Main types of Gloving Leather
Leather is a natural product with special characteristics that make it comfortable to wear, and give it great strength and flexibility. Because it is a natural product, with its own unique variations, every piece has its own individual characteristics.
Peccary is the world’s rarest and most luxurious gloving leather. Peccary leather is very soft, difficult to sew, and is hard wearing.
Hairsheep originates from sheep that grow hair not wool.
Hairsheep leather is finer and less bulky than other leathers. Its major benefits are softness of touch, suppleness, strength, and lasting comfort. It is very durable and is particularly suited for the manufacture of dress gloves.
Deerskin has the benefit of great strength and elasticity, but has a more rugged appearance, with more grain on the surface, than hairsheep. It is very hard wearing and heavier in weight than hairsheep leather.
Slink lamb is used only in the most expensive lambskin gloves. Some of the finest lambskin comes from New Zealand.
Sheepskin, also called shearling, is widely used for casual and country gloves. It is very warm in cold weather, and has its own natural wool lining from the wool on the sheep.
Cowhide is often used for lower priced gloves. This leather is generally considered too thick and bulky for the majority of glove styles, particularly finer dress gloves. It is however, used for some casual styles of glove.
Goatskin is occasionally used for gloves. It is hard wearing but coarser than other leathers and is normally used for cheaper gloves.
Leather glove linings
Cashmere is warm, light in weight, and very comfortable to wear. Cashmere yarn comes from the hair of mountain goats, whose fleece allows them to survive the extreme weather conditions they are exposed to.
Silk is warm in winter and cool in summer and is used both in men’s and women’s gloves, but is more popular in women’s.
Wool is well known for its natural warmth and comfort, as well as having a natural elasticity.
Other linings, which include wool mixtures and acrylics.
Component parts
The component parts that may be found in a leather dress glove are one pair of tranks, one pair of thumbs, four whole fourchettes, four half fourchettes, two gussets, and six quirks. Depending on the style of the glove there may also be roller pieces, straps, rollers, eyelets, studs, sockets and domes. Finally, linings will themselves consist of tranks, thumbs and fourchettes.
Stitching
The most popular types of leather glove sewing stitches used today are:
Inseam, which is mainly used on women’s gloves, but occasionally on men’s dress gloves.
Hand stitched, which is most popular in men’s gloves and some women’s styles. Hand stitching is a very time consuming and skilled process.
Some glove terms
Points are the three, or sometimes single, line of decorative stitching on the back of the glove.
Fourchettes are the inside panels on the fingers of some glove styles.
Quirks are found on only the most expensive hand sewn gloves. They are small diamond shaped pieces of leather sewn at the base of the fingers, where they are attached to the hand of the glove to improve the fit.
Button length is the measurement in inches that is used to determine the length/measurement from the base of the glove thumb to the cuff of the glove.
A strap & roller is used to adjust the closeness of the fit around the wrist.
A Vent is the ‘V’ shaped cut out of the glove, sometimes at the back, but more often on the palm, to give the glove an easier fit around the wrist. |
