Watson Gloves
John Watson took the gloves he made in 1918 to sell at the ship yards in Vancouver where they were still filling orders for World War I. You can almost imagine him with a trench coat. Sales today are 30 million.
Come here you. Wanna buy a pair of gloves? Hand crafted quality gloves sold right out of a brief case on the docks to ship yard workers long before you and I were born. What a frontier that must have been. Ship yard glove sales spread to mines, logging camps, and farms all the old fashion way. By word of mouth. Something like: “Dang Tootin” they’re good gloves. Apparently a quote from Joe the Bull Cook.
Quickly the briefcase proved too small. It must have been difficult to scramble to keep up with the growing demand. They built a small production facility and it was here that a young 17 year old named Dinty Moore proved himself not to be a “flop” as Watson feared he was and within 7 years was the companies sales manager and secretary treasurer, not to mention a 10% share holder. Watson had once said they had been leaning towards getting a “good live girl” to do the job instead.
After Watson passed away in 1946 Dinty Moore managed to purchase 51% of the shares at Watson Gloves and continued to grow the company by keeping opened mined and trying new things, all the way respecting and maintaining a quality minded attitude and manifesto put into every pair they made.
Skipping forward to the 30 million plus sales of today the Moore family is still keeping it real. The gloves are famous and Vancouverites prove their solidarity by wearing nothing else while “outsiders” discover their attributes across North America everyday. Keeping true to the enthusiasm of keeping an open mind, Watson Gloves has exploded into the gardening and home improvement markets with a wide variety of weights, textures and materials and combinations thereof to suit every aspect of these activities with exacting precision.
Watson Gloves has managed to keep that family feeling you see in the old photographs and most employees have adopted endearing and or sporty nick names for each other, top to bottom. You almost expect to see potato salad and deviled eggs on red and white check tablecloths along with a few bottles of sarsaparilla available in the lunch room. Thank you Watson Gloves for being you and continuing to keep our hands safe and warm.
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Watson Gloves
