It was a pleasure for us to meet a former glove maker and learn something about the handicraft that is dying out in Germany.
Glove makers mainly make leather gloves. They make drafts, prepare leather and process it into gloves. The material is extremely high quality: the finest, flawless leather is required that is so supple that it feels like a second skin and yet so durable that it can withstand all hand movements and stress. Peccary leather from South American wild boar - recognizable by its 3 pores - or finest Pittards lamb leather from England is particularly high quality. The seams are laboriously done by hand or with the machine. An experienced glove maker creates 2 pairs of gloves per hour.
The old tools in the workshop are varied: model templates, huge scissors, sew and quilting machines, iron hands over which the gloves are pulled for smoothing, punching caliber, presses, special tools for turning the gloves, knives for thinning the leather, punching tools to punch hole patterns in the leather ...
Craftsmen find it difficult due to the high cost pressure and the current fashion: Today, high-quality leather gloves are usually only worn in winter - there were times when gloves were worn all year round, for a suit, for driving, in the theater - they were a popular accessory next to hat, walking stick and pocket watch.
