Although the weather here in Arvada will be warming up in the coming months, spring in Colorado has a tendency to wane and wax to lower temperatures on occasion. Furthermore, the cold winters year-by-year call for clothes that can effectively conquer the cold, especially when it comes to the gloves you wear. Whether your children require a pair of custom-fitted gloves to keep them comfortable, or your laborious handiwork calls for sturdy goat skin, Dino Dardano of Hestra Gloves has your outdoor solution.
Hestra Gloves was founded in 1936 in Hestra, Sweden, when Martin Magnusson noticed a dire need in his country for high-quality gloves that would withstand harsh lumberjack work. Since its founding, Hestra has added four distinct product lines with varying functions: a line of ski gloves, a collection of sport gloves, a fashion line featuring prestigious leathers and cashmere linings, and Hestra JOB which is the company's line of gloves designed strictly for hard labor. The Hestra organization is starting on its fourth generation of family owners with the Magnusson sons and grandsons now managing the company and Anton Magnusson acting as CEO.
Hestra offers gloves for men, women, children, and a variety of sports including biking, running, skiing, hiking, and climbing. Their luxury line, or Dress collection, is full of premium leather, suede, cashmere, and knitted products. Maybe you’re searching for a pair of children’s gloves to prepare your young one for an upcoming camping trip, skiing excursion, or to simply keep their hands cozy on frigid school days. Whatever your need may be, Hestra offers glove sizing for all ages from infants and toddlers to juniors.
You can find their children’s options in the Collections section of their website, which features a number of additional product lines for sports such as alpine racing, mountaineering, and cross country skiing, as well as seasonal fashion gloves such as “Sport Classic” and “Table Cut.”
According to Dino Dardano of Hestra’s North American division, “Quality is built into every product, whether it’s meant for adults or for children.” He also highlights their Hestra JOB product line. This is a newer division that had strayed away from the needs of manufacturing workers. The company recently went back to its roots of making “gloves for working people” as they were originally geared toward lumberjacks. Since they revived their foundational working glove, the company has been quite successful in raising the bar on quality when it comes to work gloves that can stand the test of time.
In 2004, Hestra Gloves began distributing their products to North American markets in Canada and the United States. It’s an international company that also caters to European markets, including the countries of Denmark, Finland, Norway, Germany, Sweden, and the UK, though a majority of Hestra’s staff resides in Arvada. This is part of the reason why Dino relocated their operations in Golden to Arvada. They had an opportunity to build a new facility, and due to their love for the Arvada community, they plan on keeping their operations in Jefferson County moving forward.
The company currently owns global factories in Hungary, Vietnam, and China. According to Dino, they’re a very vertical organization in terms of sourcing, design, and production. In other words, they control all assets of the value chain. Throughout their growth across Europe and North America, Hestra has made a name for itself as a maker of premium, top-notch leather gloves, and the company harvests materials from only the best sources. It’s also a sustainable organization, with the majority of its high end ski gloves featuring replaceable liners. Dino says the durability of the goat skin and cow hide used to make these gloves is so great the liners often wear out before the shell. However, sustainability efforts are moot without spreading awareness. This is why Hestra educates its customers on the replaceable liners and encourages them to maintain their gloves to extend their life cycle and cut back on unnecessary purchases.
If you’re on the hunt for a pair of hard wearing gloves that can conquer the cold, there are a handful of local outdoor shops in Colorado that carry Hestra products. Although online shopping has become the new normal, it’s suggested that you feel out the glove selection firsthand before committing to a purchase. You can find Hestra’s ski, sport, designer, and JOB products at Larson’s Ski & Sport in Wheat Ridge or at Powder7 and Bentgate Mountaineering in Golden. Stop by one of these local outdoor shops to try on a pair of Hestra gloves in person, or visit the Hestra website to browse the options before adding anything to your cart.
