May 3, 2024 • 40 mins
Welcome to Full Cow, a podcast about leather and kink where your host, Edge (he/him), shares his 30+ years of experience in the community. In this episode we look at Digital Kink, starting with a personal history of the evolution of virtual kink spaces followed by a brief guide to navigating these spaces. The topic is gloves and this is how my podcast host's AI describes it:
Ever been captivated by the sleek allure of leather, the kind that snugly encases your hands with a promise of mystery and authority? Take a journey with me, your host Edge, as we explore the entrancing world of leather gloves within the kink and BDSM culture. I bring you tales from the depths of my glove fetish, a passion that's been with me since my early days, sparked by the likes of iconic figures in TV shows like "CHiPs." As we walk through memory lane, I'll reveal the profound impact joining a glove-focused group had on my identity and how the history of brands like Damascus and Tough Gloves hold a special place in our community.
This episode isn't just about reminiscing; it's a guide through the practical side of indulging in this specific kink. As a self-confessed glove aficionado, I lay out the nuances of glove maintenance, the significance of the gifting ritual, and the power gloves hold in enhancing intimate connections. Beyond maintaining our precious glove collections, we'll discuss how donning that perfect pair of black leather gloves serves as a potent form of self-expression and a nod to our shared fetish interests.
As we wrap up our tactile exploration, I turn introspective, considering the future of this podcast. I share the gratitude and connection I've felt with you, the listeners, who've turned this platform into something more than just a series of episodes. It's a community, a dialogue, and a shared passion. Yet, there's a raw honesty as I ponder the sustainability of content creation against the backdrop of personal challenges. I'm inviting you to be a part of this candid conversation about the role we play in each other's leatherworking journeys and the possibility of what lies ahead. Your stories and feedback are the heartbeat of this dialogue, so let's celebrate our connection through the language of leather.
Useful links:
- Sizing gloves: Use this method to get your glove size.
- D301 / Patrol X: My favorite glove.
- D302 / Patrol: My second favorite glove.
Ask Edge! Go to https://www.speakpipe.com/LTHREDGE to leave ask a question or leave feedback. Find Edge's other content on Instagram and Twitter. Also visit his archive of educational videos, Tchick-Tchick.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Let's talk about gloves, that you are an adult.
Welcome to Full Cow, a podcastabout leather kink and BDSM.
(00:42):
My name is Edge, my pronounsare he, him, and I'm your host,
and this time we will bediscussing one of my core
central fetishes gloves,specifically tight black, short,
full fingered leather gloves.
And you know, everything on thispodcast is biased because it's
(01:06):
all coming through my experience, my point of view.
However, I will warn you nowthat, because they're so
important to me, I am superbiased when it comes to gloves.
So please take this episode asless the.
So please take this episode asless the unbiased authority on
gloves and more Edge's crazyfetish.
(01:30):
Take on gloves.
Hopefully you'll find that fun.
As always.
I'm going to talk about myexperience with this fetish,
give you a little bit of how-toand then we have an Ask Edge
question.
I don't know how good thisepisode's going to be, but I do
know that I love gloves.
So let's get started.
(01:50):
There are two things to knowbefore I tell you my history
with gloves.
The first is that I am anabsolute glove snob.
You know there are manydifferent ways to do leather and
I affirm them all and Icelebrate them all.
(02:11):
And if you want to wear aleather ball, gown to the
leather bar.
I'm going to make space for you,and I'm going to say you look
fantastic in it and I will letyou wear tennis shoes with a
leather uniform, and however youwant to do, leather is fine.
But when it comes to gloves, asfar as I'm concerned, there are
(02:32):
really only two pairs of glovesthat are acceptable.
There is one, maybe one and ahalf color of gloves that are
acceptable.
Like, I am an absolute, uttersnob when it comes to gloves,
and that's because, too, I havean enormous weakness for gloves.
(02:53):
I don't have a lot of reallyhuge buttons that are really
easy to press.
Leather in general yeah Boots,yeah C cigars yeah.
The two, though, that areprobably closest to kryptonite
for me.
The first is that I have really, really, really sensitive
(03:14):
nipples, so very, very, verylight tit play will feel so good
it will make me literallygrowling and weak in my knees.
The second absolute utterweakness I have is gloves.
If you are wearing the rightpair of gloves, if they are the
right size, I find them fairlyhypnotic.
(03:37):
I will be kind of entranced bythem and you will definitely
catch my eye and you willdefinitely have my attention.
So where did that start, youknow?
Interestingly, while I knowthat interest in leather in
general goes back as far as Ihave memories, I don't have
(03:58):
specific memories of gloves thatgo far back, except for one.
That is because I'm a child ofthe 70s.
Somewhere in my mind in theneural pathways of my brain is
burned in the image of EricEstrada in the TV show Chips
(04:20):
wearing tight black gloves.
I don't even remember who hispartner was.
I don't remember anything aboutthe show.
They were cops, that's all Iknow.
But I have very clear mentalimages of Eric Estrada in those
tight gloves.
Now I want to say I have someimages too from Wild Wild West,
(04:43):
but I don't know if those areglove related or chaps related.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
But very clearly.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
I had an early fixation, or I'm not even going
to say it a fixation because itwasn't like an obsession at that
point.
But I don't look, I don'tremember a lot about my
childhood.
Interesting trauma response,maybe why, I don't know.
So for me to have specificmemories it's pretty remarkable.
Those memories have to bepretty damn special in some way.
(05:10):
So for me to know that Iremember Eric Estrada in tight
black gloves, that means thatthere was something significant
about that image from a very,very early age.
In terms of my leather journey,I can't even pinpoint when my
interest in gloves reallydeveloped, although I would
(05:31):
imagine it was around 1995 or so.
If you've listened to thepodcast for any length of time,
you may recall that that was areal turning point in my journey
.
That was around the time thatEdge was invented.
It was around the time Idiscovered cigars.
It's around the time I got intouniforms.
(05:52):
So a lot of things were comingtogether for me in the late 90s
and I'm pretty sure gloves werepart of that.
Certainly, I would think, late90s into the early millennium.
I knew of a group called FlagFits Like a Glove.
It was a group for glovefetishists based out of the
(06:13):
Northeast.
I was a member for many years,so that helped me to connect to
others who had this fetish andto recognize it as a fetish, in
fact my memory.
So here's the story of gloves.
As far as I remember, rightLike, there were these two guys
in San Francisco I don'tremember their names, but they
were huge, huge glove fetishesand at the time the major
(06:38):
manufacturer was Damascus.
Damascus was the glove.
They were the Wesco of glovesor the Langlitz of gloves or
whatever top of the line nameyou want to use.
Damascus gloves were that.
And these guys here's myimagining.
They started a business calledTough Gloves and as far as I'm
concerned they started itprimarily.
(06:59):
I'm making this part up, but inmy mind they started it so they
could get wholesale pricing onDamascus gloves because they
were huge glove fetishists.
In any case, that businessslowly grew and didn't just have
fetishists as customers,because now we're moving into
the age of internet commerce andactual police were buying their
(07:19):
gloves as well.
At some point Damascus went outof business.
I would love to know the storyof what happened.
If anyone knows, please contactme, because I just know they
went out of business.
Fortunately, the guys of ToughGloves.
Again, this is hearsay, but I'mpretty sure it's true.
They bought the patterns fromDamascus and they continued to
(07:43):
make gloves under the ToughGloves brand.
Now they make a range of gloves, but the two that matter to me
are the D301 and the D302.
And I'll talk a little bit moreabout the differences between
those in the next segment in thenext segment.
(08:10):
But the key thing is, I'm aD301 man.
They are smooth, black leather.
They are tight, tight, tight.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
They are beautiful.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
So Tough Gloves remained the primary
manufacturer for years and yearsand years.
At a certain point, I guess,they decided to sell the
business, but it was bought byStompers and then are now called
Stompers Gloves.
Interestingly, they justchanged the gloves.
I happen to know this becauseStompers is based here in Fort
Lauderdale.
(08:34):
I know the people who run it.
I've been inside their tinylittle warehouse and I've seen
all the Stompers Gloves in theworld in one place.
It's about five minutes from myhouse and I just love knowing I
have access to all the glovesin the world in one place.
It's about five minutes from myhouse and I just love knowing I
have access to all the glovesin the world.
So I know that there's been achange.
It has to do with the seam onthe fingers and it's really you
(08:57):
know if you have a pair and itlooks like there's a little
ridge on the seam.
They're not doing that anymore.
Now the seam is more inside.
I forget the actual terms forit.
If anyone knows, you're morethan welcome to reach out to me
and let me know.
The key is it just was toolabor intensive to do one kind
of seam, so they decided to dothe other kind.
(09:17):
This was not their decision,this was forced on them by the
people actually making thegloves.
You'd have to be next-levelglove fetishist to realize that
there was even a change.
I don't think I'm next-levelglove fetishist, I'm a glove
snob.
But I'm not a next-level glovefetishist and I have some of the
(09:38):
old ones, I have some of thenew ones.
I'm noticing no differencewhatsoever.
So my fixation on gloves startedlate last millennium, in the
90s, in the late 1900s, as wesay, and I think.
For me first of all, glovesrepresent power in a way that
(10:00):
boots kind of do, leather kindof does, and I don't know why
gloves embody power more to methan those other items, but they
do, and it may be related totheir use in police contexts,
which could be a littleproblematic as we think about
police violence and systemicracism.
(10:20):
But I have to imagine thatconnected deeply within me is
notions of power and gloves,powers and gloves, power and
gloves.
I also really love glovesbecause of their full sensory
experience.
They represent all the sensoryengagement of leather, but in a
(10:45):
somehow more accessible form, Iguess.
Like it's easier to feedsomeone gloved fingers than to
feed them, the knee of yourleather breeches right.
So gloves have a beautifulsmell, particularly if they've
been seasoned with cigar smoke.
That combination is deeplyintoxicating.
(11:05):
They have a particular taste.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
They have not so much a sound but they have a
wonderful feel.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
It's a really tactile notion of leather on the body
and they have a really greatlook the body and they have a
really great look if they'reworn nice and tight.
I'm very snobby that way.
So my interest in glovesstarted in the late 1900s and as
I've continued in my journey,you know a lot of fetishes I've
(11:36):
had have dropped off.
New ones have come in.
Gloves have only become moreand more central as I've grown,
along with cigars and leatherand boots.
Right, that is the core, coreof who I am and I don't think
that's changing anytime soon.
Gloves do come in a number ofcolors.
I have some in.
I think that's like a chestnut,it's sort of a darker brown.
(11:58):
I think they probably call itwalnut or something which is a
lighter brown.
But I always return to blackgloves because something about
black leather is especiallyresonant for me and so I always
go back to those gloves.
I call myself I'm not a nextlevel glove fetishist, because
(12:20):
it's not like I have piles andpiles and piles of gloves.
I do, compared to some people.
Generally speaking, I have twopairs that are in service at any
given time.
I have a pair of D301s and apair of D302s.
We'll talk about the differenceof those in the next segment
and then lately I've been havingI just sort of buy a couple
(12:42):
pairs when I go shop for themand I keep.
So I've got a couple of pairsthat I haven't even worn yet,
that are still in their bag inmy closet just waiting for when
they're ready to be worn.
Because gloves do stretch and Ilike them skin tight.
Over time they get to a pointwhere it's really time for me to
(13:05):
get a new pair and now I havesome just handy that I can pull
out and use.
I like, when possible, to giftmy old gloves to people who I
think will really value them.
Sometimes that's otherfetishists that I know are
really into gloves or reallyinto leather in general.
(13:25):
Sometimes it's to people whoare really important in my life
who maybe won't even be able tofit into my stretched out gloves
but who will be able to holdthem and therefore hold a piece
of me.
So I almost always have gloveswhen I go out.
They're usually in my back leftpocket, which is kind of a way
(13:53):
of signaling I don't know glovetop, general top, but it's also
sort of handy in reach.
So you almost will always seeme in gloves when I go out.
If it's super duper hot, maybenot, and there've been a couple
of times where I went out eventhough I wasn't really feeling
it and I had my gloves with meand I'm like you know what, it's
not even worth putting these on, but you'll almost always see
me in leather contacts with apair of gloves.
(14:16):
And if you're wearing gloves,if you're wearing the right
gloves and if you're wearingthem the right way and I use the
term right in quotation marks,because this is my snobbery and
it's not absolute right, it'sright in Edge's fetish brain If
you are wearing gloves in waysthat resonate for me, I will
(14:36):
definitely notice and I willdefinitely be giving you the eye
and checking you out.
Gloves are also an importantpart of my play.
One of the things I like to dois what's called hand gagging,
and I guess you can do it withjust a regular hand, but I
always do it with a gloved handand it starts with feeding a boy
one gloved finger and then two,and then three, and then
(14:58):
waiting until the fingers arereally nice and slick and then
seeing how much of my fist I canfit down their throat until
they start to gag, and it is abeautiful, intimate, powerful
little act.
It's something I do at thebeginning of a scene, but it
gives me quite a bit of pleasure.
(15:19):
So gloves are central to myleather life, to my leather
image, to my bar life, to myplay, and for the man who knows
how to wear gloves in the way Ilike gloves worn, they already
have an edge in getting to knowme pun intended, because you
(15:39):
definitely have my attention ifyou're wearing gloves.
That's sort of my journey ofgloves.
It started somewhere in the 70swhen I was watching Chips as a
young child.
It reawakened in the late 90swhen I was getting into uniforms
and then I found other glovefetishists through Flag which
(16:00):
still exists, by the way, ifyou're interested.
They actually have a Mr slashMs.
They have a title, mr Flag, Ithink, and then that allowed me
to connect to other fetishists.
And then, as I've continued togrow on my leather journey,
gloves have become more centraland have really really centered
themselves in every part of myleather life.
(16:22):
And that's my personal storywith gloves.
In the next segment I'll go alittle bit more about the kinds
of gloves and buying gloves andI will try to be open-minded to
the large variety of glovesavailable to people, because I
understand that just because I'ma snob doesn't mean that my way
is the only way.
(16:42):
It's just the way that turns meon.
So if you're a glove lover, Ihope you enjoy the next segment
as well.
If you're new to gloves, I hopeyou find it useful and I hope
to see all of you gloved out andabout, and I hope to see all of
you gloved out and about.
Let's talk about buying glovesFirst.
(17:07):
I think we need to acknowledgethat there are many different
types of gloves and that some ofthese are fetish in themselves.
So, for example, I know peoplewho are specifically into
driving gloves.
There are also biker glovesthat are fingerless, there are
weightlifting gloves and thereare gloves connected to any
number of sports.
However, in a leather fetishcontext, what we are usually
(17:29):
talking about is police searchgloves.
Keep in mind that, asfetishists in leather, we have
invented almost nothing byourselves.
Instead, what we do is borrowfrom other contexts.
We did not invent chaps, we didnot invent breeches and we
certainly did not invent gloves.
(17:49):
In those other contexts, theitems we wear have very
practical value and here, as thename would imply, police search
gloves were used by police forsearching.
So if you're frisking someone,if you're patting them down,
what do you want?
You want some protection forthe hand, but you also want a
(18:10):
really thin covering so that youcan have tactility, so you can
feel what's in someone's pocket.
So police search gloves arereally really thin leather and
that's part of what makes themso form-fitting and so tactile
for both the person wearing themand the person receiving touch.
(18:30):
The major manufacturer forpolice search gloves in a fetish
context is tough gloves.
Manufacturer for police searchgloves in a fetish context is
Tough Gloves, now StompersGloves or I guess it's Stompers
Producing Tough Gloves, perhaps,and you can also find some
other brands.
Hatch is another brand that ismore exclusively marketed to law
enforcement officers, but inthe fetish community the primary
(19:05):
place you're going to getgloves from at the end of the
day is Stomper's Gloves, slashTough Gloves.
They range in price.
They're usually about $50 for agood, good, good pair of gloves
, and for some people that's alot of money, but it's worth
noting that, compared tosomething like a pair of boots
or a pair of leather pants, it'sa fairly affordable fetish
investment, except for the factthat you're probably going to be
buying gloves regularly becausethey do stretch out and so you
will want to get new pairs everynow and then.
(19:26):
But expect to spend around $50.
That's US dollars.
For fetishists and again, I'mnot an ultra fetishist, I'm like
medium level fetishist the bigloves are the D301s and the
D302s, also known1 is absolutelysmooth leather on the back of
the hand and the D302 has thosethree little lines you might
(20:02):
have noticed on gloves and thoseare called points.
So the D302 has points, theD301 does not.
Some people like the D303.
Those gloves have a snap.
They're open on the back, butthey have some extra stitching
on the palm.
I don't know why.
I'm not a fan of that.
But if you wear D303s, at leastI know you're within my
(20:25):
universe.
So it is another model for youto consider.
There are also gauntlet gloves.
Now gauntlet gloves again comefrom a practical context of
probably originally the military, but more recently motorcycles.
And what gauntlets are?
They have an extended gauntletof leather that covers the wrist
(20:46):
and forearm, and in amotorcycle context you would
wear this along with yourmotorcycle jacket to keep air
from cold air from blowing upyour sleeve and freezing you,
cold air from blowing up yoursleeve and freezing you.
So gauntlets are anotherperfectly acceptable choice.
I tend to only wear mine if I'mwearing a leather jacket.
I don't like the look quite asmuch, but they are an option for
(21:08):
you if you like the look.
Almost always gloves are black.
However, there are a number ofcolors available, and white
gloves especially might beappropriate for certain uniforms
.
For certain dress uniforms, youneed white gloves period.
There are also shades of brownavailable, some lighter, more
(21:32):
like a tan, some richer, darker,like a chocolate.
I have found the lighter gloveswill stain easily and quickly,
so keep that in mind.
I always just go with blackbecause it resonates for me.
But when you're shopping you dohave a lot of choice of colors.
I have seen a lot of peoplewearing red leather gloves or
(21:53):
red and blue leather gloves orpurple leather gloves.
So if you're someone who reallylikes to be colorful in their
leather fetish, there areoptions for you.
I'm not entirely sure where tobuy them.
I can tell you Teff gloves doesnot make them.
I can tell you there areprobably a lot of Pakistani
makers making gloves.
So if you feel like that'sgoing to be a reliable source
(22:16):
for you, you can certainlypursue it.
But I'm really focusing in ongetting your first pair of basic
gloves.
So if you feel like that'sgoing to be a reliable source
for you, you can certainlypursue it.
But I'm really focusing in ongetting your first pair of basic
gloves, and so that'll probablybe black.
It'll probably be the D301 orthe D302.
For sizing the way to measurefor your glove size is to wrap a
tape measure around your fourfingers, right around at the
(22:36):
knuckles, and that measurementis your glove size.
Some people tend to be a littlebetween glove sizes and a lot
of it has to do as well withfinger length.
So Bearman, who ownsLeatherworks and Stompers Boots
and Stompers Gloves, oftenchides me for buying gloves that
are too small.
(22:57):
I am a size six, which is assmall as they make them, in case
you're curious, and I hear himon that.
But they don't make gloves inhalf sizes and when I try a
seven, there's leather left atthe tip of my fingers and that's
why I don't wear a seven,that's why I wear a six, so that
they are tight through myfingers.
But I do know people who've hadreally long fingers, really
(23:22):
short fingers, really big hands,really small hands.
You might encounter someproblems finding the perfectly
fit glove for you, and that's atime you might turn to a
Pakistani manufacturer or someother custom glove maker.
I don't have those resourcesavailable right now.
However, if you like reallycolorful gloves or if you
suspect you're between sizes,please feel free to reach out to
(23:45):
me and I will connect you tosome sources.
The gloves should be tight whenyou put them on.
For me, I feel like the gloveonly fits when I struggle to put
them on the first couple oftimes.
As part of that, I like to makesure that my hands are cool and
dry, because your hands dochange size a little bit through
(24:08):
the day.
They can swell a little, theycan shrink a little.
I find this a lot when I'mwearing rings.
Sometimes the ring fitsperfectly.
Sometimes it feels a little toobig.
So I try to be really mindful,because I wear my gloves so
tight that my hands have got tobe cool and dry and the first
time I put on gloves I have toput them on very carefully.
(24:29):
If you're wearing a glove that'sa little better sized for you,
isn't ultra, ultra tight, youmight still have just a little
bit of trouble putting them onthe first time.
That's great.
Gloves stretch that's afantastic thing and that's a
horrible thing.
It's fantastic because theyreally will mold to your hand as
you begin to wear them andafter a few wearings I find my
(24:50):
gloves a lot easier to put onand take off.
When I'm taking them off, I tryto do one finger at a time and
then pull them all off.
And when I'm putting them onthe thumb, the little joint in
the thumb is the tricky part.
That's where I try to takeextra care Because of my near
obsession with skin-tight gloves.
I've actually ripped severalpair of the D301s trying to put
(25:13):
them on, and that's why I alwaysexercise extraordinary caution
when putting on a pair of newgloves.
You probably won't encounterthis problem if you are buying a
glove that fits, that isn'tsuper tight but it fits.
But if you're like me and youwant it skin tight, put them on
the first time with extreme care, wear them for a while so they
(25:37):
begin to stretch, take them offwith extreme care and do that
for the first two or three timeswhen you're wearing them.
I'll say once gloves break inand they do break in beautifully
you can even use your cellphone or any touchscreen with
your gloves.
You don't need specialtouchscreen gloves.
The leather in something like aD301 is thin enough that I
(25:59):
don't know the magic, I don'tknow the science, but I know I
have no problem using my phoneafter maybe the third or fourth
time wearing my gloves.
Caring for gloves is very easybecause you are wearing them and
hopefully wearing them often.
They are often exposed to yourbody's oils on the skin and so
remain fairly supple.
(26:20):
Maybe every once in a while inthe life of my gloves I will put
some leather conditioner onthem and I prefer open offs when
I do that.
But I think you'll generallyfind that they take care of
themselves and they serve youvery well.
I will also say the D302, Ifind the last pair of D302s I
(26:43):
got is a slightly thickerleather than the D301s and that
makes them both tighter, longerand a little more resilient when
putting them on for the firsttime.
So if you're going for an ultra, ultra, ultra tight glove, the
D301 might be a little riskierbecause I've torn several pairs.
The D302 might be slightlysafer, but keep in mind that
(27:04):
we're dealing with an extremelybeautifully thin leather in
either case, and so you do wantto have a lot of care when
you're putting them on for thefirst time.
These gloves are made fromCabretta leather, which is a
sheep leather.
There's a special sheep thatgrows hair instead of wool.
I think it's South American andit creates this beautifully
(27:25):
thin, relatively tough leather.
If your gloves get stretched outnow, I've heard this is
possible.
I've not tested ittheoretically don't, don't quote
me on this.
Theoretically, you can washyour gloves in a washing machine
without any detergent, and Iwould probably.
I don't know what temperature Iwould use.
(27:47):
I would not use hot, I mightuse cold, I might use warm, and
then you can allow them to airdry.
Don't put them in the dryerThey'll shrink too much, they'll
get too dry, and then you canput them on and condition them.
Honestly, that just feels superrisky to me and it's not
something I've ever tried.
I've heard of it.
(28:08):
It is part of the lore, I think, among glove fetishists, and if
you have experience with that,please reach out and let me know
and I can share that in afuture episode.
In general, my gloves will lastme at least six months, maybe a
year, I don't know how often Ichange them, and it's not even
they don't wear out.
I've had one pair of glovesthat I've worn so much they've
(28:30):
gotten a little hole in thethumb.
It's more that at a certainpoint they're not quite as tight
as I like them, and then I geta new pair.
Your mileage will probably varybecause I am particular about
my gloves especially.
I want them skin tight, and soI do buy things that are maybe
(28:55):
slightly small for me, I do ripthem because I'm so eager to put
them on, and I do change themout when they are not as skin
tight as I want them to be.
You don't have to do any ofthat.
You can follow standard glovemaking sizing.
Get a pair of gloves that justfit.
Go on your merry way.
(29:16):
I do recommend using toughgloves and getting your gloves
from Stompers Gloves.
If you're buying your gloves atMr S.
Those are also tough glovesslash Stompers, gloves and if
you buy them on Amazon, they'realso available there.
They are the major manufacturer.
If we're thinking about fetishcontext, they are the major
manufacturer for gloves.
So chances are no matter whereyou got your gloves.
(29:39):
If you got them from a leatherstore, if you got them at a
leather event, they probably aretough gloves, gloves and
they're probably D302s, unlessyou think to get the D301s.
There are probably some othersources you can get gloves from,
but these are the ones I knowand I think that's the basic
introduction to gloves Get yoursize, get D301s with no
(30:03):
stitching on the back, justsmooth leather.
If you prefer them and I knowsome people who are D302 people
if you prefer them, you can getthe D302s, which is really more
the classic police glove andit's got the stitches on the
back.
Those are called points.
Get your right size, get themin black or any color you want.
If you can't find your rightsize, think about custom
(30:27):
Pakistani types of sources.
If you want other colors, thinkabout custom Pakistani kinds of
sources and then enjoy them.
They're fairly resilient.
They will serve you well and ifthey get too stretched out,
theoretically you can shrinkthem in the washer.
Do not quote me on that, but doplease get gloves and enjoy
(30:51):
gloves.
Please get gloves and enjoygloves even better.
Leave me a voicemail atspeakpipecom slash leatheredge
L-T-H-R-E-D-G-E.
That's speakpipe, speakpipecomslash leatheredge.
(31:25):
Those links are in the shownotes and always available to
you.
Please do submit questions.
I appreciate them and they addsome valuable content to this
podcast.
And this time we have onequestion Well, more of a comment
, but we have a question slashcomment from Augie.
Speaker 2 (31:38):
Hello Edge, I wanted to say thank you for putting the
podcast that you do out there.
Just to give you a littlecontext about myself I am a
32-year-old Paz trans man,transitioned early adulthood so
I've basically just been a gayman living my life.
Um, I've pretty much alwaysbeen perceived as cis my whole
(32:01):
adult life.
So, um, I really appreciate thepodcast because I don't think I
would get to learn about thethings that you share.
Um, I think it's a little bitharder, as a trans masc person,
I guess, being exposed to this.
So it's really great to learnabout the things that you share
and I hope that depression isn'tbeing too rough on you and that
(32:21):
you get back on your feet verysoon.
But I just want to say I reallyappreciate your work and it's
really great that you have thisout there.
It's very helpful and, I think,more impactful than you know.
Speaker 1 (32:33):
First of all, augie and I hope I'm not crossing any
boundaries here but wow, youhave a very sexy voice.
Thank you for the comment.
I think I've mentioned severaltimes across all of my social
media how deeply valuable it isto me when people reach out to
just say thanks or to say Ifound this episode valuable or I
(32:57):
appreciate what you're doingbecause it's a lot of work, and
the podcast in particular,because it's on a schedule and I
have to.
I don't have to.
I've committed to doing twoepisodes a month, a full episode
and an interlude, and thatmeans just about every weekend I
(33:20):
need to be doing something onthe podcast and it's getting
really challenging for me now interms of just thinking about
topics, things I know about,things I can hunt down people
and have them schedule to talkto me about.
It's just, it's a lot.
And, yeah, my depression isbetter.
(33:43):
I don't know.
I'm starting to think aboutretirement from all of this
retiring edge, shutting down mysocial media, both the Instagram
and the Twitter and the podcast, and I am not making any
decisions yet because it'sreally hard for me to know today
how much of that is because ofthe depression and how much of
(34:06):
that is a sense that it's time.
If you look at the wholehistory if you include my
original website, leatheredgecom, which in many ways is where
all of this started thatlaunched in 1995.
So there's a sense in whichI've been doing this sort of
work for 30 years, almost 30years that's more than half my
(34:30):
life years that's more than halfmy life and I don't know.
I just don't know.
I don't know what it's costingme.
Now.
God, that sounds horrible.
I am starting to think aboutwhere else I should be putting
my energy, and a lot of this,frankly, has to do with the fact
that I'm single, and sometimesI'm super okay with that and
(34:52):
sometimes I super struggle'msingle and sometimes I'm super
okay with that and sometimes Isuper struggle with that.
And when I'm super strugglingwith it, I think hmm, maybe just
being who I am private citizenand not edge leather social
media person.
Maybe that would free up time,energy, space to find someone to
share my life with.
There's also a sense that maybeI've just accomplished all I
(35:16):
need to accomplish.
I've not been posting a lot onmy Instagram or my Twitter I
refuse to call it X.
I've not been posting a lot inpart because of the depression
and in part because I just don'treally have anything to say
right now.
And I don't post just to post.
I post when I get inspired by aquestion or a conversation or
(35:38):
there's a topic that I thinkneeds to be addressed and I
realize that I have something tosay, something to say that
might be impactful because ofthe giant backpack of privilege
I bring with me.
So there may come a point Idon't know when, maybe soon,
(35:58):
maybe never, but maybe soonwhere I say goodbye, and I've
done it before.
You know, the original websitewas launched in 1995.
I maintained it for 10 years,which in internet terms at that
time was a lifetime and I tookit down and I spent quite a few
years just being me.
(36:19):
I stopped using Edge even, andI eventually drifted back to
Edge because you know, wow, man,it's a good foundation, like
all right, like I have somethingthere and it was good to step
back into it.
And then, eventually, it wasgood to resume this sort of
educational work I do.
But between this being singleand being the struggle bus of
(36:45):
being single, between that andhaving a sense of maybe I've
done all I can do.
Maybe if I continue, I'm justgoing to end up putting out
content I'm not really happywith.
Maybe it's time to retire, soyou know, when I get a message
like this, it keeps the fireburning a little bit longer.
(37:08):
And this is not to like beg forfeedback from people and praise
and validation.
I don't do this for praise orvalidation.
I am finally, finally, at apoint in my life where I get my
praise and validation internally.
But all of that being said, oh,my goodness, I hope that didn't
(37:32):
come through.
I just got a text messagebecause I forgot to put the do
not disturb on.
I don't know what the future ofEdge and Edge's media is.
In the meantime, augie, youhelped make this episode happen.
You're the only question I have, right, you are the only
(37:56):
comment I have, and you havecontributed significantly to
this episode, and for that Ithank you.
And that's not to guilt peopleeither, as a local friend
pointed out, I could always justmake up questions and say that
they had been submitted and Imight do that at some point.
I have not done that yet, andtoday I'm okay.
(38:20):
Today this episode's gettingdone and tomorrow I'm going to
start on an interlude, hopefully.
Or I think I have the topic fornext month's episode.
It's just tricky, so I'm kindof not sure about it.
So today things are good.
I would like to at least committo this third season of the
(38:40):
podcast, but at some point Ihave to also do what's right for
Edge and not just what's rightfor everyone else.
Oh my god, this is becominghorrible in every way.
Oh my God, the layers ofemotional manipulation here.
You know what?
Here's what I'm gonna say.
Augie, thank you for yourcontact, thank you for your
(39:02):
comment and everyone else.
I'm doing fine and I am sorrythat this ask edge has become
not exactly what I intended andI hope all of you will forgive
me for displaying my complexthinking and rambling thoughts.
(39:23):
I appreciate it.
I appreciate the fact that youtake time out of your day to
listen.
I appreciate that you've givenme a platform.
This is not me, ultimately,it's all of you and I don't
forget that and I value it and Iam deeply grateful, and that's
all for this episode.
(39:43):
I hope all of you have reallyreally exquisite leather
journeys.
And that's it for this episode.
Thank you so much for joiningme.
Please consider subscribing oryou can send feedback to edge at
full cow dot show, as always.
May your leather journey beblessed.
Let's talk about gloves, that you are an adult.
Welcome to Full Cow, a podcastabout leather kink and BDSM.
(00:42):
My name is Edge, my pronounsare he, him, and I'm your host,
and this time we will bediscussing one of my core
central fetishes gloves,specifically tight black, short,
full fingered leather gloves.
And you know, everything on thispodcast is biased because it's
(01:06):
all coming through my experience, my point of view.
However, I will warn you nowthat, because they're so
important to me, I am superbiased when it comes to gloves.
So please take this episode asless the.
So please take this episode asless the unbiased authority on
gloves and more Edge's crazyfetish.
(01:30):
Take on gloves.
Hopefully you'll find that fun.
As always.
I'm going to talk about myexperience with this fetish,
give you a little bit of how-toand then we have an Ask Edge
question.
I don't know how good thisepisode's going to be, but I do
know that I love gloves.
So let's get started.
(01:50):
There are two things to knowbefore I tell you my history
with gloves.
The first is that I am anabsolute glove snob.
You know there are manydifferent ways to do leather and
I affirm them all and Icelebrate them all.
(02:11):
And if you want to wear aleather ball, gown to the
leather bar.
I'm going to make space for you,and I'm going to say you look
fantastic in it and I will letyou wear tennis shoes with a
leather uniform, and however youwant to do, leather is fine.
But when it comes to gloves, asfar as I'm concerned, there are
(02:32):
really only two pairs of glovesthat are acceptable.
There is one, maybe one and ahalf color of gloves that are
acceptable.
Like, I am an absolute, uttersnob when it comes to gloves,
and that's because, too, I havean enormous weakness for gloves.
(02:53):
I don't have a lot of reallyhuge buttons that are really
easy to press.
Leather in general yeah Boots,yeah C cigars yeah.
The two, though, that areprobably closest to kryptonite
for me.
The first is that I have really, really, really sensitive
(03:14):
nipples, so very, very, verylight tit play will feel so good
it will make me literallygrowling and weak in my knees.
The second absolute utterweakness I have is gloves.
If you are wearing the rightpair of gloves, if they are the
right size, I find them fairlyhypnotic.
(03:37):
I will be kind of entranced bythem and you will definitely
catch my eye and you willdefinitely have my attention.
So where did that start, youknow?
Interestingly, while I knowthat interest in leather in
general goes back as far as Ihave memories, I don't have
(03:58):
specific memories of gloves thatgo far back, except for one.
That is because I'm a child ofthe 70s.
Somewhere in my mind in theneural pathways of my brain is
burned in the image of EricEstrada in the TV show Chips
(04:20):
wearing tight black gloves.
I don't even remember who hispartner was.
I don't remember anything aboutthe show.
They were cops, that's all Iknow.
But I have very clear mentalimages of Eric Estrada in those
tight gloves.
Now I want to say I have someimages too from Wild Wild West,
(04:43):
but I don't know if those areglove related or chaps related.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
But very clearly.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
I had an early fixation, or I'm not even going
to say it a fixation because itwasn't like an obsession at that
point.
But I don't look, I don'tremember a lot about my
childhood.
Interesting trauma response,maybe why, I don't know.
So for me to have specificmemories it's pretty remarkable.
Those memories have to bepretty damn special in some way.
(05:10):
So for me to know that Iremember Eric Estrada in tight
black gloves, that means thatthere was something significant
about that image from a very,very early age.
In terms of my leather journey,I can't even pinpoint when my
interest in gloves reallydeveloped, although I would
(05:31):
imagine it was around 1995 or so.
If you've listened to thepodcast for any length of time,
you may recall that that was areal turning point in my journey
.
That was around the time thatEdge was invented.
It was around the time Idiscovered cigars.
It's around the time I got intouniforms.
(05:52):
So a lot of things were comingtogether for me in the late 90s
and I'm pretty sure gloves werepart of that.
Certainly, I would think, late90s into the early millennium.
I knew of a group called FlagFits Like a Glove.
It was a group for glovefetishists based out of the
(06:13):
Northeast.
I was a member for many years,so that helped me to connect to
others who had this fetish andto recognize it as a fetish, in
fact my memory.
So here's the story of gloves.
As far as I remember, rightLike, there were these two guys
in San Francisco I don'tremember their names, but they
were huge, huge glove fetishesand at the time the major
(06:38):
manufacturer was Damascus.
Damascus was the glove.
They were the Wesco of glovesor the Langlitz of gloves or
whatever top of the line nameyou want to use.
Damascus gloves were that.
And these guys here's myimagining.
They started a business calledTough Gloves and as far as I'm
concerned they started itprimarily.
(06:59):
I'm making this part up, but inmy mind they started it so they
could get wholesale pricing onDamascus gloves because they
were huge glove fetishists.
In any case, that businessslowly grew and didn't just have
fetishists as customers,because now we're moving into
the age of internet commerce andactual police were buying their
(07:19):
gloves as well.
At some point Damascus went outof business.
I would love to know the storyof what happened.
If anyone knows, please contactme, because I just know they
went out of business.
Fortunately, the guys of ToughGloves.
Again, this is hearsay, but I'mpretty sure it's true.
They bought the patterns fromDamascus and they continued to
(07:43):
make gloves under the ToughGloves brand.
Now they make a range of gloves, but the two that matter to me
are the D301 and the D302.
And I'll talk a little bit moreabout the differences between
those in the next segment in thenext segment.
(08:10):
But the key thing is, I'm aD301 man.
They are smooth, black leather.
They are tight, tight, tight.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
They are beautiful.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
So Tough Gloves remained the primary
manufacturer for years and yearsand years.
At a certain point, I guess,they decided to sell the
business, but it was bought byStompers and then are now called
Stompers Gloves.
Interestingly, they justchanged the gloves.
I happen to know this becauseStompers is based here in Fort
Lauderdale.
(08:34):
I know the people who run it.
I've been inside their tinylittle warehouse and I've seen
all the Stompers Gloves in theworld in one place.
It's about five minutes from myhouse and I just love knowing I
have access to all the glovesin the world in one place.
It's about five minutes from myhouse and I just love knowing I
have access to all the glovesin the world.
So I know that there's been achange.
It has to do with the seam onthe fingers and it's really you
(08:57):
know if you have a pair and itlooks like there's a little
ridge on the seam.
They're not doing that anymore.
Now the seam is more inside.
I forget the actual terms forit.
If anyone knows, you're morethan welcome to reach out to me
and let me know.
The key is it just was toolabor intensive to do one kind
of seam, so they decided to dothe other kind.
(09:17):
This was not their decision,this was forced on them by the
people actually making thegloves.
You'd have to be next-levelglove fetishist to realize that
there was even a change.
I don't think I'm next-levelglove fetishist, I'm a glove
snob.
But I'm not a next-level glovefetishist and I have some of the
(09:38):
old ones, I have some of thenew ones.
I'm noticing no differencewhatsoever.
So my fixation on gloves startedlate last millennium, in the
90s, in the late 1900s, as wesay, and I think.
For me first of all, glovesrepresent power in a way that
(10:00):
boots kind of do, leather kindof does, and I don't know why
gloves embody power more to methan those other items, but they
do, and it may be related totheir use in police contexts,
which could be a littleproblematic as we think about
police violence and systemicracism.
(10:20):
But I have to imagine thatconnected deeply within me is
notions of power and gloves,powers and gloves, power and
gloves.
I also really love glovesbecause of their full sensory
experience.
They represent all the sensoryengagement of leather, but in a
(10:45):
somehow more accessible form, Iguess.
Like it's easier to feedsomeone gloved fingers than to
feed them, the knee of yourleather breeches right.
So gloves have a beautifulsmell, particularly if they've
been seasoned with cigar smoke.
That combination is deeplyintoxicating.
(11:05):
They have a particular taste.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
They have not so much a sound but they have a
wonderful feel.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
It's a really tactile notion of leather on the body
and they have a really greatlook the body and they have a
really great look if they'reworn nice and tight.
I'm very snobby that way.
So my interest in glovesstarted in the late 1900s and as
I've continued in my journey,you know a lot of fetishes I've
(11:36):
had have dropped off.
New ones have come in.
Gloves have only become moreand more central as I've grown,
along with cigars and leatherand boots.
Right, that is the core, coreof who I am and I don't think
that's changing anytime soon.
Gloves do come in a number ofcolors.
I have some in.
I think that's like a chestnut,it's sort of a darker brown.
(11:58):
I think they probably call itwalnut or something which is a
lighter brown.
But I always return to blackgloves because something about
black leather is especiallyresonant for me and so I always
go back to those gloves.
I call myself I'm not a nextlevel glove fetishist, because
(12:20):
it's not like I have piles andpiles and piles of gloves.
I do, compared to some people.
Generally speaking, I have twopairs that are in service at any
given time.
I have a pair of D301s and apair of D302s.
We'll talk about the differenceof those in the next segment
and then lately I've been havingI just sort of buy a couple
(12:42):
pairs when I go shop for themand I keep.
So I've got a couple of pairsthat I haven't even worn yet,
that are still in their bag inmy closet just waiting for when
they're ready to be worn.
Because gloves do stretch and Ilike them skin tight.
Over time they get to a pointwhere it's really time for me to
(13:05):
get a new pair and now I havesome just handy that I can pull
out and use.
I like, when possible, to giftmy old gloves to people who I
think will really value them.
Sometimes that's otherfetishists that I know are
really into gloves or reallyinto leather in general.
(13:25):
Sometimes it's to people whoare really important in my life
who maybe won't even be able tofit into my stretched out gloves
but who will be able to holdthem and therefore hold a piece
of me.
So I almost always have gloveswhen I go out.
They're usually in my back leftpocket, which is kind of a way
(13:53):
of signaling I don't know glovetop, general top, but it's also
sort of handy in reach.
So you almost will always seeme in gloves when I go out.
If it's super duper hot, maybenot, and there've been a couple
of times where I went out eventhough I wasn't really feeling
it and I had my gloves with meand I'm like you know what, it's
not even worth putting these on, but you'll almost always see
me in leather contacts with apair of gloves.
(14:16):
And if you're wearing gloves,if you're wearing the right
gloves and if you're wearingthem the right way and I use the
term right in quotation marks,because this is my snobbery and
it's not absolute right, it'sright in Edge's fetish brain If
you are wearing gloves in waysthat resonate for me, I will
(14:36):
definitely notice and I willdefinitely be giving you the eye
and checking you out.
Gloves are also an importantpart of my play.
One of the things I like to dois what's called hand gagging,
and I guess you can do it withjust a regular hand, but I
always do it with a gloved handand it starts with feeding a boy
one gloved finger and then two,and then three, and then
(14:58):
waiting until the fingers arereally nice and slick and then
seeing how much of my fist I canfit down their throat until
they start to gag, and it is abeautiful, intimate, powerful
little act.
It's something I do at thebeginning of a scene, but it
gives me quite a bit of pleasure.
(15:19):
So gloves are central to myleather life, to my leather
image, to my bar life, to myplay, and for the man who knows
how to wear gloves in the way Ilike gloves worn, they already
have an edge in getting to knowme pun intended, because you
(15:39):
definitely have my attention ifyou're wearing gloves.
That's sort of my journey ofgloves.
It started somewhere in the 70swhen I was watching Chips as a
young child.
It reawakened in the late 90swhen I was getting into uniforms
and then I found other glovefetishists through Flag which
(16:00):
still exists, by the way, ifyou're interested.
They actually have a Mr slashMs.
They have a title, mr Flag, Ithink, and then that allowed me
to connect to other fetishists.
And then, as I've continued togrow on my leather journey,
gloves have become more centraland have really really centered
themselves in every part of myleather life.
(16:22):
And that's my personal storywith gloves.
In the next segment I'll go alittle bit more about the kinds
of gloves and buying gloves andI will try to be open-minded to
the large variety of glovesavailable to people, because I
understand that just because I'ma snob doesn't mean that my way
is the only way.
(16:42):
It's just the way that turns meon.
So if you're a glove lover, Ihope you enjoy the next segment
as well.
If you're new to gloves, I hopeyou find it useful and I hope
to see all of you gloved out andabout, and I hope to see all of
you gloved out and about.
Let's talk about buying glovesFirst.
(17:07):
I think we need to acknowledgethat there are many different
types of gloves and that some ofthese are fetish in themselves.
So, for example, I know peoplewho are specifically into
driving gloves.
There are also biker glovesthat are fingerless, there are
weightlifting gloves and thereare gloves connected to any
number of sports.
However, in a leather fetishcontext, what we are usually
(17:29):
talking about is police searchgloves.
Keep in mind that, asfetishists in leather, we have
invented almost nothing byourselves.
Instead, what we do is borrowfrom other contexts.
We did not invent chaps, we didnot invent breeches and we
certainly did not invent gloves.
(17:49):
In those other contexts, theitems we wear have very
practical value and here, as thename would imply, police search
gloves were used by police forsearching.
So if you're frisking someone,if you're patting them down,
what do you want?
You want some protection forthe hand, but you also want a
(18:10):
really thin covering so that youcan have tactility, so you can
feel what's in someone's pocket.
So police search gloves arereally really thin leather and
that's part of what makes themso form-fitting and so tactile
for both the person wearing themand the person receiving touch.
(18:30):
The major manufacturer forpolice search gloves in a fetish
context is tough gloves.
Manufacturer for police searchgloves in a fetish context is
Tough Gloves, now StompersGloves or I guess it's Stompers
Producing Tough Gloves, perhaps,and you can also find some
other brands.
Hatch is another brand that ismore exclusively marketed to law
enforcement officers, but inthe fetish community the primary
(19:05):
place you're going to getgloves from at the end of the
day is Stomper's Gloves, slashTough Gloves.
They range in price.
They're usually about $50 for agood, good, good pair of gloves
, and for some people that's alot of money, but it's worth
noting that, compared tosomething like a pair of boots
or a pair of leather pants, it'sa fairly affordable fetish
investment, except for the factthat you're probably going to be
buying gloves regularly becausethey do stretch out and so you
will want to get new pairs everynow and then.
(19:26):
But expect to spend around $50.
That's US dollars.
For fetishists and again, I'mnot an ultra fetishist, I'm like
medium level fetishist the bigloves are the D301s and the
D302s, also known1 is absolutelysmooth leather on the back of
the hand and the D302 has thosethree little lines you might
(20:02):
have noticed on gloves and thoseare called points.
So the D302 has points, theD301 does not.
Some people like the D303.
Those gloves have a snap.
They're open on the back, butthey have some extra stitching
on the palm.
I don't know why.
I'm not a fan of that.
But if you wear D303s, at leastI know you're within my
(20:25):
universe.
So it is another model for youto consider.
There are also gauntlet gloves.
Now gauntlet gloves again comefrom a practical context of
probably originally the military, but more recently motorcycles.
And what gauntlets are?
They have an extended gauntletof leather that covers the wrist
(20:46):
and forearm, and in amotorcycle context you would
wear this along with yourmotorcycle jacket to keep air
from cold air from blowing upyour sleeve and freezing you,
cold air from blowing up yoursleeve and freezing you.
So gauntlets are anotherperfectly acceptable choice.
I tend to only wear mine if I'mwearing a leather jacket.
I don't like the look quite asmuch, but they are an option for
(21:08):
you if you like the look.
Almost always gloves are black.
However, there are a number ofcolors available, and white
gloves especially might beappropriate for certain uniforms
.
For certain dress uniforms, youneed white gloves period.
There are also shades of brownavailable, some lighter, more
(21:32):
like a tan, some richer, darker,like a chocolate.
I have found the lighter gloveswill stain easily and quickly,
so keep that in mind.
I always just go with blackbecause it resonates for me.
But when you're shopping you dohave a lot of choice of colors.
I have seen a lot of peoplewearing red leather gloves or
(21:53):
red and blue leather gloves orpurple leather gloves.
So if you're someone who reallylikes to be colorful in their
leather fetish, there areoptions for you.
I'm not entirely sure where tobuy them.
I can tell you Teff gloves doesnot make them.
I can tell you there areprobably a lot of Pakistani
makers making gloves.
So if you feel like that'sgoing to be a reliable source
(22:16):
for you, you can certainlypursue it.
But I'm really focusing in ongetting your first pair of basic
gloves.
So if you feel like that'sgoing to be a reliable source
for you, you can certainlypursue it.
But I'm really focusing in ongetting your first pair of basic
gloves, and so that'll probablybe black.
It'll probably be the D301 orthe D302.
For sizing the way to measurefor your glove size is to wrap a
tape measure around your fourfingers, right around at the
(22:36):
knuckles, and that measurementis your glove size.
Some people tend to be a littlebetween glove sizes and a lot
of it has to do as well withfinger length.
So Bearman, who ownsLeatherworks and Stompers Boots
and Stompers Gloves, oftenchides me for buying gloves that
are too small.
(22:57):
I am a size six, which is assmall as they make them, in case
you're curious, and I hear himon that.
But they don't make gloves inhalf sizes and when I try a
seven, there's leather left atthe tip of my fingers and that's
why I don't wear a seven,that's why I wear a six, so that
they are tight through myfingers.
But I do know people who've hadreally long fingers, really
(23:22):
short fingers, really big hands,really small hands.
You might encounter someproblems finding the perfectly
fit glove for you, and that's atime you might turn to a
Pakistani manufacturer or someother custom glove maker.
I don't have those resourcesavailable right now.
However, if you like reallycolorful gloves or if you
suspect you're between sizes,please feel free to reach out to
(23:45):
me and I will connect you tosome sources.
The gloves should be tight whenyou put them on.
For me, I feel like the gloveonly fits when I struggle to put
them on the first couple oftimes.
As part of that, I like to makesure that my hands are cool and
dry, because your hands dochange size a little bit through
(24:08):
the day.
They can swell a little, theycan shrink a little.
I find this a lot when I'mwearing rings.
Sometimes the ring fitsperfectly.
Sometimes it feels a little toobig.
So I try to be really mindful,because I wear my gloves so
tight that my hands have got tobe cool and dry and the first
time I put on gloves I have toput them on very carefully.
(24:29):
If you're wearing a glove that'sa little better sized for you,
isn't ultra, ultra tight, youmight still have just a little
bit of trouble putting them onthe first time.
That's great.
Gloves stretch that's afantastic thing and that's a
horrible thing.
It's fantastic because theyreally will mold to your hand as
you begin to wear them andafter a few wearings I find my
(24:50):
gloves a lot easier to put onand take off.
When I'm taking them off, I tryto do one finger at a time and
then pull them all off.
And when I'm putting them onthe thumb, the little joint in
the thumb is the tricky part.
That's where I try to takeextra care Because of my near
obsession with skin-tight gloves.
I've actually ripped severalpair of the D301s trying to put
(25:13):
them on, and that's why I alwaysexercise extraordinary caution
when putting on a pair of newgloves.
You probably won't encounterthis problem if you are buying a
glove that fits, that isn'tsuper tight but it fits.
But if you're like me and youwant it skin tight, put them on
the first time with extreme care, wear them for a while so they
(25:37):
begin to stretch, take them offwith extreme care and do that
for the first two or three timeswhen you're wearing them.
I'll say once gloves break inand they do break in beautifully
you can even use your cellphone or any touchscreen with
your gloves.
You don't need specialtouchscreen gloves.
The leather in something like aD301 is thin enough that I
(25:59):
don't know the magic, I don'tknow the science, but I know I
have no problem using my phoneafter maybe the third or fourth
time wearing my gloves.
Caring for gloves is very easybecause you are wearing them and
hopefully wearing them often.
They are often exposed to yourbody's oils on the skin and so
remain fairly supple.
(26:20):
Maybe every once in a while inthe life of my gloves I will put
some leather conditioner onthem and I prefer open offs when
I do that.
But I think you'll generallyfind that they take care of
themselves and they serve youvery well.
I will also say the D302, Ifind the last pair of D302s I
(26:43):
got is a slightly thickerleather than the D301s and that
makes them both tighter, longerand a little more resilient when
putting them on for the firsttime.
So if you're going for an ultra, ultra, ultra tight glove, the
D301 might be a little riskierbecause I've torn several pairs.
The D302 might be slightlysafer, but keep in mind that
(27:04):
we're dealing with an extremelybeautifully thin leather in
either case, and so you do wantto have a lot of care when
you're putting them on for thefirst time.
These gloves are made fromCabretta leather, which is a
sheep leather.
There's a special sheep thatgrows hair instead of wool.
I think it's South American andit creates this beautifully
(27:25):
thin, relatively tough leather.
If your gloves get stretched outnow, I've heard this is
possible.
I've not tested ittheoretically don't, don't quote
me on this.
Theoretically, you can washyour gloves in a washing machine
without any detergent, and Iwould probably.
I don't know what temperature Iwould use.
(27:47):
I would not use hot, I mightuse cold, I might use warm, and
then you can allow them to airdry.
Don't put them in the dryerThey'll shrink too much, they'll
get too dry, and then you canput them on and condition them.
Honestly, that just feels superrisky to me and it's not
something I've ever tried.
I've heard of it.
(28:08):
It is part of the lore, I think, among glove fetishists, and if
you have experience with that,please reach out and let me know
and I can share that in afuture episode.
In general, my gloves will lastme at least six months, maybe a
year, I don't know how often Ichange them, and it's not even
they don't wear out.
I've had one pair of glovesthat I've worn so much they've
(28:30):
gotten a little hole in thethumb.
It's more that at a certainpoint they're not quite as tight
as I like them, and then I geta new pair.
Your mileage will probably varybecause I am particular about
my gloves especially.
I want them skin tight, and soI do buy things that are maybe
(28:55):
slightly small for me, I do ripthem because I'm so eager to put
them on, and I do change themout when they are not as skin
tight as I want them to be.
You don't have to do any ofthat.
You can follow standard glovemaking sizing.
Get a pair of gloves that justfit.
Go on your merry way.
(29:16):
I do recommend using toughgloves and getting your gloves
from Stompers Gloves.
If you're buying your gloves atMr S.
Those are also tough glovesslash Stompers, gloves and if
you buy them on Amazon, they'realso available there.
They are the major manufacturer.
If we're thinking about fetishcontext, they are the major
manufacturer for gloves.
So chances are no matter whereyou got your gloves.
(29:39):
If you got them from a leatherstore, if you got them at a
leather event, they probably aretough gloves, gloves and
they're probably D302s, unlessyou think to get the D301s.
There are probably some othersources you can get gloves from,
but these are the ones I knowand I think that's the basic
introduction to gloves Get yoursize, get D301s with no
(30:03):
stitching on the back, justsmooth leather.
If you prefer them and I knowsome people who are D302 people
if you prefer them, you can getthe D302s, which is really more
the classic police glove andit's got the stitches on the
back.
Those are called points.
Get your right size, get themin black or any color you want.
If you can't find your rightsize, think about custom
(30:27):
Pakistani types of sources.
If you want other colors, thinkabout custom Pakistani kinds of
sources and then enjoy them.
They're fairly resilient.
They will serve you well and ifthey get too stretched out,
theoretically you can shrinkthem in the washer.
Do not quote me on that, but doplease get gloves and enjoy
(30:51):
gloves.
Please get gloves and enjoygloves even better.
Leave me a voicemail atspeakpipecom slash leatheredge
L-T-H-R-E-D-G-E.
That's speakpipe, speakpipecomslash leatheredge.
(31:25):
Those links are in the shownotes and always available to
you.
Please do submit questions.
I appreciate them and they addsome valuable content to this
podcast.
And this time we have onequestion Well, more of a comment
, but we have a question slashcomment from Augie.
Speaker 2 (31:38):
Hello Edge, I wanted to say thank you for putting the
podcast that you do out there.
Just to give you a littlecontext about myself I am a
32-year-old Paz trans man,transitioned early adulthood so
I've basically just been a gayman living my life.
Um, I've pretty much alwaysbeen perceived as cis my whole
(32:01):
adult life.
So, um, I really appreciate thepodcast because I don't think I
would get to learn about thethings that you share.
Um, I think it's a little bitharder, as a trans masc person,
I guess, being exposed to this.
So it's really great to learnabout the things that you share
and I hope that depression isn'tbeing too rough on you and that
(32:21):
you get back on your feet verysoon.
But I just want to say I reallyappreciate your work and it's
really great that you have thisout there.
It's very helpful and, I think,more impactful than you know.
Speaker 1 (32:33):
First of all, augie and I hope I'm not crossing any
boundaries here but wow, youhave a very sexy voice.
Thank you for the comment.
I think I've mentioned severaltimes across all of my social
media how deeply valuable it isto me when people reach out to
just say thanks or to say Ifound this episode valuable or I
(32:57):
appreciate what you're doingbecause it's a lot of work, and
the podcast in particular,because it's on a schedule and I
have to.
I don't have to.
I've committed to doing twoepisodes a month, a full episode
and an interlude, and thatmeans just about every weekend I
(33:20):
need to be doing something onthe podcast and it's getting
really challenging for me now interms of just thinking about
topics, things I know about,things I can hunt down people
and have them schedule to talkto me about.
It's just, it's a lot.
And, yeah, my depression isbetter.
(33:43):
I don't know.
I'm starting to think aboutretirement from all of this
retiring edge, shutting down mysocial media, both the Instagram
and the Twitter and the podcast, and I am not making any
decisions yet because it'sreally hard for me to know today
how much of that is because ofthe depression and how much of
(34:06):
that is a sense that it's time.
If you look at the wholehistory if you include my
original website, leatheredgecom, which in many ways is where
all of this started thatlaunched in 1995.
So there's a sense in whichI've been doing this sort of
work for 30 years, almost 30years that's more than half my
(34:30):
life years that's more than halfmy life and I don't know.
I just don't know.
I don't know what it's costingme.
Now.
God, that sounds horrible.
I am starting to think aboutwhere else I should be putting
my energy, and a lot of this,frankly, has to do with the fact
that I'm single, and sometimesI'm super okay with that and
(34:52):
sometimes I super struggle'msingle and sometimes I'm super
okay with that and sometimes Isuper struggle with that.
And when I'm super strugglingwith it, I think hmm, maybe just
being who I am private citizenand not edge leather social
media person.
Maybe that would free up time,energy, space to find someone to
share my life with.
There's also a sense that maybeI've just accomplished all I
(35:16):
need to accomplish.
I've not been posting a lot onmy Instagram or my Twitter I
refuse to call it X.
I've not been posting a lot inpart because of the depression
and in part because I just don'treally have anything to say
right now.
And I don't post just to post.
I post when I get inspired by aquestion or a conversation or
(35:38):
there's a topic that I thinkneeds to be addressed and I
realize that I have something tosay, something to say that
might be impactful because ofthe giant backpack of privilege
I bring with me.
So there may come a point Idon't know when, maybe soon,
(35:58):
maybe never, but maybe soonwhere I say goodbye, and I've
done it before.
You know, the original websitewas launched in 1995.
I maintained it for 10 years,which in internet terms at that
time was a lifetime and I tookit down and I spent quite a few
years just being me.
(36:19):
I stopped using Edge even, andI eventually drifted back to
Edge because you know, wow, man,it's a good foundation, like
all right, like I have somethingthere and it was good to step
back into it.
And then, eventually, it wasgood to resume this sort of
educational work I do.
But between this being singleand being the struggle bus of
(36:45):
being single, between that andhaving a sense of maybe I've
done all I can do.
Maybe if I continue, I'm justgoing to end up putting out
content I'm not really happywith.
Maybe it's time to retire, soyou know, when I get a message
like this, it keeps the fireburning a little bit longer.
(37:08):
And this is not to like beg forfeedback from people and praise
and validation.
I don't do this for praise orvalidation.
I am finally, finally, at apoint in my life where I get my
praise and validation internally.
But all of that being said, oh,my goodness, I hope that didn't
(37:32):
come through.
I just got a text messagebecause I forgot to put the do
not disturb on.
I don't know what the future ofEdge and Edge's media is.
In the meantime, augie, youhelped make this episode happen.
You're the only question I have, right, you are the only
(37:56):
comment I have, and you havecontributed significantly to
this episode, and for that Ithank you.
And that's not to guilt peopleeither, as a local friend
pointed out, I could always justmake up questions and say that
they had been submitted and Imight do that at some point.
I have not done that yet, andtoday I'm okay.
(38:20):
Today this episode's gettingdone and tomorrow I'm going to
start on an interlude, hopefully.
Or I think I have the topic fornext month's episode.
It's just tricky, so I'm kindof not sure about it.
So today things are good.
I would like to at least committo this third season of the
(38:40):
podcast, but at some point Ihave to also do what's right for
Edge and not just what's rightfor everyone else.
Oh my god, this is becominghorrible in every way.
Oh my God, the layers ofemotional manipulation here.
You know what?
Here's what I'm gonna say.
Augie, thank you for yourcontact, thank you for your
(39:02):
comment and everyone else.
I'm doing fine and I am sorrythat this ask edge has become
not exactly what I intended andI hope all of you will forgive
me for displaying my complexthinking and rambling thoughts.
(39:23):
I appreciate it.
I appreciate the fact that youtake time out of your day to
listen.
I appreciate that you've givenme a platform.
This is not me, ultimately,it's all of you and I don't
forget that and I value it and Iam deeply grateful, and that's
all for this episode.
(39:43):
I hope all of you have reallyreally exquisite leather
journeys.
And that's it for this episode.
Thank you so much for joiningme.
Please consider subscribing oryou can send feedback to edge at
full cow dot show, as always.
May your leather journey beblessed.
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