welcome back to the gentleman's gazette
in today's video i talk about
how a pair of quality gloves is made
especially the ones from fort belvedere
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if you're looking for a pair of men's
leather gloves you can find anything
from 10 gloves all the way up to 500
grass and everything in between
so what's the difference i'm sure you
might think it's just a leather
and while that's true and the leather of
an expensive glove costs several times
more
than the retail price of a cheap glove
it is not
just that cheap gloves are stiff you
can't really feel anything and they
limit the range of movement on the other
hand the quality glove
is soft stretchy and it looks very
elegant when it's on your hand a few
years back i was sick and tired of the
same old black and brown gloves
and i decided to create my own line for
the belvedere gloves
i wanted something that was bolder in
colors i wanted something in gray
or in chamois yellow which were classic
staples of a men's wardrobe as well as
bordeaux or green
or other colors because i'm really into
quality
i didn't want a cheap pair of gloves but
the best ones money can buy
because most people don't know what it
actually takes to make a pair of gloves
depending on what kind of glove you have
and how it's sewn
it can take up to eight hours to make a
single pair of gloves and that doesn't
include the time to tan the leather
and i wanted to show you that process so
you get a deeper appreciation
for what it means to have a quality
piece of craftsmanship so for gloves it
all starts with a pattern
the important part is that you get
different sizes that work well
for men's hands no matter if they're
short or small
regular or big or long most cheaper
glove sizes are just
scaled up on a computer on a cad program
but
that doesn't really fit the needs of
most men because of that
we designed each and every pattern for
each size individually
so it fits your hands perfectly we also
decided to create
six different size patterns to cover the
entire range of men's hands
no matter if you have very small hands
or very large hands we got you covered
now the length of the glove is also
important because if it's too long
it will bunch up and be uncomfortable to
wear it and if it's too short
you get cold air on your wrist the
entire parent development
including the fingers the four sheds the
quirks and everything is done by hand
by a skilled artisan and pattern maker
once the pattern is completed
it's time to work on the leather first
of all you want a
quality pair of glove leather and not
many tanners can actually produce that
and it's a very specialized tanning
process
so you want something that is soft and
stretchy so your hand can move freely we
get our sheepskin letters which are
supremely soft have
exactly the right thickness and
properties from italy
and our peccary leather from germany yes
all peccary skins come from peru
but we found that our european tenors
have a higher skill level
and their final product is more
consistent softer
and has a better coloring the first step
in working with the leather
is to remove imperfections from the back
side of the leather
yes that's the rougher side we use a
tool similar to a knife
you're a skilled person to shave off
those imperfections so they won't show
later
on a finished glove second glove leather
has to be
constantly pulled and stretched because
that ensures
that the glove is cut the right way and
later on you can move
freely with your fingers no matter if
you make a fist or keep your hands
straight
there are all sorts of specialized tools
such as this knife that is used
to thin out and stretch the edges in a
more extreme way than the rest
as you know leather is natural product
and it needs a skilled
hand and eye to know what to do with
every different skin
so you get a consistent product
afterwards therefore some layers are
stretched more often than others
but they have to be stretched in the
right direction so they can be cut
properly during that process
with many eyes on the leather so we make
sure only the top-notch grade
goes to production now that the letter
is prepared it's time for cutting
cutting sounds easier than it actually
is you have to position the pattern the
right way
and on skins like peccary where you have
natural scars and imperfections
it's the skill of the cutter to put the
gloves in a certain way
that you get the best quality with
having the least amount of visible scars
at the same time without wasting leather
because that would price up the final
price
in order to provide you with the best
value we only hire skilled
experienced cutters that know exactly
what they're doing that way we can
ensure a high quality product at a fair
price for you
at this time we're also sewing the four
sheets which are the areas in between
the fingers
as well as the quirks which are little
triangles that you can see in between
the fingers that give you an
extra range of movement of course we
also have the little buttons
and the trim work that all goes along at
the same time everything in this process
is entirely done by hand
by people there are no machines involved
in that step
because otherwise you'll end up with
imperfections and things that are not
ideal
for a top quality glove once the leather
is cut properly
it's time to sew them up basically there
are two options
you can have a machine sewn glove and a
hand sewn glove
not all machine zone gloves are alike
you basically can sew a glove
inside out which is often a method
utilized in china
or in a lower cost production or you can
have very skilled artisans
who sew them with a machine from the
outside now when i say
machine zone that means it's a simple
machine
and they still have to align the leather
they have to control the stitch density
they have to get the lines straight make
sure that the interlining
is exactly in the right spot so you end
up with a glove that fits well
and looks the part the way we do it is
in fact so difficult
that chinese manufacturers have failed
to copy the process
and if you know chinese you know they're
good at copying if you want your gloves
to be warm you need an interlining
and cashmere is very soft and warm we
use a color
that's rather neutral and either too
bright nor too dark
so you're not going to see any fuzz on
your hands even if you wear them for
hours
as you can see it's a different machine
that is utilized to
sew in the lining so you get the perfect
fit
and not any knobs that feel
uncomfortable when you wear the glove
the same is true for the fingers a
different machine is used to stitch
those together
because it requires a different skill
because you have the four sheets coming
together as well as the
front and the back sometimes you can
also find a machine
that is used for the edge of the glove
and it creates
a seam that looks like hand sewn but is
in fact machine
zone at fort belvedere we decided not to
use that machine
because we believe in an honest product
and so if you see a machine seam it
means it's machine made
if you see a hand seam it's handmade
which brings us to the next kind
the hand sewn glove when we say handsome
glove we mean
every single stitch on that thing is
hand sewn there's no machine involved
yes that's just a skilled sower
who does one stitch at a time and just a
few gloves per day
in fact sometimes they can even just
produce one pair of gloves per day
obviously that's slower than sewing with
a machine and because of that a pair of
hand sewn gloves is more expensive
the look is also a bit more casual
because the seam is on the outside
but we like to use a contrast stitching
that highlights the handsome nature of
the glove
at this point you also add a decorative
stitching which is usually
three lines on the back of the glove and
we try to do something
that is unusual and unique it's a little
more intricate it takes
more time but it looks different and you
signal to others so this is not just
your regular old glove
but a special piece of craftsmanship at
this point we also add
the buttons to our wrists which add a
little bit of 1930s vintage flare but it
also keeps the fit tight
and keeps your hands and wrists warm you
might think we're done by now
however we're not now it's time to iron
the glove to release
any kind of wrinkles and it looks really
perfect
if we wanted to we could now even add a
second stage of ironing
with a little iron and that would add a
little more shine to the leather but we
believe that
a classic pair of men's gloves shouldn't
be too shiny
but have a medium shine so we skip that
step all right
now that you know how a pair of quality
gloves is made at fort belvedere
i hope you have a deeper appreciation
for what it is
we offer unique details in our gloves
that you won't find
elsewhere and also the color range and
the size
scheme is bigger than in other places we
also stock all of our gloves so you
don't have to wait for weeks
to get them when you need them right now
i'm the first submitted
fort belvedere gloves are not a cheap
product but they are very
high quality product that comes to you
at a very fair value
considering all the steps know-how time
and skill
that goes into making a pair if you want
to check out our collection of gloves
in various colors please take a look at
our shop
not sure how to combine gloves please
check out our other videos about gloves
to tell you all about the style
and everything else you want to know
about gloves in today's video i'm
wearing a vintage flannel suit from
acarachini in milan
tailed by mario karachini it's actually
a vintage suit that i got
when i was a poor student but it fit me
quite well
and i just love the suit and i could
have never afforded
a suit of this quality level at the time
it's a
classic prince of wales check pattern
with a light blue overcheck
and it's a heavier will flannel and if
you want to learn more about flannel
please check out this guide here
the shirt i'm wearing here today is
actually the very first quality dress
shirt
that i bought just like my first pair of
goody welded shoes it came from a
vintage store because it was all i could
afford the edges on the cuffs are a
little worn and i could replace them but
there's a little bit of nostalgia when i
wear this shirt
i'm closing it with cufflinks they're
like sterling silver with a bar
i found them at a vintage store and it
goes well with the brown tones of my
suit
my ring on the other hand is blue and it
picks up the blue over check
my tie is a knit tie from fort belvedere
and
it picks up the blue color the overcheck
as well
on the other hand my linen pocket square
coordinates with a blue and white
striped shirt
it's also from fort belvedere and is
made by hand with an x stitch in italy
which is very intricate
and hard to complete the socks i'm
wearing are brown they're likewise from
fort belvedere
and they add a contrast to the dark
brown shoes
from allen edmonds there are a long
wingtip rogue and they're comfortable to
wear with a
thicker sole and to add another element
of contrast rather than with a dark
brown pair of shoelaces
i opted to go with something tan or
cognac from fort belvedere as well you
can find all the fort belvedere
accessories
in our shop here
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