Caring for your leather gloves shouldn't be hard - if the quality is there in the first place you should have little to do at your end. A good leather glove should retain its shape and definition for decades and very easily repay the initial cost. Nevertheless, we have seen first hand how 'well-loved' a pair of gloves can end up.
But there are so many questions! Can you wash leather gloves? How do you clean the lining of leather gloves? Will leather gloves shrink when they're wet!? Don't panic! we're here to help with all your glove related woes.
From how to waterproof gloves to how to prevent them from stretching. We have put together our complete guide to caring for your leather gloves so that you can continue to enjoy them for as long as possible, you can thank us later.
How to waterproof leather gloves
Let's start at the very beginning. When your new leather gloves arrive is there anything you can do to waterproof them and protect them from the elements?
It's worth remembering that leather is a 'skin' so has a natural resistance to the elements. As long as you don't go for a spontaneous dip in the ocean, your gloves should be fine.
Nevertheless, there are a number of high-street brands making products that will enhance the natural resistance of your leather gloves against the rain.
Nikwax is the most famous of these. While these are useful, however, they may compromise the appearance of your gloves -particularly if your gloves are light in color.
The MOST important thing to remember is that, protection or not, if your gloves do happen to get very wet, NEVER TO DRY THEM WITH EXTERNAL HEAT i.e a radiator, a fire or a tumble dryer. Your gloves should be left to dry in their own time to prevent them from cracking and drying out. Leave them be... they know what they're doing.
Once your gloves are dry, we would suggest rubbing in some neutral leather creme so keep them soft.
How to clear leather gloves
Like most things with quality leather, cleaning or washing your leather gloves should be done with the utmost care and only if absolutely necessary.
The colors are always delicate because the skins are "full blossom" - tanning and dying additives are natural and so fixing the color is fine but washing with inappropriate chemical additives will damage the gloves.
However, if your gloves have been lightly marked and you do wish to clean them, the following steps may work:
- Prepare a lukewarm solution using pure soap flakes.
- Gently wipe down your leather glove, using a cloth rather than a sponge that will crumble.
- Never wash them in a washing machine or fully submerge them in water.
- Allow them to dry naturally & as they are drying put them on the hands of the glove wearer a couple of times to allow the gloves to stretch and to restore to the appropriate fit.
How to prevent stretch with leather gloves
Leather is nature's gift to the glove maker. It's natural elasticity and recovery allows the hand to pass through the narrow part of the glove and then for the glove to reform around the hand and wrist.
It is the glove cutter’s skill in selecting the right piece of leather for each different part of the glove and then preparing the leather so that it retains exactly the right amount of elasticity that makes for a perfect leather glove.
So our advice to you would be - make the investment for a quality pair of gloves that will last a lifetime, and make sure to pick the correct size glove for your hand. Do this and you should never have to worry about your gloves stretching out of shape.
How to clean the lining of leather gloves
All gloves are lined with either silk or wool for extra comfort and warmth. Unfortunately, due to the nature of the leather, they should not be fully submerged in water and therefore it is rather tricky to clean the lining.
We would advise against attempting to clean the lining of your gloves, as you are quite likely to damage them. Should you feel that you need to clean them, we would suggest taking them to a specialist dry cleaners.
