Caratti Brooklands Classic Crochet Gloves

Type 'retro cycling glove' into your favourite search engine and half a dozen options pop up, a measure of how popular anything to do with vintage cycles is right now. The Caratti Brooklands Classic Cochet (sic – I think 'crochet' got mangled in the translation) is a real old-school mitt that will look fantastic as your hands rest lightly on your leather-wrapped handlebar, or even on the wheel of your classic Bugatti coupe.

The company name has been associated with Italian cycling brands since the 1970s and though the relaunched Caratti still plays up that heritage, these gloves are actually made in Pakistan. The palms are cut from goatskin, with a separate sewn-in panel extending up the base of the thumb. The backs are crocheted cotton, sewn firmly into the leather and some unidentified stretchy nylon-like fabric in the finger webs. Padding comes from an extra leather panel stitched across the palm and running round the knuckle of the first finger to provide extra protection against the brake levers and, coincidentally, to look as cool as.

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Around the wrist, a Velcro strap, stamped with the Caratti name, combines with a lightly elasticated band to make a secure fastening. All the seams are neatly double-stitched and the whole construction appears very solid, with just the odd stray thread-end to tidy up.

I have big hands, and the size Large glove made a snug fit, so you may want to try a larger size than usual, although I have found a certain amount of give with wear. I felt the palm padding could have extended a little further toward the wrist to completely cover the ulnar nerve area, which may be another reason to go up a size.

Fit between the fingers was comfortable, only pressing slightly between the ring and middle fingers of the left hand. Your experience may differ. It did not lead to any rubbing or soreness in use. Despite the traditional materials, the gloves only weighed around 35g each.

In use I found them very comfortable, though the grip may not be quite as secure as with some more hi-tech fabrics or silicone dots. There are no extra vent holes at the knuckles, so you might be aware of the string stretching across your knucklebones as you flex your fingers. The cotton crotchet is definitely more biased towards ventilation than insulation, and as a snot-pad, it is quite rough.

>> Check out our guide to the best winter cycling gloves here

Talking of which, Caratti recommends hand-wash only and warns that the leather dye may run on first uses. Even so, I was surprised at how red the water ran when I gave these a cool swish in hand-wash soap suds, and the white cotton took up some of that colour, though it looked none the worse for that. The backs are unlikely to remain white for long in any case, especially if you use them off-road (for which Caratti claims they are suited). How you feel about this depends on whether you like all your kit to look crisp and fresh or you align yourself with the generations of yore, covered head to foot in road filth and every stain on their garments the mark of a tale to tell. There's an all-black option now too, which you might prefer.

The leather palms take up water like a chamois and took nearly 24 hours to dry, after which the colour showed some unevenness. The leather remained supple, though, and I'm convinced they'll soon acquire a good patina.

I really like these gloves, the perfect match to my rebuilt classic Carlton and just right with a traditional wool top. Only a dandy might consider wearing them with more up-to-date kit, but the all-black option might have wider appeal.

Verdict

These are so classy it almost doesn't matter whether they perform or not, but they do