Gloving Leathers

So far in my posts, I've centered upon leathers and aspects relating to their use in the sports footwear industry.

This post turns its attention to the leather used in sporting gloves, and some of the core attributes and technologies.

My passion started with gloving leathers when I first started in the leather trade, and in my first job as an R&D drum runner at Pittards. It was amazing the wealth of technologies and processing steps involved in making a hairsheep leather (maybe more commonly known in the consumers world as cabretta leather) that was technically advanced and yet still ultra soft.

The biggest thing with gloving leathers is that they tend to have a lower chrome tanning content than footwear. As such the sweat that you perspire contains components that effectively 'cleave' the tannage and this is what happens when the leather not only shrinks, but dries very hard and cracks. No doubt you've seen this on a lot of the cheaper end golf gloves, and that is primarily due to the leather being made with basic technology in Indonesian tanneries, despite all the cool, fancy marketing names given to the leather. There are, however, a few companies that insist on high spec leathers, such as Nomis, Footjoy and Franklin, who source mainly from Pittards in the UK, usually being acknowledged with either WR100X technology or APL technology.

However, there is also a 'new kid on the block', being Surabaya-Noor Leather in Surabaya, Indonesia, that has recently popped up with a new gloving leather by the name of PWR (Perspiration and Water Resistant ????), which when I tested actually surpassed all the gloving leathers currently available, including that from Pittards. It has a quad-tannage system, so that it is protected in 4 different ways from detrimental effects of sweat and moisture. So if you're in the gloving business, then check them out!!!!!

The dry-soft attribute of gloving leather is also importantly. Whilst higher spec gloving leather is treated to resist getting wet/damp from sweat and moisture, ultimately it will, and if not processed correctly the fibres can stick together when the leather is dried out making it hard and stiff. You should be able to air dry the gloves (and note, never force dry with high temperatures!!!!) and the glove maintain its softness once dry.

Colourfastness, i.e. stopping the dye from bleeding or rubbing onto your pants, is also very important. Nowadays with good quality dyestuffs you have less issues, but again some inferior tanneries of China, India, Pakistan, Africa and some in Indonesia are using cheap, rubbish dyes, and these will consequently cause colourfastness issues.

So here's a start to this particular thread. And remember - in the gloving leather world, you definitely get what you pay for!!!!!!!

I'll write more next week. Cheers,

Dr Leather

Hot Feet.......

In recent years I have become acutely aware of how different shoes and boots seem to affect the temperature of my feet. Without doubt, leather is typically a very good fibre structure that can naturally breathe and transfer moisture in a way to keep your feet comfortable. But, I have noticed in recent times that many modern shoes seem to keep my feet incredibly hot, and I am currently researching this to see whether it is the materials used in the shoe construction, or some other aspect of the footwear manufacture, because quite simply I'm starting to find it uncomfortable. Are you guys seeing the same thing.

The leather can be enhanced to have a better moisture management and vapour transmission system through some treatments. But this is negated if non-breathable components are utilised in the shoe/boot, and then we have the issue of the glue possibly creating impermeable barriers as well.

As a background, suede and nubuck leathers are the best for breathability, so long as the fibre structure has not been 'stuffed' with other retan chemicals, which was common once to get a waterproof leather. A fully pigmented and heavily finished leather will have significantly reduced breathability in contrast due to the continuous polymer film applied to the leather surface.

So the question being posed this month is........ do you guys hate getting hot feet????

Look forwards to hearing from you. Rgds,

Dr Leather