The Probert Encyclopaedia of Costume

GLOVE

Gloves are coverings for the hand, or for the hand and wrist, with a separate sheath for each finger. They are made of leather, fur, cloth, silk, linen thread, cotton, worsted, etc. The chief leathers traditionaly used in glove manufacture were doe, buck, and calf-skins; sheep-skin for military gloves; lamb-skin for much of the so-called kid gloves; true kid for the best and finest gloves; and formerly also dog, rat, and kangaroo skins, etc. The leather in all cases undergoes a much lighter dressing than when used for boots and shoes. Leather gloves are usually cut out by means of dies, and sewed by a machine of peculiar construction.

The best woollen, thread, and silk gloves are made by cutting and sewing, but commoner gloves are made by knitting and weaving. In England leather gloves were traditionallly manufactured at London, Worcester, and elsewhere. Limerick was formerly celebrated for gloves of a peculiarly delicate kind. Gloversville, in New York, was the chief American seat of the manufacture. Italy, Belgium, Sweden, Denmark, and Germany all historically have a reputation for the manufacture of excellent gloves, but France traditionally supplied the world with most of the finer and more expensive kinds.

Large quantities of cotton gloves were formerly manufactured at Nottingham and Leicester; and the greater part of the woollen gloves was made in Wales, Scotland, and the North of England.

Gloves are a very ancient article of dress, and many curious customs and usages are connected with them. Throwing the glove down before a person amounted to a challenge to single combat. The judges in England used to be prohibited wearing gloves on the bench; and it was only in case of a maiden assize that the sheriffs were allowed to present a judge with a pair of gloves.
Research Glove