Glove Leather

The leathers which are suitable for glove production must always be pliable, soft, and fine. Furthermore, the leather must be able to breathe to avoid humidity in the glove. The particular properties of the skins of lean, scrawny animals are normally best . Hence, most glove leather comes from dry warm countries which have limited vegetation - Ethiopia, for example. These skins very often have small scars, caused by thorns and insect bites, which are evidence of the animals’ free-range life.

The glover is now confronted with the challenge of producing a glove where these faults are rarely visible. Therefore, it is important to pay attention at the time of purchase that the skins have minimum faults, but the main responsibility bears on the cutter who removes leather irregularities in the pre-cut assessment, for example by placing faults outside the cutting edges and within the cut-out holes for thumbs. Consequently, well skilled cutters are needed for the production of top quality aniline leather gloves.

There is a regularly used process, not recommended by Kessler, for concealing leather faults in the glove. In this process semianiline leather is used and irregularities of the surface are concealed by spraying . This procedure is mainly beneficial for companies which employ less qualified cutters. Furthermore, low quality and therefore less expensive leather can be used. However, this leather is, in comparison with aniline leather, less soft, often unpleasant to the touch, and has a low breathing facility.

The different types of leather can be finished as nappa, nubuk and suede. The various types of glove leather are normally classified by the animal species of the skins followed by the leather finish. Lamb nappa, deer suede and calf nubuk are therefore typical terms for glove leather. However, some types of leather are labelled according to other aspects, as, for example, proper names or attributes. "Glacé" and "Plongé" for example, differ in characteristics which are developed during the tanning.

Kessler uses in the first instance the skins of lambs, goats, deer, roe deer and of water, wild, and domestic pigs. Other leathers, such as cattle and calf skins, can only be used in limited circumstances because of their low pliability. An all-embracing overview can be seen on this page under “types of leather”.

Finally, a note relating to animal protection: the leathers which we use originate from animals which are slaughtered for the human food chain or died a natural death. As a producer of a natural product we stand for a responsible and respectful interaction with nature.