My Aerostich Competition Roper gloves are 3.5 years old and show no signs of significant wear on the palms, fingers, etc. For about nine months of the year, I wear these almost daily in all weather conditions - commuting during the week, recreational riding on weekends, touring, etc. I really like these gloves. However, they were rather filthy and there were a couple of dark, dry, cracked places that bothered me. Also, the hook-and-loop would come undone at highway speed. So, I set about cleaning and conditioning them and was thinking about having my shoe guy add new hook-and-loop. Here are the results of my efforts. Pre-wash Washed - I put them in the washing machine with an good portion of Tide Sport and some towels and assorted items. Washed on warm, cold rinse. Let them air dry for a day (90F, 67% humidity - nice for FL). Conditioned - slathered them down with Pecard's Never Leak leather conditioner. Let them dry for some hours. Wiped off thoroughly with a clean rag. Conclusions: 1) I need new gloves. The palm and finger leather on these gloves show no significant wear, but the hook-and-loop is annoying and not worth the expense to replace, and I can't abide those cracked, scabby patches I see on the top, inner wrist. These will go on the shelf as yard gloves and emergency spares. New pair ordered $67 + S&H. 2) Leather gloves will never really be waterproof. The Pecards makes the gloves heavy and hot/clammy without doing much in the way of waterproofing. Some initial water beading was seen the first time I applied it a year or so ago, but nothing approaching even water resistence. I do have some Nikwax glove waterproofer coming with the new gloves I just ordered. Worth the $8 to try. 3) Washing doesn't hurt. I might start throwing my new glove in the wash annually and applying some general leather conditioner. N.B. Be very careful with hook-and-loop in the washer. It can shred things. I did significant damage to my original FG Kili jacket that way. And just to be sure and finish the job, I did it again a couple of years later.
Curious how saddle soap would work on these, for general cleaning. I have a new pair of the deerskin gloves (as well as a set of these coming). Would you consider SnoSeal as a waterproofing agent?
I've used sno-sneal on my non-comp ropers . . . . . it does repeal water, but at the expense of stopping all breathability . . . .gloves felt odd, thicker . . . tough to explain. I got my new Ropers last week (every 50/60K miles), and decided not treat these at all, and see how they fare . . . .
Don't know about saddle soap. I believe the fundamental issue is the need for suppleness in a glove. Last year, I replaced my entire dress shoe collection with high-end(1) shoes. As part of the process, I did a lot of research on leather care. That is the sartorial equivalent of "what oil do you use?" Differences in carriers, unguents, incantations, and such. I can't remember the details, but Pecard's seemed a good choice for work boots and other leather products. However, shoe leather is processed differently from glove leather. It is thicker and denser. My Aerostich Combat Tour boots are effectively waterproof with no treatment at all. I tried the Pecards on them, and, as with the gloves, they, for the first time, felt heavy, hot, and clammy after treatment. You can't really appreciate the breathability of leather until you eliminate it. Unpleasantly amazing. I will report back in this thread on my experience with the Nikwax product. (1) Allen Edmonds, which are a U.S. made brand considered the low end of the high end. Goodyear welt, quality calfskin and shell cordovan leathers, rebuildable, and all that.
I bought some Lee Parks Deer Tour gloves last year and used his recommendation for cleaning. I mixed some Woolite in the sink with warm water then put the gloves on and used the same motions as washing my hands, then rinsed in clean water the same way and let air dry for a day. They cleaned up nice and are just as supple as when new.
I just did that with mine and I cannot report as good results. My gloves lost all of their color. The palms are now almost casper the ghost white. The leather texture is rougher in a lot of areas. The black is almost a gray. I was thinking about snapping pictures and asking Lee about it. ac
I had Lee Parks Deersports prior to the ACRs. Can't recall any cleaning issues or attempts, but the black did bleed. I have since moved to natural color, which for the ACRs starts out as banana yellow :eek1. The Lee Parks were very supple, thin gloves - I could take credit cards out of my wallet without ever removing them.
IIRC, Aerostitch just recommends (hand) soap and water as a cleaning routine. However, Woolite and warm water sounds promising.
Success! I contacted Aerostich and was able to restore my gloves to what I believe is an acceptable condition. After top: After palm:
Elkskin ropers rock!! I'm on third pair. I buy a new pair for each new bike. the 1100gs ,,,now about 7 years and 80K miles and many wet miles in the tropics. They still have some life though holes are appearing on top of the thumbs. My two KLR travel machine gloves are flawless and tough. I love these gloves.
Same pair for 50k miles. Washed just recently came up looking like they had 5k on 'em. No treatment of any of kind - maybe sweat from the inside
I tend to be a cheap sumbitch...in a penny wise/ pound foolish sort of way. I spend $24k on a bike, then spend over an hour trying to recondition $70 gloves. Of course, without the former, the latter probably would have had a little less motivation. Other comments: 1) The only functional issue with the old gloves is the hook-and-loop. Palms, fingers, all the stitching are still completely intact - no issue or excessive wear at all after probably 25k miles or so in all weather. The hook-and-loop doesn't hold at highway speed, but that's it. Aesthetically, those scabby patches (which I suspect a little might have been related to earlier attempts at leather treatment) bother me quite a bit, but otherwise, still good, servicable gloves. I expect to get years of yardwork out of them. 2) I recall the color of my first pair was banana yellow. These are much more muted. I can't be sure if my earlier, initial impression was due to the shock of being used to black gloves, but I don't think so. 3) Great fit - ever so slightly snug, finger tips just touching glove finger ends, and oh so soft (thick, but soft). Should mold to hands nicely. Original size chart was spot on, and I just reordered the same size. Overall dimensions are the same as before, but the retaining strap seems to have moved forward about 3/4in or so. Will enjoy the new gloves for a while. Then, might try to the Nikwax product...or not.