Dents long leather gloves

The fashion business is such a small world. Years ago I did some great photo shoots with David Bailey, and I remember hearing about this iconic photographer’s background. He had been brought up in the east end, and, during World War II when he was three years old, his house was bombed and destroyed. With Terence Donovan and Brian Duffy, he was one of the top photographers who were responsible for portraying the “swinging” aspects of the 1960s, and he has been shooting amazing photographs ever since. This week we had a phone call asking for some of our lovely long black leather gloves for a photo shoot David is doing for GQ Magazine. Along with David, these gloves just go on and on being a top fashion favourite! The gloves appear in so many fashion photographs, they add such elegance and statement to a huge range of different outfits. Interestingly, many of the models have problems getting them on because they are not used to wearing long gloves. You really do need to roll them back and insert the hand and fingers first. Only when the fingers are properly fitted should you start gently easing the rest of the glove down the arm. I know David will do an amazing job photographing them and I can’t wait to see the results.

These gloves are made right here in our factory in Warminster, England, but what makes them so special?

• They’re individually hand cut and hand sewn, one pair at a time, as one would a bespoke Savile Row suit. It takes a minimum of three feet of leather to make one pair of gloves.
• There are at least 48 different components in one pair of gloves. It takes a quick eye, dexterity and much skill to sew this many small pieces of leather together. There are 32 different manufacturing operations involved, and the whole process takes between four to eight hours depending on the design and leather chosen.
• In our most expensive gloves, you will find “quirks”, small diamond shaped pieces of leather sewn into the base of the fingers to give an unrivalled feeling of comfort, and new meaning to the phrase “they fit like a glove”.
• They are bench cut, which means they are hand cut by a Master Glove Cutter, from a glove pattern, one pair at a time. Because they are made this way, using traditional skills, no two pairs of gloves can be exactly the same. The final shape and fit depends on many things, above all the experience, skill and hand stretching of the leather by the Cutter. The skilled stretching of the leather around the pattern ensures a good fitting glove.
• We make each glove lining as a separate glove to the outer leather glove shell. The result is a much better fitting glove. This is a more expensive way of manufacturing, but the difference is clear when you wear the gloves.

…is how Simon Mayo on BBC Radio 2′s Drive Time show described the goings on at a local department store last week. To hear the full story, just follow this link – the segment, which went out live, includes an interview with Deborah Moore, Dents’ Creative Director, who gives a fascinating potted commentary on glove making and explains some key differences between men’s and women’s leather gloves.

When one is so involved in the fashion business, it is sometimes easy to forget the wonderful heritage that has led us to the modern styles of today. This week BBC2 did an excellent feature programme on Dents which underlined the company’s extraordinary heritage as well as its current leadership in global trends.

The programme was shown as part of the BBC’s antique Flog It series, which regularly gets an audience of two million viewers each weekday. Presenter Paul Martin was clearly impressed when he learned that there were 32 different stages in making a Dents glove. The BBC camera crew was kept busy in the Dents main factory in Warminster where Dents’ Creative Director Deborah Mooreexplained a little about the different leathers used in gloving and showed samples of leathers, including the soft and stretchy leather from hairsheep and also the rarer peccary leather – a pair of gloves made from peccary leather can cost well over £200. The film included close-ups of the intricate handsewing that goes into some of Dents beautiful leather gloves and also covered the ironing and finishing processes.

It is a lovely film and is still available for viewing here.

The film crew didn’t go into the Dents museum – just as well really; with some of the wonderful old items there including gloves worn by Lord Nelson and even Elizabeth 1st, it might have been tempting to try and include those in the Flog It auctions!

Dents have been making leather gloves since 1777, and in that time we’ve learned a thing or two about making them fit.

Our peccary gloves are made by hand in our Warminster factory here in England. Each one is individually hand cut and hand stitched. Due to the special nature of the leather we only make two pairs a day, and making just one pair involves 32 different operations, taking a total of around 6 hours. These particular gloves are normally lined with Scottish cashmere which has been specially knitted for us. In fact, they are made as two separate gloves: a lining, and an outer glove. We then fit the lining into the outer glove to create an exceptional fit.

Many styles of Dents gloves contain components and examples of the glovemaker’s craft not often found today – for example quirks, which are small diamond shaped pieces of leather sewn at the base of the fingers, where they are attached to the hand of the glove to improve the fit, or hand felling which involves stitching the hem of glove to the lining as well as the back of glove, helping the glove keep its shape.

Dennis, our head leather cutter, has his own explanation for the fit. “It’s because of the ‘hidden fit’ – the amount of “stretch” the cutter puts into the leather before cutting. It allows the glove leather to stretch on your hand, but then due to this pre-stretching it retracts again keeping its shape and fit. It’s a skill that comes from years of experience. “

Whatever the reason for the fit, it’s part of a commitment to quality which runs through the whole of our Collection…