Hand protection, what are the different types of leather that make up Racer gloves and their advantages.

PROTECTION

Épisode 4 - Protecting your hand

You have seen the materials that shield you from the elements. In most gloves, we add leather to maximize comfort, protect you and provide you with a premium look. Different leather types call for a variety of demands. Let’s learn about the characteristics and benefits of each. We wrote this blog for you. In this fourth installment, we’re talking about different leather types in Racer gloves.

Your hands are precious and remain what is most important to us. They are fragile, and so the slightest fall can injure them. Using leather protects them. Leather is a natural material, animal skin, treated to guarantee quality and comfort. Why not just use synthetic leather? Natural leather lives with you and so adapts to your body. Synthetic material will break because it lacks the flexible capabilities of the skin. It reacts well with you so that it does not irritate you. Its abrasion resistance also allows it to remain in one piece during a fall. You can wax it, and voila! The advantages of real leather are many. Knowing its capabilities, we work with the finest leather to offer our clients quality gloves in terms of style and usage.

Guarantees quality

Our workshops in France deal with the supply of leather from several suppliers. We make sure it comes from animal-friendly suppliers. We require our gloves to adhere to the CE (Conformité Européenne) criteria. They must likewise pass all the standardizing tests, therefore guaranteeing prime quality. Here are other standards that our leather adheres before it goes to your hands.

The European standard, EN 388
The European standard, EN 388, determines the mechanical risks for hand protection. They test gloves adhering to this standard by a third party by applying vertical and linear pressure to the leather with a blade. It classifies them for their resistance to abrasion, cuts, tears, and punctures. In addition, since the last revision of the standard in November 2016, it now has an impact protection test.
The European standard EN ISO 21420
The European standard EN ISO 21420 tests leather regarding the comfort of your hand. It verifies the size and dexterity of your hands inside the gloves. Also, third-party laboratories perform chemical tests on the gloves to ensure that they do not react to your skin, sweat, etc. A pH test checks the level of irritation on the skin. Another verifies that the pigments do not transmit carcinogens. Other laboratories, such as the CTC (leather technical center), perform additional tests to ensure it complies with our quality norms.

Three types of leather stand out with the strongest qualities: cowhide, lambskin, and goatskin.

Types of leather

bovine leather

Bovine leather is strong and known to be very resistant. The fibres remain tight, which makes it very dense and therefore offers the best protection. However, given its characteristics, it is heavier and difficult to sew on small pieces for a glove. Being resistant to abrasion, it is used more often in motorcycle pants and jackets to protect you from friction against the ground during a fall.

Lambskin

Lambskin is the opposite of cowhide. Coming from a younger animal, it is the finest and softest leather. It allows it to keep its shape after wearing it several times. Its smoothness makes it very flexible but is less tough during very active use and therefore not very popular for sports equipment because it requires a complex process to be incorporated into gloves. You can find it in our factory, cycling gloves.

Goat leather

Our most used leather in Racer products is goat leather. Thinner and lighter than cow and stronger than lamb, it represents the perfect balance between the two kinds of leather. It protects you by being abrasion-resistant and adapts to your hand with its flexibility. We favour it in equipment requiring this flexibility, such as gloves. You will find this type of leather in many motorcycle gloves like the Sprint ID1, a full goat leather glove that incorporates these attributes to allow you to ride your motorcycle protected and comfortable. We also use it in ski gloves such as the 90 Leather, thanks to its insulating properties, which offer a thermal barrier against the cold.

CONCLUSION

Keeping your hands protected while providing maximum comfort is our priority. We use the best attributes from bovine, lamb, and goat leathers to stand out from the crowd. The abrasion resistance means it won’t tear. A simple waxing afterwards will give it a unique shine. In addition, this allows you to waterproof it against the rain, increasing its practicality. Being animal skin, it lives with you and carries a record of your movement. By wearing a material utilized for thousands of years, you gain a certain prestige of human engineering. Our premium products will not solely protect your hand from many dangers but will give you an exquisite look.

This is it for our fourth installment of the various leathers in Racer products. Hoping you enjoyed this one and picked up a thing or two. We will soon meet again for the fifth and final blog on the history of Racer and how we produce our signature gloves.

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