Glove Care Care The life of your gloves is directly correlated to the care you take of them. When you first purchase gloves they should be rinsed thoroughly as the latex will have a film from the manufacturing process, this will also help activate the latex. The average life of game gloves is about 15-20 games before they will need to be relegated to training gloves. All gloves (except turf gloves) should be moistened regularly during use. The latex on the gloves is like a kitchen sponge. When the latex is dry, it becomes brittle and flakey but when it is moist it is supple and provides more grip on the ball. It is important to remember to use your balled fists to get up from the ground instead of the palm of your hand while wearing the gloves. The pressure of your body weight will grind in dirt and the friction will cause the latex to deteriorate more rapidly. Cleaning Dirt and sweat will breakdown latex. Dirt acts like sandpaper grinding away the surface of the latex and inhibits the latex’s grip. To wash your gloves, you can purchase glove wash, use liquid hand soap or just water if odor is not an issue. Spray glove wash is a great option as is uses less detergent. Wash your gloves in lukewarm water, gently squeezing excess water from the glove. Do not wring the water from the glove as it can tear the seams or break the finger spines. Goalkeeper gloves should never be washed in the washing machine. Gloves should only hang dry away from direct light. Never use a dryer, put in or leave in the sun to dry, as it will damage the latex. Storage After each use gloves should be wiped with a moist towel to remove and dirt or sweat on the latex. Gloves should not be stored soaking wet as they may become moldy. Store the gloves back to back (never palms together) so the latex does not stick together then rip when pulled apart. Latex needs to breathe so do not store in a sealed plastic bag
