Post by Admin on Jun 20, 2015 16:20:12 GMT -4
Historic glove maker Dents on why there's still demand for luxury British goods
Dents, established in 1777, has made gloves for Queen Victoria and the cast of Downton Abbey, and is seeing rising sales from Asia to around the world.
There was a time when a lady or gentleman would rarely be seen in public without a pair of gloves. An object of “luxury, elegance and refinement”, according to a 19th century fashion manual, gloves were an essential accompaniment to any outfit.
In Britain, many would have been made by Dents, an English glove maker established in 1777. Almost 240 years on, Dents is continuing to sell its creations to customers looking for an elegant accessory, though today they come from all over the world.
“Japan is our most popular export market, followed by the US. But we’re also getting rising interest from China,” says chief executive Deborah Moore, who has worked at the company, based in Warminster, Wiltshire, for 25 years.
The firm has also found another niche – supplying producers of popular period dramas including Downton Abbey and Mr Selfridge. It even supplied the gloves used by Daniel Craig in James Bond epic Skyfall, as well as Jack Nicholson in Batman.
It takes between five and seven years to train a glove cutter or hand sewer
Dents is one of just a handful of glove makers that have survived in the UK. At the industry’s height, there were hundreds in the UK. Worcester, the home of nearly half of all glovers and the original home of Dents, had around 150 manufacturers at its peak in the early 19th century, employing some 30,000 people.
Even by the 1960s, there were 100 glove factories in the UK, before changing fashions and cheaper imports from abroad sounded the death knell for many.
“Demand for gloves from women did drop off as the 20th century progressed, but the classic gentleman look has been prevalent for many years. Nothing finishes an outfit off better than a pair of gloves”, says Moore.
Dents was established by John Dent, master glove maker, in a small wooden house in Worcester. In the following two centuries, business boomed and the company built factories across Europe, and opened sales offices and warehouses in New York, Montreal and Sydney. The company relocated to Warminster in the 1930s, taking over another manufacturer’s premises.
More than 30pc of its sales come from overseas, while in the UK its products are stocked in department stores including House of Fraser, Harrods and Selfridges, as well as many independent retailers.
Dents gloves were a favourite with Queen Victoria, and Dents’ royal connection has remained, with the company chosen to make both King George VI’s Coronation glove in 1937 and Queen Elizabeth II’s in 1953.
By Royal appointment: Dents provided Queen Elizabeth II's Coronation glove in the 1950s
The company stayed in the Dents family until the 1960s, when it was taken over by the Yentob family. Current owner Robert Yentob is chairman, while his brother, TV executive Alan Yentob, is a shareholder.
Dents now sells its gloves and accessories in 27 countries across the world, and this year the firm is launching a new Chinese website to attract more customers in the fast-rising Asian powerhouse. Turnover is around £14m, and Moore says internet sales have risen by almost 30pc in the past year.
“In the last five years, there does seem to be a trend of people wanting to dress more lady or gentlemanlike. Boxy handbags are back in fashion, and the two go hand and glove, so to speak. There’s also been a return to authenticity. Like food, people want to know it’s come from a good source,” says Moore.
Dents has always chosen to eschew the mechanisation and mass production methods adopted by many other glove makers, with the exception of the use of electricity to power the sewing machines.
It relies on the hands and eyes of 20 craftsmen to create its fine gloves, and the company employs a total of 70 people at its factory in Warminster.
“Each glove is cut individually, and lots of our workers have been in gloving all their lives. Our factory forelady has been here 47 years,” says Moore.
A career for life: Many Dents employees have been with the firm for decades
In fact, many of Dents’ employees have worked at the company for decades. Six employees have been with the company for more than 50 years.
The leather is still selected, stretched and bench-cut by hand, one pair at a time, then lined and finely stitched, similar to the processes that were used centuries ago. Dents uses four types of leather: sheepskin, deerskin sourced from North America, hair sheep from North Africa, and peccary, a rare luxury leather mainly sourced from South America.
Gloves made from this type of wild pig retail for up to £400. It can take on average up to six hours to make a pair of peccary leather gloves, with 32 different manufacturing operations.
However, the company has moved with the times in some ways. For the past 50 years, Dents partnered with a factory in the Czech Republic so it can offer cheaper gloves to those not able to afford the most expensive ranges.
Dents recently moved sites to a neighbouring factory in Warminster to expand its production facilities following a rise in sales. The headquarters are also home to the Dents Museum, which documents the history of gloves from their roots in the Stone Age. It is thought the oldest surviving gloves go back more than 3,000 years – a pair of linen gloves was found in the tomb of Egyptian king Tutankhamen, who died in 1,350BC.
The museum houses gloves that belonged to Elizabeth I, Sir Walter Raleigh and Queen Victoria.
Dents still cuts its leather by hand, similar to the process used centuries ago
Dents has also expanded its range to sell other types of accessories, from purses to scarves. Recent acquisitions for the company, which officially trades as Dewhurst Dent, include taking over Corgi, a luxury knitwear company based in Wales that counts Prince Charles as a fan.
It takes between five and seven years to train a glove cutter or hand sewer, and there are fears this delicate skill could be lost as the career falls out of fashion with young people.
“It is hard to attract young people in this industry. However, we took on three graduates last year and we hope to take on another two this year. Some will leave but many young people stay on and it’s nice to see them growing with us. We have six designers in their 20s,” says Moore.
She adds that business has been steady in the UK, mainly because of the recent warm winter, but that in North America sales have rocketed because of recent cold snaps.
“Glove makers really have to think outside the box now,” says Moore. “We really try to follow fashion trends and to make sure we have a strong internet presence.”
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