Love Your Gloves 🧤
How to make goalkeeper gloves last longer
Goalkeeper gloves are a Keeper's most valuable and important bit of kit. A decent pair of goalkeeper gloves gives you better grip in goal, more confidence, and comfort to perform your best. The only issue is, constantly making saves & diving around means goalkeeper gloves take a lot of impact and damage. Goalkeeper glove palms are delicate and thus, can rip, tear and scuff within only a handful of games. A lot of the time, this means goalkeepers are unwiling to spend too much money on gloves, as they know they will eventually get damaged. However, there are a few easy ways to make goalkeeper gloves last much longer, keeping their grip and helping you save money, too. The way to do this is with proper goalkeeper glove care.
Making GK gloves last longer
Jump to Video 👇Remove your gloves properly
The way you take off your goalkeeper gloves after a session or game can seriously affect your palm latex. Gloves can be difficult to remove, especially after a wet game or if you're sweaty. By pulling at the latex, the friction will definetely cause rips & tears on both goalkeeper glove palms.
Instead, you should use your body to protect the delicate palm and put more of the friction on the goalkeeper glove backhand.
Wash your gloves after each use
Goalkeeper glove latex is like your skin. It has pores which get clogged if you don't clean them! And clogged pores in the latex means less grip. You can wash goalkeeper gloves palms really quickly after each game - It doesn't have to be a deep clean everytime. Don't always worry about the backhand of the glove - The most important thing is that you wash the palms after every game or session.
Dry your Goalkeeper Gloves Properly
This is an important step in the goalkeeper glove care process. After washing your gloves, they will be wet and need to dry before you next wear them.
Things to avoid are:
❌ Direct sunlight
❌ Direct Heat
❌ Leaving them in your kitbag
Heat and sunlight will crack your latex and dry it out. Leaving gloves in your kitbag will make them very smelly, and encourage bacteria which is not only unhygenic, it can start breaking down the latex, too.
Instead, the best way to dry goalkeeper gloves is to allow plenty of airflow, and hang them up away from sunlight.
Using products that stop bacteria taking hold is also a great way to remove goalkeeper glove odour, such as glovefresh.
Store your gloves properly
Once gloves are dry, it's vital that you avoid the latex palms from each goalkeeper glove touching eachother. Latex can easily rip when it rubs against itself, so never place goalkeeper gloves 'palm-to-palm'.
Instead, place the gloves so that one of the palms rests against the backhand of the other glove, or place them back-to-back. In general, avoid anything potentially harmful touching the delicate latex. For example, you should carry your gloves and boots in seperate bags.
Avoid turf contact
This sounds impossible, but what we mean is avoiding excessive contact of goalkeeper glove palms with turf. The easiest behaviour to change is when pickking yourself up off the floor. Don't use your palms to push off the floor, instead use your closed fist. You can also develop your diving technique to avoid your palms sliding along the turf.
Different turfs can damage goalkeeper gloves more than others, such as artifical turf, where you must be even more careful.
Revive grip before replacing gloves!
Latex is a natural material. That means you can extend the life, but you cannot stop it from breaking down eventually.
The glove lifecycle:
First, you open your brand new gloves - they're super grippy! Expensive gloves are even grippier, and naturally stick together slightly.
After a few wears, this initial layer of super soft latex wears away. Here, you'll notice your grip start to fade.
This is the perfect time to use glove grip sprays to get your gloves back to the way they were on your first wear. You should also ensure you keep washing the glove to extend it's life too!
Eventually, more layers of latex start chipping away, and you're left with scuffs and peeling on the palms.
This is where a lot of keepers will replace gloves, thinking they are finished and no longer effective.
But goalkeeper grip sprays are designed to absorb into these cracks, so you can still benefit from amazing grip at this stage!
Grip sprays can prolong the life of the glove, and make them just as effective as when the latex was flawless!
Inevitably, there comes a time where the gloves do need replacing. But by utilising the amazing glove care products out there, you can be satisfied that you have maximised your glove life span - being way more friendly to the planet, your bank account, and your performance on the pitch.
Make goalkeeper gloves last longer
4 quick tips
Make goalkeeper gloves last longer
The essential process to follow after playing
How long do goalkeeper gloves last?
The average goalkeeper replaces their goalkeeper gloves after just 3 months. However, we at gloveglu don't agree! We know that with proper goalkeeper glove care, plus following these tips, goalkeeper gloves can easily last a season, or longer.
But they won't only last longer, your GK gloves will perform better too.
