by BretMan » August 13th, 2007, 2:12 am
It seems like vinyl trim came into use right about the time plastics began making their way into other consumer products. The first commercial uses of vinyl date to around, or just prior to, 1930 based on a patent by tiremaker B.F. Goodrich. The first vinyl products marketed were golf balls and shoe heels.
A few such gloves in my coleection look to be early 30's designs with vinyl trim and lining. They are small and obviously inexpensive youth-sized gloves.
Even though gloves from "back in the days" are regarded as being better made, from the beginning of baseball glove history glovemakers have had cheap alternatives to their top-line models, which were aimed at the youth market.
"Vinyl" gets equated with cheap gloves and it certainly isn't as appealing or durable as leather. But even before vinyl was routinely used, cheap, mass-marketed gloves with other cost-cutting features were common. Thin buckskin leather, little or no padding, cloth-covered trim and cotton shoestring-like laces were all used to cut corners.
Another cost saver seemed to be recycling older glove designs for the cheaper models. I notice a lot of vintage kid's gloves that have lace patterns or web designs about a decade behind their contemporary full-sized models.