A Glove-Making Tradition Survives in Ireland

There is a low buzz of banter and machinery in the workshop of George Horn Ltd., a family-run glove-making business in a converted woolen mill in the Stoneybatter area of central Dublin.

A seamstress bends her head down in concentration over a whirring vintage Singer piqué machine, giving a glove its distinctive but delicate exterior seams. At the next table, another woman hand-sews finger seams while also keeping an attentive eye on a novice practicing lines of raised decorative stitching known as points on the back of a glove. As Christmas approaches and orders stream in, they are at their busiest.

The company — the last glove maker actually manufacturing gloves in Ireland — was established by George Horn in 1943. In its heyday, it employed more than 100 people making gloves for everyday wear and special occasions such as balls, operas, church events and military ceremonies. The gloves were stocked by fashionable brands and department stores, including Christian Dior, Harrods, Saks Fifth Avenue and Bergdorf Goodman.

The founder died in 1981 and now at the helm is his son, Brian, who began his four-year apprenticeship in 1960 at 15.

Today there are five employees working on gloves, and their workshop is not the original — that burned down in 1972, on Brian Horn’s wedding day, he said. Unable to replace their specialized sewing machines for fine leather work (Singer had stopped making them), the Horns turned to making heavy-duty industrial gloves.