Fairisle British-Made Men's Gloves — Voted by the Community

Glove making has a long history in Britain. In London, glovers broke away from the Cordwainers to form their own craft organisation in 1349, and the Worshipful Company of Glovers received a royal charter in the 1630s. Several regions became known for the trade. Worcester was the leading centre in the early nineteenth century, when around a hundred glove manufacturers worked in the city, with cutting done in workshops and sewing given out to outworkers in homes across Worcestershire. Woodstock in West Oxfordshire had an established glove trade by the sixteenth century. In Somerset, Daniel Defoe noted in the 1720s that gloves were Yeovil’s main manufacture, and by the 1930s the Yeovil area had dozens of glove factories. The trade relied on protection from foreign imports, and when bans on foreign gloves were lifted in the 1820s, both Worcester and Yeovil suffered. Glove making nonetheless carried on in these areas well into the twentieth century. British makers today continue this tradition, combining good leather with skilled cutting and stitching to make gloves that meet practical needs, such as warmth and protection, as well as standards of fit and finish.