Fur Gloves

These enormous plush, furry mittens are a bit of a mystery. They were bought from a vintage shop near Aldgate East in 2008 for the Materials Library Presents Hair event at the Wellcome Collection. We have no information about where, when and how they were made, but they resemble the fur-out over-mittens worn by Inuit people and adopted by Artic explorers to protect their extremities from temperatures of or below -40°C. Mittens were preferred to gloves in these environments as the fingers were less susceptible to frostbite when cocooned together.

These mittens are stitched together from several pieces of the thick and cold-resistant hide of a mystery animal. Visitors have postulated that the white fur on the back of the mittens might be polar bear, but the reverse of the fur is not black like a polar bear’s skin, but golden beige. Given the length, texture and colour of the fur, our best guess is that these are made of reindeer or caribou, which is commonly used for clothing in arctic conditions because it is water repellent and extremely insulating. This is because caribou hair is hollow, which allows it to trap air both inside and between its hairs.