I had a pair of leather Swany Flexor gloves for years. These have articulated fingers “technology created for NASA space missions.” Quality comfortable gloves. They worked well for about 7 years but finally the thumb gave way, probably because I was using them for snowboarding as well. I bought a lightweight pair for spring skiing that still work perfectly.
So I bought the new version, Swany Flexor “FX-15 Weapon”, and only used them for skiing Within a year the strange PVC covering on the palm and fingers started peeling and tearing at the edges. If you compare the shiny leather on the left thumb with the left index finger and right pinky, you can see how the leather treatment has disintegrated. Also note the seam below the left index finger is splitting apart. And when the gloves’ lining got wet (and all leather gloves eventually soak through on a slushy day), they leaked purple dye onto my skin! The original had a quality Hydrofil lining, the new just had generic nylon, although they claim it has Dupont Thermolite insulation. After three seasons I gave up and bought another brand.
Maybe Swany realized how badly they screwed up, because they are now offering the “FX-1R VINTAGE” glove that recreates the original,
right down to the faux slalom racer excessive padding on the knuckles that gets stuck in your ski pole loops (which was the only flaw in the original)
