The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1871-07-22
Kid Gloves.

It would be quite impossible to find kid
enough to supply the demand for gloves, 90 re.
course is had to sheep skin and it is asserted by
several OF our largest small wear folks that not
ten per cent of the gloves sold for kid arc the
Legitimate article. The pelts Of sucking lambs
and colts are the principal materials used. Rat
skins are never used for gloves; they arc too
small, and cannot. be dressed soft and durable.
Rat skins are tanned for coverings to jewelry
boxes. A genuine kid glove is thin, fine grained,
delicate and soft, yet very strong. A sheep
glove is cosrser grained, thick and stout, and il
shaved to . thinness to represent kid. it is
iimsy and rotten.
Paris is the headquarters of the kid and colt
skin glove. The kid skins are collected in all
parts Of the world. while the colt skins como
from Tartnry, where the flesh of sucking colts ie
q staple article Of food The tanning, dressing,
and cutting out of the glovea is done in Paris,
and thonce sent into the country to be sswed.
The great bulk of Paris gloves have always been
sewed in the district of Alsace and Lorraine, aud
now that Germany has acquired this territory,
Paris, to retain her glove trade, will be com.
PEELED to very generally adopt the sewing ma.
chine. By an ingenious application skillful
operators can afford to sew gloves 30 per cent.
cheaper with machine than by hand. The sheep
Vienna About 100000 dozen pair from the
former place are sold yearly in Boston, and about
100000 dozen pair from the latter city reach
this market. This class of glove is very largely
worn as preference to many, as being about
one-third the price of kid article the wearer
can afford with better economy to wear new
pair of sheep skin gloves each day, and thus
present a cleaner unsoiled glove, than in pur-
chasing kid continually and replacing them
when soiled.
The dressing fos skins for gloves is somewhat
inOanious Limo for pnviu <ho hair nuot
be used, as is done in preparing skins for boot
leather, but il done by soaking them in water
and Indian meal, and afterward in treading the
skin in rough trough uatil all the meal is we'll
out of the hide, when the hair peels off easily.
The skins are then skived or thinned down,
and the inner side laid upon u large, fiat stone,
and the dye or color applied with brush to the
outer side The skin is then dried slowly, when
it Is ready to be cut into gloves. This latter
the upper end being sharpened, in the shape Of
two open hands, and striking with padded
club the skin. The strips between the fingers
are cut from the edges of skins. They are then
tied in packages of q dozen pairs, and with
printed instructions accompanying each pair,
are sent out to be made For ladies wear they
are made in ten sizes, from 53a to 8 inches,
which, also, is an index to their numbers. This
is the size of the hand they are to fit, msasur.
Ing around the knucKle JOINTS. gloves are put
up in packages of dozen, each different color
Manufacturers are often at disadvantage in
waiting for some one color to complete an in.
voice to be sent off. One of our Boston iobbers
had lot of $4,000 making up in Paris when
the war broke out, that had been waiting ship.
ment for six weeks, delayed by the non.receipt
of peculiar shade of green, one pair for each
dozen. They were finally shipped with diff.
ferent color sorted to make up the count. This
seemingly small matter of substituting one color
not specially ordered, ruined the lot, and the
goods were sold as unmarketable.
The sizes of gloves sold in the United States
are smaller than they were 20 years ago and the
call 10 still for snugger fits on smaller hands.
The smallest gloves made are sold in the Ameri.
can market, and now the sizes IA and 8 are not
put up abroad in the assortment for the market.
For the first time, sizes 5ls one.elghth up to 6.
are put up expressly for Boston house. The
colors now in use are lighter than formerly, as
opera shades are very generally wern on the
street. Gloves from abroad are ordered eight
months ahead, and in lots to arrive for the com.
ing fall and winter trade are four or five button
gloves, seemingly an exaggerstion of the pres.
ent popular gauntlet style. The very general
use of kid gloves has almost driven Isle thread
goods out of the market. These are German
manufacture, ss are our white cotton military
gloves-B0ytOn Commercial Bulletin.