We freshen up gloves bought second hand

We fix and freshen up a pair of used gloves

Can you buy gloves second-hand? It may not sound very fresh. But I found two pairs on Sellpy, for only 30 SEK each. Can we freshen them up?

Can you wash leather in a washing machine?

This is not normally recommended, but it depends on the type of leather. A leather jacket? Definitely a bad idea. A pair of leather gloves? Yes, it’s possible, if you take care of them (re-grease) afterwards.

To wash them, I simply ran them in the washing machine on the hand wash program (gentle temp, very gentle spin) and used Änglamark liquid detergent without bleach.

Regreasing – taking care of dry or worn leather

To re-grease the leather, I used Tapir’s Leather Oil. I thought the black gloves needed a little more protection, so I also applied Leather Grease from Tapir to them. The brown ones were probably new and in good condition, not so tired in the leather, Leather Oil was therefore good enough. The result was brilliant, gloves like new! Yes the black ones have had a life before, the leather has patina, but they are now re-greased, supple and soft. They will last for many more years.

If the inner lining is worn, you can replace it. Not that difficult actually. In a well-stocked glove shop you can buy new liners. You rip out the old, sew in the new. If you can sew a little by hand, you can do it yourself. Or you can have someone do it for you.

A good pair of gloves will last for many, many years! If you take care of them with good caring products. I have a pair of black leather gloves from Kenzo, bought over 10 years ago. They have been through a lot. Once I got stuck in the snow in the winter, out in the sticks, no help was available other than digging the car out of the snow with my Kenzo gloves. They looked terrible afterwards, of course, soaked and tired. I let them dry at home. Then I re-greased them with Tapir products. Ingeniously, they were so nice again that you could not see that they had been digging in the snow for over an hour.

Below before and after.