Luxury Cowhide Winter

Sidebar: Mr. Subjective on ‘Waterproof-insert’ Gloves - rev 2017

Almost all factory waterproof riders gloves contain a thin and somewhat fragile waterproof insert located between the glove’s lining and the outer glove. Separated, these inserts look like oversize five fingered plastic food-service glove-bags made of very thin, flexible plastic - usually less than the thickness of a sandwich bag, which means that after some period of use they can be torn, punctured or damaged before the rest of the glove wears out. At which point one owns a formerly waterproof glove.

I’m old-school. Two things I've disliked about every insert-equipped waterproof glove I've ever tried are:

1. When it’s not raining no glove of this type ever wears quite as dry-feeling and moisture-breathable as gloves with no insert so my hands never are quite as comfortably dry as they are inside regular leather gloves. My hands don’t sweat excessively, but this sensation of trapped moisture is noticeable and mildly disconcerting on a hot dry day. Inserts made of Gore Tex do feel a bit better than other types, but all provide this same moist-handed feel. One rider I knew whose hands did sweat a lot ended up with a non-Gore Tex model of this type which actually became so smelly/moldy inside he ended up throwing them away. Most riders get used to the slightly moist feel and love these kinds of gloves.
2. All waterproof-breathable inserts add a slight bulkier, slipperier feel. No matter how thin the insert, the glove’s three layers (outer, insert, lining) shift slightly between each other as you flex and grip things. After a short while you become accustomed to this sensation, but (like the moisture feel) it never entirely goes away. When your hand is inside a simple unlined deer or elk glove the increased direct tactile feel is noticeable.

On the plus side, waterproof-breathable inserts make any glove a little warmer. The ones we sell which offer some insert-provided waterproofness are: the Luxury Cowhide Winter #447, and the Cowhide/Nylon Winter #1489, plus these electrically heated models #4468, #4469, #4448-5448. They are all excellent for wet weather, but if I’m traveling somewhere that involves riding more than an hour I’m usually wearing a non-waterproof elk skin glove and carrying triple digit raincovers (#442 & #492, $47).

For everyday urban rides under about 30 minutes, even if it’s raining fairly hard I’ll usually just let my hands become wet inside regular elk or deer gloves. They’ll also occasionally get wet on trips if the rain is intermittent and I don’t feel like stopping to put on glove raincovers. Pre-applied water-resistant leather treatments make a huge difference in most of these milder rains and shorter and moderate-length wet weather exposures.