Welcome back to the Gentleman's Gazette!
In today's video, we discuss the differences between a $30 pair of gloves and a $300 pair
of gloves.
Just like with anything in life, there are very cheap low-quality gloves and very expensive
high-quality gloves.
But why should you spend $150, $200, or $300 on a pair of gloves when you can get something
seemingly the same for just $30.
What exactly is the difference between a quality pair of gloves and a heap pair of gloves.
I already have tons of quality gloves in my collection so we went out and bought 2 pairs
of men's gloves on sale from a department store to compare them in person.
You may not think there's a huge difference but in fact, there is.
We'll answer all of the questions and much more in this video today.
You can break down the differences in leather, cut & fit, lining, and quality & detailing.
First, let's look at the leather of $30 gloves.
The first thing I noticed, the tag just said 100% leather with polyester lining.
The problem is, you don't know what animal the leather comes from.
For gloves, you want specific leathers that are stretchy so when you move, they adapt
to your hand and they always look elegant and comfortable.
Obviously, there are some leathers that are not suited to gloves such as cow leathers,
or horse leathers, versus lamb leathers, peccary leathers, hair sheep leathers are really good
for gloves.
With both of these pairs of gloves, you really don't know what it is but I can tell by moving
my fist, it's very stiff, it's hard, and it's uncomfortable, so it's likely not a quality
leather.
What do you expect from something that's marked down to $30?
Now, we haven't had those for long but I can already tell that this leather is pigment
coated especially this one here, and it will age very poorly ad show very bad wrinkles
over time.
It's simply of a lower quality and you just get the dye on top.
This one seems to be a little better because it's not pigment coated but it still feels
very stiff and I don't have much confidence in the longevity of it.
On camera, it's really hard to see the difference but I can tell you that this is extremely
stiff, this is slightly softer, but both of them really feel cheap and when you smell
them, it's really artificial and not a leather smell.
In terms of leather colors, there's not much choice.
usually, it's about black, dark brown, medium brown, various shades of tan, but that's about
it.
Quality gloves come in chamois yellow, grey, red, green, blue, you name it, these colors
are out there and they're very elegant and unique.
Also with quality gloves, you'll always know what kind of leather they're made of.
For example, we have lamb nappa gloves that are extremely soft and once you touch them,
you see the difference between a more expensive $160 pair of gloves and the cheap ones.
We also offer nice lamb suede leathers, they're extremely soft and have a wonderful touch
and look.
It's not something you'll find on an inexpensive pair of gloves.
The best leather in the market is peccary leather, it comes from an animal in Peru and
it's very durable and gets softer over time.
It develops a nice patina so the longer you have them, the more elegant they'd look.
The downside is, the leather is a lot more expensive than $30 but it's an investment
in your wardrobe and the cost per wear can actually be much lower than a $30 pair of
gloves.
To learn more about glove leathers and the differences and the options you have, please
check out our video, here.
Next up, let's talk about glove linings.
Cheap gloves will have a polyester lining or something with nylon, sometimes it's fleece,
but generally, it's rather bulky and your hands are much more likely to sweat in them.
Also, when you're inside the gloves, you can really feel the thick seams of the lining
in the leather and they create pressure points which make them less comfortable to wear.
On the other hand, a quality pair of men's dress gloves, will always have a natural lining
that could be wool, could be cashmere, or alpaca.
The advantage of cashmere is that it is much softer than wool, it's about as warm.
Alpaca is slightly less soft but a lot warmer because the fiber is hollow and has air and
insulates better.
On top of that, the sizing of the liner is matched exactly to the gloves and therefore,
you don't get any thick seams, the glove looks elegant, and it feels comfortable when you
wear it.
To learn more about the intricacies about glove linings, please check out our in-depth
men's dress glove guide, here.
Next up, let's discuss cut and fit.
Arguably, the most important point about wearing gloves is the proper cut and tight fit.
You're probably familiar with the saying "It fits like a glove." and that means it fits
like a bespoke suit that is close to your body and there's no excess material.
Just look at the visual difference between these two gloves.
On the right, the quality glove that is quite elegant and expensive, on the other hand,
you have this cheap glove that looks bulky and boxy.
This was exactly the size for me, it only came in three sizes.
For the cheap glove, as you can see, my fingers are just about there, could be slightly longer.
On my palm here, there's a lot of excess material.
As I wear the glove, this is getting bigger and bigger and it just looks very inelegant.
Also when I move my fingers, I can just feel that I have tension points even though it's
wide because the cut is not sophisticated and not thought through.
If you're lucky, you find them in three sizes; small, medium, and large, sometimes in extra
large but that's about it.
now, let's talk about the quality gloves.
Usually, the cuts are a little more refined.
The finger length is adjusted to the width of the palm and therefore, you get a glove
the fits really tightly and looks elegant.
Quality gloves also come in half sizes, usually a seven like this glove from Fort Belvedere
so you find a perfect fit no matter whether you have large hands or small hands.
Quality gloves also look more elegant because they are narrow around your wrist, they are
not too long, there's not excess bunching material.
Around here on the cheaper gloves, you see that they're all loose so you have a lot of
cold air coming in and it makes you feel cold.
Quality gloves are generally hand cut by an experienced cutter.
They cut around issues in the leather such as marks or bug bites.
With cheaper gloves, that's not the case, you just get whatever there is and usually
they a grain corrected leather so it's just not as soft and not as stretchy anymore.
With a quality pair of gloves, you also gets lot of detailing such as contrast piping,
you get hand-woven elements such as here, with these driving gloves, or you have green
piping and a button closure.It's not something you'll ever find on cheaper $30 gloves.
As a matter of fact, cheap detailing such as this Calvin Klein mark on the outside of
the glove, or that cheap stitching are not very elegant.
One thing that you'll find in most quality gloves is the so-called quirks which are these
little things in between your fingers.
It's like a triangular diamond and it enables to have extra material there so your finger
movement is much easier and more comfortable.
On cheaper gloves, you will never find that and that's why it's much harder and they don't
feel as comfortable when you use them, when you drive, or when you do anything with them.
So quality gloves not only look much better, they also feel a lot better and you won't
regret it and you'll know immediately what I'm talking about once you put your hands
in one.
So to sum it up, cheap gloves are all machine-sewn, they have boring colors, they are usually
bulky, and they have little tags on them, the leather's inferior, and they smell.
On the other hand, quality gloves can either be machine-sewn like this one, or hand-sewn
like this one, you can have a contrast stitching, you can have a tone in tone stitching, but
it's always of the highest quality.
It has a warm natural lining,it has interesting details such as the buttons, the lining, or
the hand woven accents.
To make a pair of gloves like this, it takes several hours, sometimes six, sometimes eight,
versus a cheap machine pair of gloves can be sewn in less than thirty minutes.
Now for a lot of men, the $30 pair of gloves may seem like a bargain upfront but in reality
when you add up costs and costs per wear, the quality pair beats them any day.
To be fair, there are uses for inexpensive gloves such as shoveling the snow or pumping
gas but once you invest in a good pair of gloves, you can just your old ones for these
activities and just skip those altogether because they're uncomfortable after all.
I guarantee you, once you put on quality gloves that fit you, that have an unusual color,
compliments will come your way very quickly.
To learn more about quality gloves and the difference to inexpensive gloves, and anything
you ever wanted to know about elegant men's dress gloves, please check out our in-depth
video guide, here.
If you want to shop the gloves in this video, simply follow the link below or click here
to get right to the shop.
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