Keeping leather gloves alive through a winter

Getting them on and off without stretching them

Work the glove onto the fingers first, then push down between each finger before pulling the cuff over the wrist. Pulling by the cuff with the fingers half in is what breaks the stitching at the finger forks, and that is the seam that fails first on almost every pair.

Taking them off, ease each fingertip loose before pulling. Yanking a glove off by the fingertips stretches the finger tubes permanently and they never go back.

Wet gloves

• Blot with a towel. Do not wring.
• Pull the fingers back into shape while the leather is damp and lay them flat.
• Dry at room temperature, away from a radiator, a hairdryer or a car heater. Heat cooks the oils out of leather and it goes stiff and cracks.
• Once dry, flex them a few times before wearing. Leather that dried untouched will feel like card until it is worked.

Conditioning

Twice a season is enough for gloves in normal use. Use a neutral leather cream, a small amount on a cloth, worked in and buffed off. Skip anything silicone-heavy and skip mink oil on chrome-free leather, which absorbs it unevenly and blotches. If the leather still feels supple, leave it alone: over-conditioning softens the hide until it loses shape.

Linings

Wool and cashmere linings pick up moisture from your hands and eventually smell. Turn the gloves inside out as far as the lining allows, air them for a day, and repeat monthly. They cannot be washed. If a lining tears at the fingertip, a stitch from the inside with matching thread will hold for the rest of the season.

Storage over summer

Flat, in a drawer, not folded and not in a plastic bag. Plastic traps moisture against the leather and mould follows. A paper envelope or an old cotton pillowcase is right. Put the pair together rather than separately so you find both in October.

The two things that actually kill gloves

Direct heat while wet, and pulling them off by the fingertips. Almost every pair that dies early died of one of those. Nothing you do with conditioner will matter as much as avoiding both.