ABOUT US

One of the last surviving West Country glove-making firms, Southcombe Gloves has been supplying, designing and making gloves since 1847. Based in the beautiful Somerset countryside, we have two factories, a tannery and a team of dedicated and long-serving staff.

A fifth-generation family owned and run company, we design and make leather gloves for the fashion industry as well as the police, fire service and military. We are known throughout the industry for our expertise and our honesty. You can be assured that Southcombe gloves will be expertly cut to give a flexible fit and made from great quality leather with immaculate finishing.

As well as manufacturing gloves and leather in our UK factories we also source from other tanneries and glove makers in the UK and around the world. We only source from bona fide factories who can demonstrate the highest levels of skilled glovemaking and who genuinely look after their staff with reasonable remuneration as well as providing a clean and safe working environment.

ABOUT OUR GLOVES

We are very proud of the quality of our gloves. True glove experts, we carefully oversee every step of the design and production process to ensure that the finished product meets our exacting standards. We only use the best quality skins to make the premium leather that quality gloves demand.

TABLE CUT LEATHER

Table Cutting is a skill and an art. After carefully examining each individual skin to see the particular amount of natural stretch, the leather is pulled up length ways and widthways to ensure that a fixed and measured amount of stretch is cut into the leather across the width but not in the length. Then the Table-Cutter will cut the gloves accordingly. The skill is to remove the natural, variable stretching of leather and to replace it with a custom amount. This ensures gloves give gently widthways but not lengthways, so you don't get overlong glove fingers every time you pull off your gloves!

In the UK, the traditional skill of Table Cutting requires a 3-year apprenticeship. There are also pockets of excellence in table-cutting around the world - Italy, India, Eastern Europe and the Philippines all have expertise in this area.

When The BBC came!

Caroline Southcombe being filmed by The One Show as part of a piece about Southcombe Gloves. Due to air October 2011.