather that is made from a very fine embossed calf (a very small-scale geometric pattern) lined in kidskin of the same colour, and linen voile for the inside (invisible) compartments. It is about one third of the bulk of anything available today. I showed it to Pickett to have a few copies made for my everyday use, but even they failed to find anybody to supply leather of this quality.

[Incroyable]

Kidskin gloves are worn by men for formal affairs. Much like chamois gloves are as well.

Perhaps you chould try some of the vintage luggage shops that might have somthing of that nature.

[Cantabrigian]

TVD,

Have you tried Asprey to have a copy of that wallet made? From having looked around for a maker for a bespoke briefcase, it seems as though there is much more they can do by way of special requests and leather sources than Pickett.

I worked with Alex Howard - great guy.

RJman, please let me know what exactly you mean by kidskin, to avoid misunderstandings. What comes to my mind is leather similar to calf, but about one third of the thickness. The animal from which it is sourced is actually some sort of goat, I believe. Used to be the only stuff a lady could wear on her hands without blushing before the war. I have never seen men's gloves made from it, probably a question of durability.

Most female gloves now are made from leather that originally protected lambs from the elements. If its properties in bookbinding are anything to go by (bookbinders call it roan), it is genuinely dreadful stuff.

This thread motivates me to call a few of the numbers I know in the Czech Republic and see what their bespoke capabilities are. I will try to enquire about kidskin at the same time.

By the way, talking about kid, I have a wallet originally owned by my greatgrandfather that is made from a very fine embossed calf (a very small-scale geometric pattern) lined in kidskin of the same colour, and linen voile for the inside (invisible) compartments. It is about one third of the bulk of anything available today. I showed it to Pickett to have a few copies made for my everyday use, but even they failed to find anybody to supply leather of this quality.

[rjman]

RJman, please let me know what exactly you mean by kidskin, to avoid misunderstandings. What comes to my mind is leather similar to calf, but about one third of the thickness. The animal from which it is sourced is actually some sort of goat, I believe. Used to be the only stuff a lady could wear on her hands without blushing before the war. I have never seen men's gloves made from it, probably a question of durability..

BTW my suspicion is Pickett's glvoes are made by CJ.

CJ now claims to have lost my gloves (I sent a pair back for addition of a vent) and materials -- two months after they emailed me saying they received them. As I leave the US in 3 weeks and will be without a fixed address for a while, there's really going to be no happy resolution to this matter. To tell the truth, they've disappointed me and, given this latest development, I'm rather angry with them The "capeskin" glvoes I ordered and which they have now lost, which they say is the same as doeskin, nappa and kid, were nowhere near as soft and nice as my Hermes gloves were. The cashmere they lined them with was not as dense or thick as that in my Hermes gloves or my Merola gloves.

RE: kid. I was 16 and had saved my spending money; the Hermes sales lady said several times they were "chevreau", I looked it up later and it's kid. These were not evening or dres gloves, but winter gloves in the softest, most wonderful leather ever, lined in soft, smooth cashmere. Can it be so hard to find a replacement that does not come from Hermes and carry their price which, after 12 years of ramping up, is now close to unbearable? Dents doesn't come close; Budd doesn't have gloves my size (oh yes, I want sized gloves, not SML) and I am not sure whether Alwyn, Madova or Merola will have what I want in the quality I want it.

[Incroyable]

Perhaps you should take a trip to Antwerp for Huis A. Boon, a glovemaker dating from 1884 there.

16; I was about that age when I bought my first antique dress set and discovered Cleverley opera pumps.