All You Need Is Glove!

Once upon a time Northampton was renowned for making leather shoes, Honiton was the place to be for lace making and Martock in Somerset was famous for turning out the finest leather gloves on planet earth (the area used to house an incredible 38 glove manufacturers!). Unfortunately as demand grew for fast fashion cheap poorly made clothes from overseas flooded the market and many long established British firms were sadly lost forever. 

Photo courtesy of The Martock Local History website

Given that we're always on the lookout for vintage 'deadstock', those items which never made it to the market all those years ago, and we couldn't believe our eyes when we came across some vintage leather and suede gloves manufactured by Burfield's, Glove Manufacturers of Martock. 

The gloves still have their original tag from the factory in pounds, shillings and pence and they're in immaculate condition.  As the the sign above the factory door used to say “This is where gloves of quality and superlative design are manufactured by Burfields and the Martock Glove Co.”

Photo courtesy of  The Martock Local History Group website

Burfield & Co, which was liquidated in 2017 and is now sadly closed, was a family owned business that supplied Dents and other high end gloves companies.The factory was recently featured on Salvage Hunters when Drew Pritchard purchased some of the glove making equipment. 

We don't have the equipment but we do have some of the gloves up for sale for just £20 each, which is a ruddy bargain considering how much new leather gloves cost coupled with the fact that...well...once they're gone you'll never sadly never be able to buy new Martock gloves ever again. For more details please contact us...we'd glove to hear from you. 

P.S. You can find out more information from the fascinating Martock Local History website right here!