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This may be a stupid question, but the whole thing is really annoying me.

 

Before moving to Japan, it had been my experience since childhood that all gloves have "glove" liners (i.e., with four fingers and a thumb).

 

And all mittens have "mitten" liners (i.e., all your fingers get to hang out together in the same big part, and then there is a separate part for your thumb).

 

Fast forward to a couple of years ago in Tokyo, when I needed a new pair and had set my mind on mittens, not gloves.

 

Why mitts?

 

Because they keep my hands warmer. My naked fingers keep each other warm inside the mitten, whereas in gloves they all get a bit cold and lonely.

 

And as a boarder, I don't need gloves. Mittens do me just fine.

 

So imagine my astonishment when I found that almost all the mittens in the shops in Tokyo had fingered GLOVE liners inside of them.

 

What's up with THAT?

 

Is this something idiotic that we only see in Japan, or is this some kind of industry trend?

 

Will someone with industry knowledge now tell me that this is "better" for me?

 

I just can't figure it out. Why on earth would you buy mittens with a GLOVE liner in them? You might as well just buy gloves.

 

What, did the makers all buy too many cheapo glove liners from some Chinese sweatshop, and now they are foisting them all off on us--the innocent consumers?

 

I asked one of the shop guys why there were glove liners inside the mittens. His reply was typically Japanese:

 

"Many of our customers prefer glove liners in their mittens."

 

Oh. OK. Got it...that explains everything. Thanks.

 

Another fine answer, heard in a different shop:

 

"Many customers are used to wearing gloves. So now mittens have glove liners for their convenience."

 

Oh. Great. OK, now I understand everything. It's for their CONVENIENCE.

 

I've never bought any Japanese condoms, but wouldn't be at all surprised if they have five holes too. That's OK, though, because I my weenie never gets cold in action, and I could re-use the condom 5 times before throwing it out.

 

Well, please advise me.

 

Do they have this crazy glove-liner-in-a-mitt thing going on in any other country?

 

Please write and tell me I am not off base on this one.

 

 

badmigraine in Tokyo.

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well badmigrane,

you have excelled yourself in writing yet another piece of fine literature. man you definately still have the gift of the gab that i remeber about you in niseko.

 

well i have another story about five fingers (or in this case... toes). on my first trip to niseko our friendly guide (an sjg regular..... he knows who he is!) took us into homac (a large houseware-department store) and we discovered the toed/fingered sock!!! f@#k what a brilliant idea.... so toasty and warm for those -25deg. days siting on hanozono 2 lift. promptly bought 8 pairs on the first trip and another 12 pairs on my last trip there (half the reason we came back to japan) and havnt had a cold little toe since. long live the toed sock or gun-to sock (is that how you say it??)

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Got me some of those Helly Hansen mitts which have glove linings. It feels similar to getting into a sleeping bag liner with army boots on (guess you have to try that one to know...) But as I'm a very warm beast, I won't be bothering with the nasty liners anyway, so no problems.

 

If it was condoms, there wouldn't be five of 'em, there would be little wrap around bollock covers. For convenience you know.

 

"Many of our customers prefer glove liners in their mittens." I believe that. Yessir, those Japanese customers are a vocal lot, always voicing a marked preference for this or that, never ones to leave a shop without having their say. 'Christ, not these mitten liners! When are you gonna give us some damn glove liners! I'm not shopping in here again!!' Yes, you see it wherever you go.

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i think every mitt i've ever tried

on has a glove liner. (i'm in the US)

 

i think it's unavoidable. but if it is

really bugging you, then fer chrissakes,

just buy some mittens and throw out the

liners - they are generally pretty

chincy anywayz.

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grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, you know when you have just finished typing something long, and you see a typo, so you click in front of the typo and hit "backspace" immediately after, and the damn browser goes "back"...?

so then you click "forward" and all your typing has gone...?

GGGGGGGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR mad.gif mad.gif mad.gif

 

ah well, what i was gonna say was that i won some K2 mitts last season in a comp.

they have fingerless liners so naked fingers are all good.

but when its really cold on the lifts i prefer to bunch my hand into a fist,

unfortunately, i keep breaking my wrists so i wear (oh so dorky) wrist guards under my gloves, thus preventing me from employing the fist technique.

plus i prefer the increased finger mobility of gloves over mitts so i never wear them...

ha ha, ....maybe you might want em?

ima try and buy some new fingered gloves in tokyo next week.

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I`ve been wearing OR Outdoor Research mitts for 8 seasons now and they come with a mitt liner. Using these Mitts in Niseko last year, I took my hand out to hold the video camera. The weather conditions at the time were sunny but a howling wind at the top summit next to the smoko hut all but froze my hand. Later that day I was told the wind-chill factor was about - 70 degrees. That was the coldest my bare hand has experienced. Anyway it would have been better and alittle warmer if I had some glove liners [just a thin fleece] inside the mitt liner, inside the OR mitt. I needed some sort of windchill protector for my hands when filming.

If it is a Japanese trend for liners inside liners inside a mitt then I`ll go for it aswell. smile.gif smile.gif smile.gif smile.gif smile.gif

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Hey Lama, those lonely toe socks I hear they are good for atheletes foot and all that stuff, but are they really that warm? What about crunched pigs in the boot pig box problems given that you have extra width when wearing those things?

 

As for the glove issue just bought a pair of Burton AK gloves - the ones with the primaloft stuff in the "glove" inner- sweet pieces. Gotta hand to the boarder companies, certainly know how to make good gear.

 

Wonder when the dedicated ski companies will lower thier noses enough to smell the roses and start making stuff that is functional, cool and works. The only thing I really own that is dedicated skier stuff is the skis, boots and poles....

 

I wonder how many other skiers own more boarding based gear than two planker stuff?

 

That conlcudes today's rant from the disgruntled skier.

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Don't know about the glove liners with mitts when you buy them, but i've been wearing very thin silk or thermal gloves under me pile/gortex mitts for fifteen years, climbing, skiing, snowboarding. When I take off my outer gloves to do something tricky, I don't want another pair of mitts!

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Yeah, that's a point for sure. If you take off your mittens to handle something small, you need a fingered glove liner for sure.

 

This doesn't really apply to me, though.

 

Because I only take off my mittens on the slope if I have to pee...and in such a case, the object that I am handling is not small.

 

It is microscopic.

 

HAW HAW HAW HAW HAW!!!

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