Vintage Finds: Gloves

Saranac Driving Gloves

10 February 2023, San Diego, CA, USA

It’s 2023. And you have a daughter who has small hands. 

Trudie, my mother, to whom I have managed to make several references already in 21st & 18th, was doing a little morning browse in #4 of her top 10 vintage and second hand shops in San Diego when she came across a pair of buttery, thicker-than-kid, never been worn driving gloves¹. 

Elizabeth Taylor, looking lovely in a pair of driving gloves that appear to match the bodice of her dress

Trudie picks them up. She runs her long, polished fingers over the leather and notices the fine stitching and understated elegance. “These are good”, she thinks. Trudie glances at the price, $4.00, “These are very good.” 

The Gloves

Trudie continues to browse. 

As she browses, she attempts to wiggle her hands into these perfect, vintage driving gloves, but here’s the rub, Trudie is a statuesque lady of 69” and she has the fingers of Adam on the Sistine Chapel. Basically, the gloves were not a Cinderella fit. Following a depressing realization that these perfect and perfectly priced gloves will never fit her hands, she ponders, “Who do I know that has hands this small?”²

Hello, Dolly.³ 

Grace Kelly and Cary Grant, To Catch a Thief, Film, 1955

This is when it pays to be the most petite member of the family with sea otter sized paws. In the end my mother ends up gifting me these fabulous $4.00 original Saranac leather driving gloves, not knowing a sou about them. 

I go home and, after comparing these gloves to other pairs of driving gloves in my collection, start digging.

 

It’s 1866.

The United States Congress passes the Civil Rights Act of 1866 despite a veto-interference by that ninny President Andrew Jackson, Canadian Parliament meets for the first time in Ottawa, Alfred Nobel⁴ invents dynamite in Germany, Erik Satie⁵ was birthed, a famine broke out in Finland, and among other global events: Saranac Glove Company was founded in Littleton, New Hampshire. 

Littleton, New Hampshire, Oozing New England charm

Saranac Glove Company was founded in 1866 in New England and still operates today - in somewhat of an evolved form. Fascinatingly enough Saranac Glove Company is touted as the oldest glove manufacturer in the United States. 

The Company was the result of a merger of local New England outfits, three local glove makers, one of which was a former tanner, came together to form the Saranac Glove Company, which by 1900 employed more than 250 people and produced 984,000 gloves annually. 

To grasp the enormity of this operation, in 2010 the town of Littleton, NH recorded 5,928 inhabitants and in 1860 the town polled 2,292 locals. What? Mais oui, the Saranac Corp. employed over 10% of the entire town.

Saranac Glove Shop in Littleton, NH, Photograph dates between 1866 - 1930

Being such a fixture in town and powerhouse manufacturer in a place where gloves are needed for work and weather, as well as popularly worn by both men and women in society, Saranac Glove left their stamp on Littleton. There is a Saranac Street, well positioned near the church - very excellent real estate - the town has a Saranac Glove Shop, and the deer native to this part of New England whose hide is used for Saranac gloves are nearly always referred to as Saranac deer.

As I was researching Saranac Glove Company and these fabulous ladies driving gloves that are now in my possession and glove collection, it was most fascinating to consider how prominent this glove manufacturer was in 1866. Even from a small New England town. 

Saranac Glove Company vintage advert

Littleton is fascinatingly positioned, there is space and natural materials to build, manufacture, and tan leather for glove making, yet Boston, New York, and growing Gilded Age⁶ watering holes such as Newport, RI are a stone’s throw away. With this strategic positioning, and a decade into the company’s existence, the railway continued its expansion across the United States and through the evergreen-steeple-soaked hills of ‘lil states like New Hampshire making it easier to move product. Business was very obviously good as Saranac’s product evolved and market share eclipsed competitors: In 1937 Saranac’s gloves were chosen to outfit an expedition to the North Pole due to their manufacturing and obvious prowess in keeping fingers warm and in 1964 Fabry Glove of Green Bay, Wisconsin acquired Saranac Glove Company. Today, Saranac is based in Wisconsin and remains one of the top glove producers in the US, over the years becoming the official partner to Team USA in the Winter Olympics and the NFL - heck Saranac Glove is even in the Football Hall of Fame for their contribution to the game through gear.

Saranac’s current logo, ‘The Magic Triangle’ seen on Team USA and across the NFL

What about the gloves?

While I cannot seem to find these exact gloves online, I’ve come across several pairs of ladies driving gloves of a similar style that date to c. 1930 - 40s. As Saranac Glove Company no longer produces this exact style of gloves and based on the original logo stamped on the inside of the right glove, I’ve made the assumption that these must pre-date Saranac’s acquisition in 1964.

I’m quite happy with these findings. Not bad for a day’s worth of research. A pair of $4.00 never worn driving gloves found in San Diego, CA in 2023 that are likely from 1930 - 1950…if you happen to know more, you know where to find me.

Proof of Trudie's $4.00 purchase and a look at the interior 'Saranac Glove Company' original logo

Until next time, and if you’re curious, yes, I did drive to my office this morning wearing these gloves.

Cheers,

LLW

1. Smart accessories that came to popularity when the first automobiles began to be mass produced, driving gloves ensured grip on the steering wheel and keep control over the gear shift etc

2. Me, she knows, me

3. A 1969 musical starring Barbara Streisand. This has nothing to do with 21st & 18th, I just thought it was hilarious.

4. Alfred Bernhard Nobel, Swedish entrepreneur, engineer and inventor who left his fortune to fund the Nobel Peace Prize

5. Eric Alfred Leslie Satie, French composer and pianist, such romantic music - check out his snappy little spectacles

6. Time period in the United States spanning 1877 - 1900 and followed by the Progressive Era, also a B+ period drama by Julian Kitchener-Fellowes