A lot has changed at US Glove in the past few months. We recently switched to a much better shopping cart software. We hope you like it, it works a lot better than the old one did.
We also developed a new line of Fancy Tiger Paws, available in 13 new colors and styles. If you haven’t checked them out you should. They are becoming very popular!
And, business has been good and we are getting squeezed at the factory so US Glove will soon have a new home. We are in the process of buying a building. While it needs to be remodeled, we’re looking forward to having almost twice as much square footage. This will allow us to serve our customers needs much better than in the past.
Filed under Wrist Supports by 
Full grain leather, or grain leather, is leather that has one smooth side and one suede side. The suede side is the flesh side, the smooth or grain side, is the side that the hair of the cow was removed from. This leather is much more expensive and is generally used for automobile seats, shoes, leather purses, and sometimes for gymnastics hand grips. Split grain leather is exactly what it sounds like. The grain portion of the leather has been split off leaving leather that is suede on both sides. Why do they split off the grain? It is the most expensive part of the leather. We use both types of leather in our hand grips. The leather in our men’s grips is all full grain. We generally use a heavy weight split grain leather on our women’s grips, for ease in the break in process. Our full and split grain leather is made to our extremely high standards.
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When we first started making gymnastics hand grips 24 years ago, there was no such terminology as gym grip leather. The name of the leather at that time, was called apron splits. We asked the tannery to alter their formulation to meet our (US Glove Inc.) specific parameters. We wanted a leather that was firmer in temper, that would have very little stretch. Thus the name gym grip was born. To this day, we require different specifications than our competitors. Which is why our hand grips last longer than most of our competition.You will find that even some of our Tiger Paw wrist support leather is specially made for us as well. This leather also has less stretch, for a longer lasting support.
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For years we have sold a very nice quality double wide cotton wristband knitted with heavy weight yarn. They are about 4 to 4.5 inches long and come in seven colors: white, black, red, royal, purple, navy, and pink. In addition to this style, we now carry our superior cotton wristband. This new style is about 5.75 inches in length and knitted twice as densely as our standard cotton wristband. They come in six colors: white, black, red, royal, purple, and pink. These new superior cotton wristbands are extremely comfortable and offer an added measure of protection.
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Did you know that the foam inserts in Tiger Paw wrist supports are replaceable. They are, and should be replaced fairly frequently, after about one to two months of use. They are available for only $4.00 a set. New inserts can make your wrist support feel like new. Another interesting fact is that our new inserts offer more support than what we previously offered. This new cross-link foam is a 4 pound density, instead of the 2.8 pound density we offered before. Our supplier stopped offering the 2.8 pound ethafoam, so we had to choose between a new 2 pound foam or 4 pound foam. We always strive to manufacture the best product possible so we decided on the 4 pound cross-link, a much better foam than what we had originally used.
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Many years ago, when Reisport was having difficulty manufacturing their grips, due to Mad Cow Disease, and Foot and Mouth Disease, an entire generation of mostly european cattle had to be destroyed. Nothing remained, because the cattle were incinerated. This led to a severe shortage of leather in Europe. We had many of our distributors asking us to copy the Reisport hand grips because they were so difficult to get. All of our competition copied the Reisport hand grips before we did. We finally decided that the public wanted that style, so we also provided an alternative. That is how the RKO line was started.
We are very innovative and have many hand grips in our line that we feel are far superior to the Reisport grips. The reason we feel this way is because the Reisport hand grips are the same width from side to side from size 00 all the way up to size 4. There is no consideration for smaller hands, and the Reisport grips do not taper in the palm at all. Many people agree with us that small gymnast needs a narrow grip and that a tapered palm piece is more comfortable. But we offer all these choices to accommodate the many different needs of our customers.
Filed under Womans Hand Grips by
Several customers over the years have asked about the difference between Tiger Paw Wrist Supports vs. Lionpaws. I want to set the record straight. We used to get several calls asking for Tiger Paws, the customers were looking for Lionpaws. I decided to contact Lionpaws in an effort to become a distributor. I finally found them after about 5 or 6 hours of searching. I spoke with the owner and she agreed to let US Glove Inc. become a distributor. During the time frame that we were buying from Lionpaws I convinced the owner to let us manufacture the wrist supports for them. Also during that time frame I found out that Lionpaws had been stamping Patent Pending on all of their wrist supports, when in fact they were not Patented at all ( the owner confessed that they were not patented). Whenever we called during their posted hours of operation 9-12 they rarely answered the telephone, this made it extremely difficult to place orders. We proceeded to tool up to manufacture the wrist supports, then Lionpaws changed their mind about letting us manufacture for them. We had already invested lots of time and money redesigning the product, so we decided to continue with our plans.
So what are the differences? There are many if viewed side by side. The thumb hole on Lionpaws can sometimes be larger on size small paws than size large, because they are hand cut. Ours gradually get larger as the size increases, and we die cut ours so every pair comes out exactly the same. Lionpaws uses the same size foam inserts for
all sizes. Ours gradually get larger as the size increases. A person who wears a large needs more support that someone using a small. Also the arms of the Tiger Paw wrist supports are rounded on the ends. We were told by customers that the squared corners of the Lionpaws could sometimes scratch the athlete during use, so we fixed that issue. The pocket flap where the foam gets inserted is hidden on ours, and with theirs the flap covers the bottom 3/4″ of the pocket which means that the bottom arm has to be angled upward to attach properly to the pocket. US Glove Inc. was the first company to introduce colored Tiger Paw wrist supports, in fact they are now available in nine colors. As an added benefit we include plastic stays for additional support when needed. This is a $4.00 option when purchased separately, but we include one set at no additional cost. We are open for business from typically 8 to 6 and have many distributors around the world to help customers. As you can see there are many distinct differences between our products. Lionpaws calls us a knock off, I say we completely redisigned the product. You be the judge.
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US Glove Inc. has been in business since April 1985. We just celebrated 24 years in business. Over the years while attending many trade shows (too numerous to count) I have had conversations with many gymnasts and coaches. Some of the stories I was told are fascinating.
Before the dowel grip as we now know it, gymnasts used to take pencils and break or cut them to about 1.5” to 2″ long and attach them to their fingers with rubber bands and wear basic palm protectors over them. These were the first dowel grips. Of couse now dowels are attached directly to the palm portion of the handgrips by sewing a leather tab to the palm and then rolling that tab into a dowel by inserting either hard rubber (buna) or wood inside the dowel to give it some rigidity.
Filed under Mens Hand Grips, Womans Hand Grips by
Did you know that very early on, when I first started in the Gymnastics hand grip business, gymnasts made certain products they needed by reusing old worn grips? It’s true. Our hyper wrist support is one example. Gymnasts would take old, worn Velcro dowel grips, and cut the palm portion away, and use the remaining portion for wrist guards. They were not very comfortable but they worked. Athletes asked me if I could put some neoprene padding inside to make them more comfortable, and if I could extend the flange up to help support the wrist. US Glove, with the help of athletes, was the first company to manufacture the hyper wrist support. It is now available in three sizes, and is a favorite among male gymnasts, especially on the pommel horse.
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