When you’re lacing up your skates and strapping on your gear before a skate do you ever look down and think how much different it would’ve been playing the exact same game 100 years earlier?

From leather skateboots with rough steel to a 3 pound ash stick to work gloves from the farm, it would’ve been a much different – and heavier- game.

Over the years we’ve done a small blog series looking back at hockey equipment and how far it has come. And today we’re hitting a piece of gear we probably should’ve started with: hockey gloves. So how have hockey gloves developed? Here’s a snapshot decade by decade.

Pre-1900s: Originally hockey gloves were made simply to keep the players hands warm when playing in colder conditions. Often these were just leather mittens or work gloves. About as basic as you could get – leather gloves and limited padding.

1900s-1910s: The first pair of hockey gloves are recorded being sold in 1904. They were called Hockey Gauntlets and went for a whopping $1.75 per pair. Old school leather gloves with padding in short supply.

1920-1940s: Brands started jumping into the game like Cooper and Spalding. Padding came to gloves early in these decades, including a reinforced thumb after Babe Siebert with the Montreal Maroons broke his thumb in the 1930s.

1950s-1960s: Things are starting to modernize. Newer materials like foams and nylons are being incorporated. And we’re seeing the classic long cuff hockey gloves in the professional leagues become the norm.

-           1970s-1980s: This era we’re adding more padding but also starting to veer towards a more anatomical fit. In addition, plastic padding is starting to get added to models.

-           1990s-2000s: The heyday in terms of materials. Leathers, nylons, advanced foam, moisture wicking linings, custom fits. 10+ different palm material options. We had all the options during these decades and multiple glove brands. This is the era we celebrate the most with our glove designs.

  2010s+: Gloves as we know them. More modern tapered and contoured fit gloves. Generally shooting for advanced materials and the most ergonomic designs possible to fit different playing styles. Keep it as light as possible and as dry as possible.

So here we are in 2025. Where do you think gloves are going next?

Because to think, one day our grandkids will look down when strapping on gear and wonder what it was like playing hockey when their grandparents played. Must’ve been so slow back at the turn of the millennium..