About Gloves

I.    Introduction

“A gentleman is known by his gloves”
The story of gloves takes you through history, technology, politics, religion, and fashion.   Every time you wear a pair of gloves there is a little story to be told about their origins, their significance, their construction and their purpose.   And of course, you should just enjoy wearing them.   Gloves are one of the affordable accessories, the small indulgences which as well as performing a useful function more often than not, have the power to make the wearer just feel better.

In this section I  try and explain some of the mystery and the technology of a glove, from the materials through to the method of manufacture.    Readers will find an element of repetition in the text, as the same material is discussed sometimes in different contexts.  This is intended to allow each section to be read individually, and it is often useful to see the same material in different contexts.

Much of the text has been taken from the books itemised in the booklist.  This booklist has been prepared as a resource for readers who want to know more about leather gloves and the leather itself. The booklist is on a separate page in technology along with a simple time line.

In the glossary we have used a number of old fashioned definitions to help put gloves into their historic perspective.

II.    The Glove in History

Count Alfred D’Orsay was known for wearing six pairs a day. After the reindeer gloves for his morning ride, the chamois for hunting and the beaver for the ride to London, there were the braided kid gloves for the afternoon’s shopping, the yellow dogskin for a dinner party, and then the lambskin embroidered with silk for the evening ball – this quote by D’Orsay is an abbreviated version taken from Gloves, in A Gentleman’s Wardrobe by Paul Keers

Gloves go back a long way in history.   You will find them in the tomb of Tutenkhamen in 1370BC, in the Old Testament (Ruth IV.7 and Psalms CVIII.9) and much used by the ancient Greeks and Romans.

Gloves are mentioned in the writings of Beowulf in the 8th century, and in England King Ethelred (978-1016) passed a law to make merchants from the Low Countries pay a toll that included five pairs of gloves, if they sailed in during Easter or Christmas.

So while gloves were first a protection against cold and hard knocks they soon became adopted by the rich and famous – in olden days meaning the clergy and the nobility.  Indeed for a while the clergy tried to control the wearing of gloves using legislation. 

It is thought that the Romans brought work gloves to Britain and the Normans brought fashion gloves.  Guilds were soon set up and the Glovemakers were strong throughout Europe.  In the UK the Glovemakers Guild was given its first Royal ordinance in 1347.   It still exists today as in inmportant body supporting the trade and manufacture of gloves and the education and promotion associted with gloves.

Gloves played a major role in society.   They were much given as gifts amongst the rich and powerful and were always given at Coronations ceremonies.

“The record of one ceremony at Oxford in 1566 notes that Queen Elizabeth I wore a beautiful bejewelled and embroidered pair of gauntlets, and that she pulled off and put on her gloves over one hundred times so that all might enjoy her graceful hand movements”.  (Ruckel)

The tradition of giving gloves at Coronations continues to this day.  Another famous use for gloves was in challenges “throwing down the gauntlet”.  We first read of this in 1245 via Matthew Peris, and the last challenges using gloves were in Scotland and mainland Europe in 1780s.

Even before this gloves were used both as a form of “mark” or signature, and as a sign of good faith.  Gloves were passed between parties to a contract. 

Gloves were authorised for use at funerals by Pope Leo I.  They are still worn at many civil and military funerals.  Gloves were also often used as gifts and were always worn at weddings from shortly after the Reformation.

Judges and legal personages were also frequently presented with gloves.

While there is evidence that in early times the power and prestige of gloves were kept on the hands of men early into the Middle Ages ladies became involved as well.  This meant the accelerated introduction of fine embroidery and other adornments already mentioned in relation to Queen Elizabeth I.  Gold and silver threads, tassels, and precious jewels were all frequently used.

The scented glove was very much part of this scene, being made popular by Catherine de Medici, from the famous Florentine merchants and bankers, in the 16th century.

These gloves were made in Italy, Spain and the UK, but France was by far the centre of excellence.  The novel “Perfume”, by Patrick Suskind, is centred on this business in both Paris and Grasse.   While Paris was a major centre for gloves it was in Grasse, a town just inland from Cannes on the French Riviera, where real progress was made.   Already an important trading town, and famous for fine leather goods, it responded to the requirements of Catherine by producing all the aromas and putting them in the glove leather.  The glovers here were also the tanners of glove leather in most instances.   A few centuries later the tanners and the perfumers separated their guilds, and in the 1700s the tanneries closed and the perfumers continued as a stand-alone business.  Grasse is still a major centre for perfumes and its current perfumeries are well worth visiting.

A huge variety of perfumes were used and many different methods were used to get them into the leather.  Perfumes included musk, ambergris, aloe, clover, jasmine and rose.  A simple way of creating and maintaining a low level of perfuming was to store the gloves in drawers or boxes containing perfume sachets.  Jasmine could be made up into a type of butter and put on the flesh or inside of the leather or even the gloves themselves.  While Catherine de Medici is credited with creating the fashion in Europe, Queen Elizabeth I also did so in England a little later.  Elizabeth and her courtiers created a popular fashion and the smell created ridicule amongst the ordinary people, especially when the trend spread to using perfume on ordinary clothing and directly on the person.  Thus began the perfume trade as we now know it. Recently, in the 21st century, gloves with aloe vera have been reintroduced to London stores and in ladies golf gloves in Japan. Lavender has also been reintroduced into leather.

Shakespeare’s father was a tanner and glove maker.  If you go to Stratford and visit his house you can see where he worked and it has been recreated as it used to look.   On the tanning side he was called a “white tawer” indicating that he used an alum tannage on his local skins, mostly deer.  It is not surprising therefore that there are many references to gloves in Shakespeare’s writings.

These references mostly relate to less ornate and more utilitarian gloves and in the 17th and 18th centuries gloves became part of everyday wear and were used for war, work, fashion, special occasions, and for all normal business and formal wear.  Many types from a huge variety of raw materials were in regular use.  Specialist glove shops were common throughout Europe.  Sadly to day they are only to be found in Italy, Germany and Austria.

In the 19th century gloves were especially fashionable, as we see from the quote at the start from the Count D’Orsay. There was actually a “club of the fringed glove” in the time of the Beau Brummel dandies.

Today leather dress gloves trend very much along classic lines, and Royalty no longer lead the changes in glove fashion. Individuals like Jackie Kennedy did have an impact in keeping the glove popular, but a return to real fashion evolving gloves looks like it is going to have to be developed from the bottom up rather than coming as in the past from the Lords and Ladies of Europe.

Since the dot.com collapse there has been some return to more formal work wear and with it the dress glove has done well.  Its central role as a key accessory looks set to remain strong for many years.  Elegance and feeling good still count. The recession of 2009 singles a return to sober elegance and perhaps after a cold winter in 2008/9 the dress glove trade could hope for steady business at least for a year or two.

European glove makers and tanners created this trade and still lead it today, more or less.  The dress glove remains a product of character which is still designed, manufactured and consumed by and large in Europe, to the highest quality standards.  The entry of East European countires into the EU has made makers in Hungary and Romania more active, and every importer has their Chinese source - some of which make excellent leather. The great move of the industry from the USA to Manila has ended and that business has gone to India and China. With costs rising in China and quality very high now in India the subcontinent has built a small number of excellent plants.

An exciting and enduring product.

III.    Aspects of Leather

Key to a beautiful well fitting glove is a well-chosen, well-tanned leather. 

Hides and skins are amongst the oldest materials used by man, and the tanning of leather one of the earliest industries.  Raw hides and skins putrefy very easily so to be truly useful it is necessary to prevent that putrefaction by the process of tanning.  Since the bacteria which digest hides require a degree of humidity those uses for rawhides - parchment, drum covers, panel beating hammers and the like - are those where the material can normally be kept dry, and consequently inflexible.

Leather is nature's supreme high quality non-woven material.

Leather can be made from all types of hide and skin.  The big volume supplies are cattle hide, sheep, pig and goat.  All are bi-products of the meat and live stock industries.  None of our leather used comes from animals bred for their skins.  If we did not use them they would putrefy and waste creating an environmental hazard.  Alternate synthetic materials are made from petroleum derivatives, which are finite in their availability.

Most leather is made for shoe uppers followed by garments, upholstery and leathergoods.  Glove leather is a very small category which uses about 4% of the 22 billion square feet of leather made in the world.

Fine gloves are expected to fit well and leave us capable of doing many tasks, such as driving an automobile, or riding our bicycle to work.   Glove leather needs to have a non-elastic form of stretch, or “run”, so that when you pull them off by the fingertips the fingers in the glove extend.  When the glove is put back on the hand, pulling it from the wrist, the fingers widen again to give a perfect fit.   Consequently we need skins which are naturally thin and strong.  They should have a smaller proportion of grain layer compared to fibre network layer. In the past a huge variety of skins were used, as society was not rich and used all available resources to the maximum. Suitable skins are calfskins, dog skins, goat and kidskins, kangaroo, deer, horse, pigskin (especially a carpincho, which is a very fine soft skin from Argentina and Uruguay) and New Zealand dairy cattle which are thin and strong.  However, by far the best skins are from the Hairsheep, or cabretta.

The name cabretta means a little goat in Spanish and Portuguese.  Hairsheep were wrongly named cabretta when the Portuguese colonized Brazil.  They thought the Hairsheep were little goats and the name stuck as generic for Hairsheep, particularly after the "cabretta" skins become a regular export to Philadelphia and Gloversville  in    upstate New York
Above:  Cabretta.

Hairsheep are found in the hot arid tropical parts of the world;  such as Brazil, Indonesia, and in particular the African countries of Nigeria, Sudan and Ethiopia, plus the Middle East.  Each country's skins are a little different as climate, diet, husbandry and age at death affect a skin’s nature. 

All hides and skins have a surface grain layer where the hair or wool follicles are held. 

Above:  Cross section of skin from hair side at the top, and flesh at the bottom.

This sits above the Fibre network layer.  The fibre network layer is a three-dimensional weave of fibre bundles, which are incredibly long giving great structural strength and integrity. The bundles are made up of individual fibres, which are intertwined into the bundles like the strands in a piece of rope.   These fibres are themselves made up of protein chains built up from amino acids.  The grain layer, by comparison, has little strength.

The first tanning method discovered gave rise to the name tanning itself.  It was based on the fact that most vegetable material contains chemicals which reacts with the fibres and tans the leather, a process probably discovered when hides or skins were first left in pools containing leaves and other rotting vegetation.  The material that did the tanning became known as tannin, and the process that has been by far the most important part of tanning history over many millennia as "vegetable tanning".

As the world evolved tanning became a localized skill and tanners looked around their environment for the best material.  In the US the hemlock was most used, in the UK, oak, and elsewhere mimosa, quebracho, myrabolans were used.  In some trees the fruits provided the most tannin, in others such as oak it was the bark, and in others the leaves.  The tannin is extracted by soaking the vegetable in water, just like making a cup of tea: and indeed a cup of tea does itself contain a fair amount of tannin. Sir Humphry Davy was a pioneer in discovering new tannages, although some of the work done at that time with new materials and strong acids was what did so much damage to leather as a bookbinding material, as it create the problem of red heat.

While tannins from different origins vary quite a lot in colour, softness, and some other features, they all have a number of distinct characteristics.  The tannin particles are large molecules which fill the structure making it quite thick, the reaction with the fibres is a loose type of bonding, and the colour is always some shade of brown now characteristic in articles like sole leather and saddlery.

Because the particle size is large the leather tends to be quite thick and stiff.  Fine for some types of gauntlets and work gloves but not so good for a tight fitting glove offering either elegance or dexterity. Consequently in their efforts to make leather suitable for gloves tanners searched for other tanning methods.  Two were found.

First was alum tanning, using potash alum mined mostly from quarries in volcanic areas.  As well as being a good material for tanning alum was used to dye textiles and was an important chemical in the Middle Ages.  So much so that in the 14th century the Vatican worked hard to obtain a monopoly on its supply and sale.

Alum gives a soft kind leather and was used extensively in gloves.  Later tanners found out how to tan with fish oils - reputed to be a Hungarian 12th century discovery - and although a little smelly this also gives a soft thin leather that was used regularly in gloves.  This was also a major glove leather tannage and when used on heavier skins was perfect to wear under chain male as well as for gauntlets.  The US Indian brain tannage, which is also an excellent technology, is quite similar to tanning chamois leather with fish oils.

So until the end of the 19th century fine gloves were mostly tanned with alum, plus a few soft light gloves made with an oil tannage, while work and heavy-duty gloves, were made with oil or vegetable tannages.

Curiously enough the leather industry missed the industrial revolution and its moments of change did not come until nearly the end of the 19th century.  But when they did come they were dramatic.  A German American working with the Booth Company in the USA discovered that chromium salts could tan leather easier and faster than vegetable materials and over subsequent decades mysterious natural materials used in the "Art of Leathermaking" were replaced by more stable and appealing materials introducing rather more of an element of "Science" to this oldest of industries.   The materials substituted included dog and chicken dung, flour, blood, bran, and eggs.

Chromium salts have a very small molecular size and can penetrate deep inside not just the fibre bundles but also the fibrils themselves, and then react strongly to the fibres.  This allows the leather to be lighter in weight and more breathable.  Heavy additions of chrome tanning materials are good for shoe leather, since they go through a double process called link-lock which create so many strong linking chemical bonds in the fibre structure that the leather can withstand very high temperatures (raw skin turns into gelatine when warmed) and so can be used for vulcanised footwear.

About 95% of the world's leather is now tanned with chromium salts and with few exceptions this accounts for all glove leather.  In glove leather we do not normally need temperature resistance and the leather is better with the minimum chrome possible.  

In the 1960's and 1970's when tanners were looking at ways of making leather better tanners in Europe began to improve their technology and make leather much more colour fast and water-resistant.   Pittards of England are perhaps the most famous in this regard.  They had created a world beating water resistant glove leather and proven it in the demanding area of the Royal Air Force. This leather then became the foundation of a performance sports glove industry starting by upgrading the golf glove as well as creating a new standard for dress and fashion gloves.

So as we spend a minute or two considering the glove industry you should remember that glove leather tanning is basically chrome tanning, but with different and more technically interesting antecedents than shoe and clothing leathers.  The glove tanning industry, driven by the need for soft thin material, with exciting colours, and often with interesting smells has a rich history of technology - really alchemy - much of which still remains to be properly understood and developed.

Quality and performance have two aspects in leather.  We have been discussing the technological elements, but equally important is the quality of the raw material itself.  Like human skins animal skins pick up surface damage through life, especially if they are living in area with a lot of thorn bushes.   In particular they can get scratches and scars on their skins, or things like small pinhole damage consequent upon grass seeds catching in their hair and working into the skin itself.    Tanners and glove makers make sure that serious defects do not get into quality consumer gloves, but leather is a natural material and some occasional marks go to prove its true quality and should not be viewed as defective.

IV.     Aspects of Glove Making

Life was harder in older times.  Man has always needed gloves for warmth and for protection.  And protection was against dirt and infection as well as against obvious material things.  It is not hard to imagine why gloves became so important amongst the rich and famous in society.  Reference to gloves goes back many millennia.

Glove making was a major industry, which established itself in important centres throughout the world.  In France, Grenoble was the glove capital, followed by Millau.  In the UK Worcester, London, Perth and Yeovil were the main areas. The main glovemakers for the Court in Amsterdam moved there from Austria after the Napoleonic Wars at the request of the Crown.

Both Italy and Spain had famous glove centres and in Italy the fame of the glove makers of Naples and Florence was renowned and they remain important today.   In Spain glove makers are still found in Burgos, Madrid and around Barcelona.

In Japan Shikoko Island has long been the centre of the glove industry, and in the USA Gloversville was given this name from its former “Stump City” as recognition that it was the glove capital of the USA.

Dress gloves are an exciting manufacture to the extent that a sizeable production still remains in Europe.    Asia is improving fast and China, Indonesia and India  produce quite a lot that are brought into Europe, but at the high end the fashion content and quality required by the consumer make it likely that dress gloves will continue to be made in Europe for some time to come.  Eastern European countries have also become major suppliers of dress gloves to the world.

The manufacture of sports gloves is now very largely a Far Eastern operation, with the high labour content and low cost of plant and machinery meaning it is easy for the industry to move in the search for ever cheaper labour.    This move began in the thirties when glovemakers of Gloversville moved overseas going to Puerto Rico and then on to the Far East.  Production soon arrived in Manila in the Philippines, where over 50000 jobs were created, and Gloversville was never to recover.   In the late nineties these jobs began to move again, going to India, Vietnam and especially to China.

In the desire for soft thin leather that would fit well glovemakers experimented with raw material as much as with leather.  For most of the middle ages sheep and lamb was the prime material with kid leather from the skins of young goats being considered best for refined ladies gloves, being naturally thin and strong, with a fine soft grain or surface pattern. 

Mediterranean sheep, Middle Eastern and African Sheep have also been much used, along with dog skin, pigskin, deerskin, and elk.  

The big change in glove making came in 1834 when Mr. Xavier Jouvin in Grenoble discovered sizing in gloves in more detail than ever before applied.  What Mr. Jouvin worked out was a cutting dye.

A second change came in 1867 when at the Paris Exposition a workable sewing machine was displayed.  The introduction allowed glovemaking to move away from being a cottage industry into proper factories.  Although some dress glove makers still work a cottage system, albeit using sewing machines, most golf gloves are made in modern industrial factories.  The cottage system still works in Japan, Germany and the UK.   It turns out to be a very modern production system to the extent that ladies (mostly women do the sewing) get delivered the pre-cut pieces of leather each week and can work a pre-agreed amount that fits in with their family life.

In making a glove the glovemaker cuts a large piece called a "trank" which is the palm and back of the hand, and when sewing it together adds in the thumb piece, the fourchettes, which comprise the sides of the fingers, and the quirks, which are even smaller pieces sometimes used at the finger joints. The value of a piece of leather depends on the number of tranks which can be cut from the skin.

In Europe the cutting of the leather is still carried out more labour intensively than elsewhere and should be better from a fit aspect, but quality control is made difficult by the fact that the sewing operation is mostly a cottage industry, carried out by women working at home.

Another aspect, which should not be overlooked in our understanding of the industry, is that in some countries the tanners only carried out part of what we now consider the tanning process, leaving the colouring and the finishing off to the glovemaker himself.  We have already mentioned that Shakespeare’s father was one of these, who both tanned and made gloves.

A dry stage after tanning, called crust or mordant, later became the moment when sheepskins skins were traded. 

There are those alive today who remember the "mordant" skins being pushed across the road on barrows from tannery to glove factory.  Pittards, one of the worlds leading glove leather tanners, only learned the art of dyeing their own skins in the 1930's, when one of the family studied the process at the famous Pavlova Leather Tannery in Abingdon, England.

The diagram below shows the main parts of a glove, being
1.    The trank, which is the main part of the hand with the back and front of the fingers
2.    The thumb
3.    The fourchetes.  Side pieces or gussets for the fingers. Six (three pairs) are needed for each hand
The patterns shown are for a glove called the F.A.Staite, which is a simple classic type glove.

Different types of leather affect the sizing of gloves.  Chamois or oiled tanned leather has different stretch characteristics from chrome tanned glove leather, and for chamois the fit is normally made tighter, as the gloves will tend to stretch out in wear.

For chrome or alum glove leather it is most important that the stretch of the leather should go round the width of the hand and not up and down the length, because the strain on the glove in putting it on and taking it off affect the measurement round, and not up and down the hand.

Every piece of leather used should be tested and the pattern placed on it so that the stretch comes in the right direction.  The patterns are often pieces of cardboard and when pressed down leave an indentation on the leather which is then cut with scissors.

For the glove shown 16 pieces are needed for one pair of gloves and they should all be cut at the same time to ensure the colour and appearance of all the parts are compatible.

In sewing two main stitches can be mentioned.   These are the conventional Round Stitch, and the more famous Prix Seam.  The latter involves putting the raw edges of the leather together and the stitching is done on the right hand side.  The stitches look like normal running stitches but because of the thickness of the material the thread must be pulled through after every stitch.  This involves stabbing the leather from the front and back for every stitch.  The round seam is strong, can be flattened out, and has a decorative effect.   The two pieces of leather are put together flesh to flesh, and the stitch goes through from the workers side to the surface.  The end of the thread is then turned under round the edge and placed at the top between the two pieces, and then caught up with the stitches as you go along.

There are many fine modern threads used today although, historically silk, linen or perhaps mercerised cotton.

In assembling the pieces the “points” at the back of the glove are normally made first.  These are the three rows of stitching in the form of small tucks on the back of the hand.  The thumb is then inserted, after which the fingers are stitched up with the fourchettes inserted, starting with the back of the hand.  The wrist is then completed and this may involve inserting a piece of elastic often using a herringbone stitch pattern.

The gloves are made inside out, and are pulled the correct way round and the ironed smooth, often being put out on an iron shaped hand which is warmed.  With a little steam any wrinkles can be removed and the gloves end up with a beautiful classic sheen.

Above: Patterns for a F.A.Staite "good cut", taken from Leathercraft Vol II

V.   Sports and Performance Gloves

Gloves historically have been for protection - from dirt, disease, heat and cold.   They have also been used to show distinction and wealth, but that was essentially built out of the fact that the wealthy wanted protection from these four points.

Not many areas need gloves for maximum dexterity.  In sports golf is exceptional in this.  The gloves are required to give constant and perfect fit on the grip of the club and must act as a second skin.   They are worn outdoor and must be comfortable, which precludes the simple solution of latex or surgical rubber gloves.  So golf gloves have to be made of a very thin material and fit very well.  After this racquetball and baseball batters gloves come next in terms of the need for dexterity.

Racquetball is often played with a rough nodular "Amy" grip and the glove must be strong enough to withstand this, along with huge amounts of sweat. But this is a short hard game - comfort does not come into it.  Baseball batters gloves are put on and off only for batting: again grip counts but not much else.  Attempts have been made to introduce gloves into tennis and squash.   In the US squash gloves became quite popular, but never took on in Europe.  A few gloves are sold for tennis, but they have never become part of the equipment.

The big fielders and catcher’s gloves of baseball made out of 2mm special tan cowhide are a tradition of their own. Americans sleep with them under the mattress for six months before using them and hang on to a loved glove for life.  They are a fine example of the potential to build on the consumers' emotional involvement with both gloves and leather.

US Football gloves are a more recent concept, although gloves have been worn for keeping warm in snow.  If you look into the history you will find that a player had some form of rosin all over his hands and body and caught the winning touch down.  They then began to use gloves for the catchers that were tacky - and a New Jersey company called Nuemman made a tacky leather glove.  In the early 1990s the sport thought this had gone too far and  had a self-regulating grip test introduced. It also banned grippy gloves from certain levels of play.

Cycling gloves are for anti-vibration and help you when you fall as your hands go down first normally.   They get hugely sweaty and often the cyclist can only pull them off inside out.  The simplest style is a short finger glove which was historically made in brown pigskin, and called the “peanut” glove because of the way it looked.  Some real material innovation has taken place in this area, even although prices available create limits.  Kevlar, gels etc. are all very important as speeds have risen and mountain bikes have grown in importance.  Some experiments have been done with a gripper glove in 3M material to link it to the handlebar grip that is made in the same material.   Very effective in wet or dry and sure to be introduced elsewhere.   This technology  is also used in golf.

Skiing also has had a lot innovation with concepts such as heated gloves etc.  Dexterity only comes in on cross-country skiing gloves, while protection is most important n snow boarding. 

In soccer goalkeepers' gloves are very important.   Materials seem to be all about stopping the ball, and do not do much for dexterity.   Outfield players are increasingly seen wearing knit gloves in cold weather, perhaps because so many Latin Americans and Africans now play in the northern leagues.

In rugby also we have started to see the backs wearing gloves to help with handling.   At the moment we see it mostly designed to stop hands becoming numb from cold, but technologies tried in US Football demonstrate what we might see in the future.

Horse riding gloves have a controlled tackiness for holding and sliding the reins.  For polo many US players think the best glove is a baseball batters glove.

Those interested in marketing will note that a glove is a great branding opportunity.  If in doubt pick up any baseball or golf magazine.  From the front cover on you will see the glove can be a powerful marketing tool.  Hence the move in the 1990’s for nearly all the big sports brands to enter the sports glove market.

Motor sport is one of the areas where we see sports and performance gloves start to overlap. These are highly technical gloves which have to marry dexterity with abrasion and fire resistance.   Historically this has always required quite high levels of compromise, but increasingly new technology is allowing leather to meet most requirements, along with other specialist materials such as Nomex.

Military and industrial uses cannot be ignored here and readers should consider the great asset that thin strong leather is in many military situations.  If a tank goes on fire the glove must be fireproof, but more importantly those in the tank have only a few seconds to escape before explosion.  So again dexterity counts even more and the gloves need only be adequately fireproof in order to get out.

Similarly in flight.  When a pilot lands in the sea cold is normally the greatest issue, and the task is to get the life raft open before the hands get wet and too cold to function properly.  So waterproof gloves thin enough to work with the raft are required. It was never thought that gloves would become so important for the ordinary soldier as has been discovered in Iraq and Afghanistan. Infra red absorbing camouflage gloves are of major importance as metal surfaces - guns, vehicles, ammunition boxes - get incredibly hot in desert conditions.

In recent years there has been a general return of the glove as part of the uniform, be it for airline staff, museum guides, or security staff.  Employees who interface with the public and are expected to be smart in all weather conditions are now often being issued with quality leather gloves, which protect them against the cold and rain.

We should not ignore driving gloves, often short fingered gloves with a keyhole back.  According to Paul Keers they have never been accepted as formal or business wear, and “should be left in the car – or ideally on one’s driver”.  With the new move to retro design cars such as the BMW Mini and to open sports and touring cars the driving glove is making a come back and is an essential accessory for many of these new models.

VI.     Glossary

Alum Tanning.  A process of tanning with alum, used in combination with salt, egg yolk and other substances.   A major tannage for gloves in history, only used infrequently today.   

Aniline Leather.  Leather that retains its colour only from dyestuffs rather than from pigment, and as a consequence looks more natural. Often considered the highest quality material. Its colour is just from the dye process. Aniline leathers are literally "naked" allowing the natural beauty of the grain to show through.  All skins will have some faults, even aniline leathers.  Slight scratches or surface marks are part of what makes up a natural material and should be regarded as such. They will not affect the performance of the leather.

Basils. Bark tanned pickled sheepskins

Bating. The process prior to tanning proper where the fibres of a hide or skin that have been plumped or swollen by liming are reduced and softened, thus assuring pliability in the product. The word is a form of "abate" in the sense of reduce.

Beamhouse.  The area of the tannery where the unhairing and liming processes are carried out. Before modern machinery the processes of fleshing, scudding and others were carried out over specially designed wooden beams using curved two handled knives with sharp or blunted edge according to the operation.  Hence the name.   Beamhouses in Europe in the Middle Ages were mostly sited on the riverside, and the skins cleaned and softened by hanging in the water.  Often the local name for this department is a derivation for the local word for “river”.

Buffing. Sandpapering the leather with sandpaper or emery paper for various reasons such as the creation of a suede like nap on suede, a nubuck finish on grain, or for the preparation of corrected grain leather.  Sometimes done on the flesh side to tidy up its appearance.

Cabretta Leather.  A wrongly named hair sheep.  When the Portuguese first went to Brazil they mistook the indigenous hairsheep for goats and called them cabrettas (kids).  The skins were exported to the USA by the Booth Line (part of the Booth Tanning Group) and the name cabretta stayed with them.  Now all hairsheep skins have taken the generic name cabretta.  Much used in footwear leather and sport glove leather.

Cape.  Sheepskin from South Africa, which has been much, used for gloving.  Essentially from the Cape and the Port Elisabeth areas.

Cased skins.  Where skins are not cut down the belly, but merely pulled from the animal

Chamois leather. A soft leather originally made from the skins of the Alpine antelope known as the chamois but at the present time from the fleshers of sheepskins.  Certain grades used to be used in gloves and fancy articles but the staple employment is for cleaning and polishing, primarily automobiles.   Chamois is characterised by an ability to absorb at least three times its own weight of water.

Chrome tanning.  Introduced in the USA as the main tannage for glove leather about 1890.  Became common in Europe for glove leather by 1930, and now is used to tan over 95% of all glove leather.  There is some evidence that the percentage of chrome tanning in glove leather might reduce over the next ten years, as has happened with motorcar upholstery.

Conditioning.  When leather is dried after retanning, dyeing and fatliquoring the fibres tend to stick together and the leather is hard.  The fibres are separated and the leather softened by staking.  Staking is best done at about 18% humidity and so a little humidity has to be put into the dry leather.  This is most commonly done by a water spray and then piling the leather long enough for the moisture to even out.  Adjusting the moisture content before staking in this way is called conditioning.  Used to be done by placing the skins in piles of damp sawdust.

Cordovan Leather.  Developed in Spain in the 8th century, and named after the town of Cordoba.  Made from the skin of the mouflon (Ovis Musimom).  This hair sheep now only survives in Corsica and Sardinia.  It was tanned with sumac or alum.  Best brilliant scarlet type was tawed with alum and dyed with kermes.   The term subsequently came to describe many types of leather and is often confused or overlaps with “Spanish tannage”.

Corrected Grain. This type of leather has the surface buffed away - taking with it any imperfections. A glossy appearance is created by applying a smooth coating of finish colour. Although a less expensive type of leather, corrected grain nevertheless requires skilled manufacturing to ensure consistency and durability. Not much used in fine gloves although some is taken into work gloves.

Crust.  Leather dried after tanning.  Since chrome leather dried immediately after tannage will go hard, change charges and become difficult to rewet, this drying normally takes place after a basic retanning and fatliquoring.  Leather is frequently traded world wide in this state, although tanners normally prefer to buy wet blue or pickle which gives them more flexibility of processing.

Deliming.  A process preparatory to tanning proper to reduce the swollen and rigid fibres of a hide or skin after liming.

Doeskins.  The inner flesh split of a wool sheep tanned with formaldehyde process to make gloving leather.

Dogskins.  For many years dogskins were used for gloving, and still are in China.  They are very thin and strong.  The name has also been used for heavy weight sheepskins used for hunting and hawking gloves.

Dongola Tannage.  A vegetable and alum tannage developed by James Kent in Gloversville, New York, in 1881 to compete with the expensive kid tannage for gloves. Used hair sheep.  Dongola is a town in the Sudan, and there is a breed of hair sheep named after it. "Dongola leather was invented in the time of the Egyptian War, when Dongola was much in the public mind, hence its fancy name" 
"Dongola, strictly speaking, is alum, salt, and gambier only, used together in one solution.  Dongola is especially applied to glazed and dull kid.  For full dongola the process is commenced in very weak gambier liquor, with the full proportion of alum and salt, and the gambier is gradually strengthened.”  Although many Dongola gloves were made the leather was in fact better for footwear using kidskins and kangaroo. It continued to be produced in the UK using calf skins for footwear until the 1930s.

Drenching.  A process for reducing the plumped fibres of a hide or skin.  It accomplishes approximately the same purpose as bating and basically in the same way - that is, through soaking in a fermenting solution.  Some authorities, however, restrict the term bating to the process using ferments of manures and the term drenching to that using damp sawdust, bran, middlings, or a solution of lactic acid or some other chemical having a similar action. 

Drums.  The collective term for the rotary vessel in which many processes of tanning are now carried out.   First used by tanners in Mechelen, Belgium in the 1600s to help speed up the tanning of leather for wall hangings.  Tanners legally opposed this innovation as they said true leather needed nine months in pits. The drums were turned by foot.  Drums became common only towards the end of the 19th century. This is one of the best documents struggles between the guilds and I beleive the legal batlle took thirty years and all the papers still exist in the Mechelen archives.

Fatliquoring. Using fats and oils in appropriate mixes to lubricate and soften the fibre structure of leather, giving the leather the required softness for its eventual end use.

Flesher.  The flesh piece from a thick woolly sheep which has been split into two layers. Used to make chamois.  The grain is made into a skiver.  Sometimes for cost and easy maintenance the material is part tanned and then split.  The grain is then called a pliver.  The flesh created in this latter way will not make true chamois.

Fourchette.   Small pieces of leather used to make the sides of the fingers in glovemaking.  Sometimes called gussets.

Frizing.  The process of removing the grain of a skin by exposure to a strong lime liquor over an exceptionally long period, sometimes as much as eight weeks.  Such skins, after tanning are finished on the fine fibres under the grain.  This is the method used in the manufacture of mocha glove leather and of certain classes of buckskin.

Full grain leather.  Leather whose grain has not been sandpapered or buffed to hide defects. Full grain is produced from the top side of the leather i.e. the outside of the skin. The surface will normally be smooth and polishable.

Glove Leather. A self-explanatory term which, however, covers two rather distinct classes:  the leather going into utilitarian or work-gloves and made of a variety of hides and skins, of which the most important are horsehides, cattle hide splits, calfskins and pigskins; and the leather going into dress-gloves, including those for street, riding, driving, and sports wear.  The latter is tanned predominately from sheep and lambskins; but there is a considerable item made of deerskin and a small one of pigskin, while an important item for the highest grades of women's fine gloves is tanned in a few countries of Europe from kidskins.  (Old definition)

Grain.  The surface of a piece of leather, the appearance of which is characteristic for different animals, being mostly dependent on the distribution and size of hairs.  The hair follicles are left visible after the hair is removed and there pattern gives leather of different types a distinct look.

Heavy Leathers. A term distinguishing sole leather, belting leather, and harness leather proper from other classes which are referred to collectively as light leathers. 

Hide.  Raw material for leather from a larger animal such as a cow, steer, ox or buffalo.  Pelts from sheep and goats etc are classed as skins.

In the hair; in the wool; in the raw.  A group of more or less equivalent terms used to describe stock that has not yet undergone any of the processes of leather manufacture.

In the rough; in the crust; in the white; in the blue.  A group of approximately equivalent terms used to describe stock, which has been tanned, but not finished.  In the rough or rough tanned is most commonly applied to vegetable tanned cattle hide leathers; in the crust and in the white to vegetable, alum or formaldehyde tanned sheepskins and lambskins; and in the blue to chrome tanned skins particularly goatskins.  The use of the term in the white needs to be distinguished from that mentioned in the following definition See also Wet White and Wet Blue.

In the white; in the pickle.  Two roughly equivalent terms used to describe stock, which has undergone the processes preliminary to tanning, but has not been actually tanned.  Historically in the pickle is restricted to sheepskins and lambskins; in the white, in this sense, is used for practically all other classes of hides and skins.

Jessamy.  A jasmine scent which was usually made up in the form of “jessamy butter” so it could be put onto the inside of the glove.

Laminated. Laminating leather to other materials is a means of creating a product that has unique properties. Selecting different laminates with their own special properties can vary the properties. E.g. Elastic, or fire resistant materials.

Leather.  For the avoidance of all ambiguities and doubts, which may and do grow upon the definition and interpretation of this word leather, it is enacted, and declared by these presents, that the hides and skins of ox, steer, bull, cow, calf, deer, red and fallow, goats and sheep being tanned or tawed, and every salt hide is, shall be, and ever hath been reputed and taken for leather.  Act of Parliament. UK year 1604 

Light Leather. Leather for clothing, gloving and shoe uppers mostly chrome tanned.

Limericks.  Chicken skin gloves from Limerick in Ireland.  Some were actually made of chicken skin, but most were from the skins of unborn calves.

Liming.  A process preliminary to tanning, which serves one or both of two purposes:  to loosen the hair or wool on a hide or skin, preparatory to dehairing; and to plump or swell the fibres as of the processes necessary to prepare the substance for the action of the tan liquors.  Liming is always required for the latter of these purposes.

Metisse.  Name given to hairsheep used for dress glove leather.  Most commonly used by New York dress glove companies.

Mordanting. Pre-treating leather with any substance save acid or alkali which substantially alters its affinity for dyestuffs.

Morocco. Finished leather with a pronounced grain, a term usually applied to goatskins.   The process seems to have started in the Babylon area and been perfected in North Africa before being transferred into Europe via Spain.

Napa Leather.  A cheap sheep or lambskin glove leather, made with an alum or combination tannage, and usually given a dull grain finish.  The name is taken from the town of Napa in California.

Nubuck.  Nubuck is produced from full grain leathers. The grain is abraded away to create a light surface nap. This can be adjusted to be very fine, or a longer, softer effect can be produced.

Oil Tanning. Now mostly called chamoising and used to make chamois leather from the flesh side of woolly sheep. Was an important tannage for other hides and skins in the Middle Ages, especially deer.  Much used under chain mail to keep the soldier warm and prevent chaffing.  The tannage is based on oxidising oils inside the skin.

Oiled and Waxed. Oils and waxes are coated onto the surface of the leather to produce a tacky finish that gives improved grip. They can be used in many sports, e.g. Horse riding, and American football gloves.

Paddles. A name applied to certain types of machinery with rotating arms, which are used in various tanning operations for agitating hides or skins in process.  Use more water than drums, allowing larger floats and consequently gentler action. Mostly used in the soaking and liming areas.

Painting.  A process for loosening hair or wool (usually the latter) which is employed with skins whose protective covering is so valuable as to make it desirable to avoid injuring it by soaking in a lime liquor.  The process is carried out by painting the flesh side of a skin with a depilatory substance, containing sodium sulphide or arsenic.  Nowadays this is the usual method with sheepskins bearing the higher grades of wool.   Before it was invented, such skins were usually dehaired by sweating.

Pelt. This word means, strictly speaking, any kind of skin (Latin pellis, related to the German felle, a skin, and the English word fell, now preserved only in fellmonger).  The word is somewhat loosely used in the leather industry, but its only common applications nowadays are to sheepskins in two or three slightly differing senses:  to the skin proper, to distinguish it from the wool that grows on it; to dewooled sheepskins, as a pickled pelt or a fellmongered; or in some countries to a woolskin bearing the shortest recognised staple.

Pickling.  A preliminary process for preparing hides and skins for tanning, largely by adjusting the pH with acid and controlling the swelling with salt. It is also use as stable way of holding material, after unhairing, for transport between plants and countries and for trading. 

Pigmented.   Pigmented leathers have a light surface spray of colour added at the final stage. This produces a uniform appearance, good for more formal shoes or leather goods. Not normally used for glove leather although some of the leather in the Isotoner dress gloves is pigmented.

Pointing.  In 1770 the three lines on the back of the glove evolved from previous embroidered looks into a construction and fit feature called pointing

Printed.   Printed leathers can have any type of pattern/design placed onto the surface. The designs are embossed onto the leather surface under pressure and add to the character of the material; the structure of the leather is not affected.

Quirk.  Small leather gussets sometimes fitted at the base of the fingers and the thumb to allow more flexibility of movement.

Run. Two directional non-elastic stretch.  A re-orientation of the fibres in a skin.  Important in glove leather for purposes of fit. Below 25% and above 90% extension gives poor fit, 40% is normally taken as the target.

Retanning.  A process subsequent to the main tannage when the character of the leather is adjusted by the addition of further alternate types of tanning material.  Thus synthetic or vegetable tans may be added to chrome leather to adjust certain characteristics.

Samm, sammying.    The mechanical extraction of moisture from leather after a processing stage.  Most normally done on wet blue after chrome tanning, using a machine that carries the leather through felts.

Scud.  A film or deposit of waste matter appearing on the surface of leather in process after certain operations, esp. bating.

Scudding. One of the preliminary processes preparatory to tanning. After bating or drenching the excess fermenting materials, together with dirt, fatty matter, hair follicles, short hairs, and glandular tissue are worked out of the hide or skin.  Mostly done by hand using a blunt two-handed knife over a curved beam.  Can be done by machine.

Setting out.   This mechanical process is used at various stages in the finishing of leather to counteract the shrinking and stiffening resulting form the processes that have gone before.  Most common after retanning, fatliquoring and dyeing.  Normally done by machine using a knifed cylinder with blunted blades. Some modern machines combine sammying and setting and some incorporate a heated roller to help set the grain in a smooth tight configuration.  Striking out is a similar process for heavy, vegetable tanned leather.

Skins.  Raw material for leather from smaller animals, such as goat, sheep, most deer, fish, birds, snakes etc.

Skivers. The grain of the wool sheepskin when it has been split in order to prepare suede leather for manufacture into chamois leather.  Normally tanned with vegetable materials for use as in shoe lining, bookbinding or leather goods.

Slat.  Vegetable tanned sheepskin produced from a skin whose wool has been removed by the sweating process.  Mazamet in France is a famous source of slats.

Splits.  The lower flesh side section of a hide (normally) or a skin after it has been split. Normally made into a suede split.

Staking. Mechanical softening of leather. Done by hand by pulling skins over a moon shaped knife, but mostly by machines of which tow types are common.  The old "grab" staker with crocodile jaws which come together at a point where the operator offers the hide or skin and pulls the leather away from him while he restrains it carefully and the vibrating through feed machine invented in Czechoslovakia in the sixties.  The former is more precise, but is also more labour intensive and skilled, while if not used carefully will lead to tearing and loss of area.

Stocks.  A wooden device previously used in oil tannages especially for chamois.  Two wooden hammers pound the oil into the leather prior to hanging in a hot room for the oil to oxidise.  An eccentric wheel drives the hammers.  This process is now done in drums where temperature and humidity can be carefully controlled.

Suede.  The finish produced by running the surface of leather on an emery wheel, with the result of ruffling up the fibres and giving it a "nappy" appearance.  The grain of leather may be suede finished (called nubuck) but the process is more appropriate to flesh or split surfaces.  The name was applied (originally in France) to a glove leather of Swedish origin and only later to the finish that characterised the material.

Sweating. A process for loosening the hair or wool on a hide or skin by hanging the pieces near together in a close atmosphere, thus encouraging bacterial action.  It has now become comparatively rare, being confined to out of the way places or primitive industries, and to a few special trades like that centring about Mazamet in France. 

Tanning.  The treatment of hides and skins with chemicals that react with the material in such a way as to prevent putrefaction in normal circumstances.  Different tannin methods give rise to leathers with somewhat different degrees of resistance and slightly variable properties.  Most leather is tanned with a solution of basic chrome sulphate, called chrome tanning, followed by the oldest method vegetable tanning.  Minority tannages include alum, oil, and aldehydes.

Tawing.  The old English term applied to the process of making leather with alum to distinguish it from tanning in a strict sense, the latter term having been originally confined to leather making with vegetable tanning agents.  The English word has now become nearly obsolete, but in French the distinction between tannage and megissage is still strictly drawn. 

Tacking.  A process of stretching leather at certain stages in the manufacture by tacking it on a frame or board.  The method seems crude and slow, but is very effective for counteracting the shrinkage which follows certain operations, without applying excessive strains on particular portions of a piece.

Toggling.  A modernised method of tacking to dry leather, using toggles to hold the leather instead of nails.  Originally the toggles were fixed into holes in a perforated metal plate which was put in an oven.   More modern machines find and clip the leather mechanically.

Trank.  The cut piece of leather which is used to form the palm and back of the hand

Vacuum Drying.  A method of drying leather taking advantage of the fact that moisture evaporates more quickly under vacuum.  The wet leather is laid out on a wet steel plate (often slicked, a form of hand setting out) and the vacuum head brought down.  After retanning and fatliquoring the leather can be dried to either 30% and then hang dried or in some circumstances fully dried direct.  Drying only takes two to five minutes..

Wet Blue.  Chrome tanned leather.  Chrome tanning creates a blue colour in the leather and there is a natural safe resting stage just after tanning when the leather is both wet and blue.  A significant stage in which leather is traded semi-processed worldwide.

Wet White.  Hides and skins with the hair or wool removed and preserved after a light aluminium tannage.  More stable than pickle.  Increasingly used as an intermediate stage for transporting and selling hides and skins.