I was riding along the other day on the Long Haul Trucker when that all too familiar early afternoon rumbling struck up behind me. Graduating into some monstrous cracks, it wasn’t long before Taiwan’s skies had opened up and I found myself being belted with rain.
Pulling over I whipped out my rain gear and began the process of shielding myself from the rain. Whacking on my SealSkins Winter Handlebar Mittens, I couldn’t help but notice they looked a little worse for wear.
Figuring it was just your usual wear and tear I must’ve just failed to previously notice, I finished changing and continued on my way.
A few traffic lights down the road the rain stopped and, wanting some ventilation, I reached down and undid the zip on my jacket to let some air in. It was then that I noticed big black streaks of what looked like rubber down the front of my jacket.
Wondering what it was, I soon realised the culprit was my Sealskin Mittens. For reasons unknown, they had literally began to disintegrate.
Bought in early 2012, here’s how my mittens looked when I bought them and I’d used them a few times:
Used no more than ten times since I originally reviewed the mittens back in March, here’s how they look today:
Sealskinz describe the grip on the underside of the handlebar mittens as being made from something called “Clarino“:
Clarino is the brand name of a synthetic leather-like material, commonly used in gloves, footwear, handbags, and law enforcement duty gear.
Versions are made that simulate suede and top-grain leather. It is manufactured by Kuraray Co., Ltd. of Japan.
Being a man-made material, it is washable and retains its softness when wet, unlike natural leather.
For reasons unknown, the Clarino on both my mittens has inexplicably began to completely disintegrate and make a fine black powdery mess everywhere.
Obvious culprits would be moisture and humidity but I make it a point to thoroughly air dry out my mittens after each use (which is pretty infrequent). Once dried (usually 24-48 hours), they are then stored in the bottom of my pannier wrapped in a plastic bag, along with the rest of my (always dry when stored) wet gear.
Given that, I’m at a complete loss as to why seemingly out of the blue the Clarino has worn away during storage. It’s also happened equally to both gloves, effecting only the Clarino area on them (the rest of the gloves are fine), so it appears to be a problem with the Clarino itself rather than a random manufacturing defect.
I wasn’t too happy with my handlebar mittens when I reviewed them in March so part of me is actually glad they’ve worn out. From what I can tell though the Clarino wearing away hasn’t impacted the waterproofness of the gloves, however I’ll need to test them in some heavier downpours before I’m certain.
I was going to eventually replace the handlebar mittens with a more fitted glove from SealSkinz but now I’m not so sure. Guess I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.
What I do know though is I’ll be avoiding anything with Clarino in it like the plague. Barely 6 months old and this is what happens?
Not impressed at all guys.
