The people involved in glove production overseas are mostly young and quick to learn, and so there is very little difference in quality between gloves made in Japan and those made overseas. Japanese makers provide some technical guidance, and high- quality gloves are made. Prices in Japan have fallen by half due to large imports of these cheap, high-quality gloves, making production in Japan almost impossible. An excess supply of imports led to excessive competition, and the price of gloves fell rapidly. Planning and developing new products, making samples for plants overseas, warehousing and marketing have come to make up the business activities of Japanese glove makers.
Domestic production is limited to rapid production of many models in small quantities.
Japanese glove makers now have to rely on imports. Manufacturers have been forced to switch to domestic demand and move into new fields, such as the production of sports gloves for leisure and sporting such as golf, skiing, batting, driving and marine sports. Supermarkets and other major retail chain stores send materials overseas for production and import directly from the overseas makers, but their inability to select suitable goods due to a lack of experience in the glove business means that they face an uphill struggle in the marketplace. Manufacturers voluntarily take out product liability insurance, but many have introduced the use of detectors to check products and there have as yet been no problems. The only cases to arise have concerned the color from gloves made using leather tanned overseas coming off on skiwear.