Award-Winning Gloves

A few weeks back, we told you all about an award-winning glove from the chaps at outdoordesigns, well, now we have a pair right here on out sticky mitts.

The Taku Stretch - not to be confused with Tarka the otter, a semi-aquarian mammal - won a Polartec Apex Award for innovative use of Polartec fabrics and design and as you'd expect, they're pretty interesting.

For starters, the fabric is a new one, called Polartec Windpro Stretch with Hardface Tecnology. Also used in their new ninja-look fleece, more of which soon, it's a very close woven fleece which is far more wind resistant than conventional fleece, rather like the old Ultrafleece fabric.

The Hardface variety uses a soft fleecy inner combined with what's claimed to be a more durable, smooth outer, the er, Hardface no less. Finally, the palm, fingers and thumbs of the gloves are plastered with grippy little silicone spot things in outdoordesigns logo shape, which give great grip on ice tools, trekking poles and so on.

We reckon they're going to be great allround mountain gloves offering decent wind resistance, but without the reluctance to dry that we've experienced with membrane-based gloves and with better breathability. They should also work well as a liner for modular winter climbing shell gloves and mitts if you're one of those people who dangles an outer mitt for fiddly stuff like ice screw placement.

Appearing in shops some time about now, the new Taku Stretch will priced at £20.

www.outdoordesigns.co.uk