I was kind of surprised this is not something I’ve written about before. I only mentioned it in passing like five years ago. It’s something that I feel I’ve talked about often, but I guess that’s just an explanation when I have a passenger in my car. The topic: driving gloves.
So let me start with a story. One day, I’m commuting back home from work and as usual, traffic is just at a standstill. I’m driving the MX-5. At that time, I had the GPS/dashcam mounted in it. The dashcam can also pair with your phone for Bluetooth hands-free bullshit. I don’t enable any of that junk. But in this moment, the GPS randomly picked up someone else’s Bluetooth transmission and broadcast it to me. Apparently, the truck in front of me was interested in my business. I don’t remember if I’d done something to ruin his day, but it seems I was a target for criticism. The statement that came through the Bluetooth suggested he had plenty to say about me. The only piece I got to hear? "Oh my god, he’s wearing leather racing gloves!"
Even with that lone commentary to consider, I have worn driving gloves consistently since initially deciding to do so. And when I recently decided to expand my horizons on gloves, the first review site I visited gave a pretty good rationale of why you should wear them. Now, I could have used other words like justification, or defense, seeing that most people would need to be convinced to take that step, but since I’m already a convert, it just confirmed what I already knew.
Very quickly, those reasons are: better grip on the wheel; more relaxed grip on the wheel because of said grip, resulting in less fatigue; and preserving the condition of your interior. I agree with all points, and the last one is the primary reason I began wearing gloves, because the leather on my steering wheel had dried, cracked, and rotted away, requiring replacement of the whole steering wheel. The replacement has remained immaculate.
But anyway, this post is about gloves. When I started this habit, I didn’t have any experience at all. So I just went to Amazon and looked at what was highly rated for the price I was willing to pay. What I ended up with was Pratt and Hart gloves for about $30. I’ve been through five pairs of those gloves over five years between two cars. And I felt it was time to see what else was out there and build comparative knowledge. And that led me to the article previously mentioned.
I got the names of two manufacturers that I was willing to try. Ferrari was not one of them, because while having suede gloves does sound awesome, I don’t see myself spending $450 on gloves. But Riparo and Harssidanzar seemed like good candidates. One sounds vaguely Italian and the other vaguely German, both automotive powerhouses. Both, I am sure, are made in China, so what’s in a name? (Correction, Riparo is made in Pakistan.)
So I spend about $30 bucks on the Harssidanzar and about $60 bucks on the Riparo. That will give me two fresh brands to learn about, with one brand being double the cost – will it be double the quality?
Before I get into the details, I just wanted to comment that I did try "fingerless" gloves, that are actually like half-fingered gloves. I thought I would like them more because my fingers are slightly long and bump into the ends of the gloves, which sometimes is annoying. But, the fingerless style are terrible to take off. They just turn inside out, which is an even bigger annoyance to have to push each half-finger back through before putting the gloves back on. So, that style is not for me.
The first pair to arrive was the Harssidanzar. I immediately put them on and felt disappointed. I don’t like my gloves tight and I felt I should have sized up. It was the recommended size and was the same size I’d bought of Pratt and Hart. Nevertheless, I would at least try them out until the other pair came in. In the next couple days I wore them driving, my opinion changed pretty quickly. They had a very good grip on the wheel and they slid on and off my hands very easily each time. I expect they will stretch out a little over the coming weeks and form to my hands, becoming as much, if not more comfortable than my Pratts.
Design-wise, they are pretty similar to the ones I already have. I got tan color instead of black and I like that a lot. The Pratts had a nasty habit of bleeding dye if your hands were wet – to the extreme that I would hand wash each new pair in the sink and wring out the extra dye (which was always impressive). They both have holes at the knuckles, both have seams and stitching inside. The Harssidanzar has more venting perforations, which may help, IDK yet. Otherwise, the construction around the thumb seems to be a glove standard – no innovations there. Both have snap closures, and the Harssidanzar has a thinner strap for the button, which I think I like, and it seemed to fit further down on my wrist than the Pratts.
Overall, I like the Harssidanzar more than the Pratt and Hart (also purchased as Silverstone). So how does the more expensive Riparo compare to Harssidanzar?
When the Riparo arrived, I opened them up and quickly noticed the difference between them and the others. First, the materials. The leather was noticeably thicker and had a visible grain to it. Of the three pairs sitting in front of me, this is the only one with a leather grain. Then the packaging. These are the only ones that had shipped with cardboard inserts in the gloves and paper wrapping. To be honest, that was all sort of lost on me in the excitement to see how they fit and felt, but the extra attention is nice.
The Riparo are what they call reverse-stitched, so all the seams are on the outside. This makes the gloves appear flatter and more angular, especially on the index and pinky finger, where the leather just sort of appears like an envelope. Width-wise the gloves fit just fine, length-wise, the fingers were just a little short for me. But I didn’t let it bother me much and got to work wearing them to stretch and form them to my hands.
The first drive with the Riparo, I noticed what I had suspected at first sight. The leather is not grippy like the Harssidanzar, most likely because of the grain. But I did persist and just had to grip the wheel better. The snap closures seemed very obtrusive. Normally, I don’t snap my gloves closed, but on this pair, the straps were so thick and substantial that I felt I had to close them or they just flopped around. But on the plus side, they had plenty of room when closed – not tight at all. I could almost slip the gloves off while closed. The coverage of the gloves was right between the Pratt and Harssidanzar. The Pratt being the shortest, feeling like it didn’t cover my hand fully when closed, the Harssidanzar feeling like it was closed around my wrist. I certainly can’t complain about the Riparo construction. The stiches are clean, the edges are rolled well and since I bought a design with dual tan/black color, the contrast is well done. There are substantial vent holes, like the Harssidanzar and unlike the Pratt.
So here’s the closing. I can’t stand "best-of" comparisons because there is rarely ever a "best". It’s all in what you prefer. So I’m just trying to highlight the differences and if a difference means something to you, that’s something you should take into consideration on your own. Also, I will say that if the Riparo were the first pair I’d ever owned and used for years before trying something else, my opinions as to what "normal" should be would be totally different. Maybe I’d be complaining that every other brand’s leather was too thin, not as durable, had inside seams that poked your fingers. But that’s not my experience, so the Riparo is the foreign one here.
For me, I prefer the Harssidanzar gloves for three reasons: the fit, especially around my wrist; the color is the lightest and the design looks more dressy and less sporty; and the leather provides the best feel for driving. The Pratt didn’t measure up to either alternative because it’s always felt too short around my wrist and the dye always bleeds onto me when my hands are wet. The Riparo probably would have won out and probably will outlast the Harssidanzar because of the better leather, but having gloves that last longer but aren’t as comfortable isn’t much of a sell. If the Riparo lasts twice as long as the Harssidanzar, I can buy two pairs of Harssidanzar and get the same lifespan for the same money.
The final observation is that the names feel kind of misleading. The Riparo – the classy Italian sounding name – is the more sporty and aggressive design, which you might associate with German autosports. The Harssidanzar – the German sounding name – is more stylish and refined, like Italian fashion design is known for. If you put the gloves side-by-side, told someone the brand names of them and asked them to guess which was which based on design, I’ll bet they’d guess backwards.
Final, final observation. I did not make any bad decisions with either of these choices. I did make a good decision to try a different brand.
