Glove care
Latex is a consumable. It wears down — that is how it grips. What you can control is how fast. Keep a pair clean and they will last three to four times longer than a pair left to dry out caked in dirt.
Before the first wear
Pre-wash them. There are residual chemicals on the latex from production, and washing them off brings the palm to life. They will be at their tackiest for that first hit out.
How to wash them
- Hand wash only.
- Use a clear gel soap or a mild bar soap. Avoid anything with moisturisers in it, and avoid harsh soaps — both wreck the grip.
- Wet the gloves under a stream of warm water. Put soap on your fingertips and work it into the palm latex.
- Hold them under the water and keep working the soap through. If they are filthy, go around twice.
- Rinse thoroughly. Any soap left in the latex will sit there and dull the grip.
Wash them about once a week, depending on how much you are playing and what the grounds are like. If you have had a session in a dry, sandy goalmouth, do not wait for the week to be up.
Drying them
- Hang them on an indoor clothes line or clip them to a hanger, or lay them flat on a dry towel and flip them after a few hours.
- In a hurry? Wrap them in a dry towel and put something heavy on top. That wrings the water out and has them wearable within a day.
- Dry them inside. Never in direct sunlight, and never on a radiator, a heater, or a car dashboard — heat glazes latex and it does not come back.
- No washing machine and no dryer, ever.
- Never leave them balled up in a wet kit bag overnight.
On match day
Slightly damp gloves grip best. Put some water on the palms before training and before kick-off — our German latex reacts to it and that is when you get the most out of it. Keep a towel in your goal and use it. Wet grass is fine. Grit is not.
The pro rotation
This is the single biggest thing you can do, and it is what Mel has her keepers do:
- Pair 1 — training
- Pair 2 — games
- Pair 3 — backup
When your game pair is too worn to trust in a match, your backup pair becomes the game pair and the old game pair drops into the training rotation. Your training pair now shares the load, so it lasts longer too. That rotation will get most keepers through a full winter season. If your training load is heavy or you are on turf every week, add a fourth pair.
Using one pair for everything? Even with disciplined care, expect three to four months.
What wears them faster
- Artificial turf. It is dry and abrasive, and repeated diving on it damages latex far faster than natural grass. If you train on turf, train in your older pair.
- Dust and grit in the palm. It kills the tackiness and sands the latex down every time you catch.
- Training two to three times a week. Normal, expected, and exactly why the rotation exists.
Finger savers
Wash the gloves with the finger savers in or out — your call, it makes no difference to the latex. If you are building hand strength or coming back from a finger injury, leave them in when you play.
When is a pair finished?
When the palm goes smooth and shiny rather than tacky, or the latex starts splitting at the base of the fingers, that pair has given you what it had. Move it down the rotation. Every keeper goes through gloves — wearing them out means you are using them.
Any questions, get in touch. Safe hands and clean sheets.