A few weeks ago I came across an email from a new brand from the U.K called We Are Park. Like a lot of you reading this, this was a new name to me that I hadn’t heard about. The brand, which started back in 2008, is an apparel brand that works with BMX, skateboarding and snowboarding. As of recently, they started hooking up guys like Declan Brooks and Jack Watts who have been on it this past year.
The guys at We Are Park sent through a little care package for me to get a feel for what they are producing and in that box was a pair of their Shiv gloves. It couldn’t have been better timing since my previous pair had started ripping and smelling like death, so it was time to upgrade.
I’ve been running the gloves for a few weeks now and figured I’d toss together a review for the gloves since it has been getting colder and I’d imagine a good number of you are looking for something to keep those hands on the bars. Here’s what I think…
First glance at the gloves, they are a lightweight and slim fitting glove made from a stretchy and breathable mesh material with some fabric on the thumbs, perforated suede on the palms and fingers and a thicker suede patch that wraps from the palm between your thumb and index finger into a rubber velcro strap to keep things tight.
My initial thought is that due to these being so thin I’d probably wear through them pretty quick and end up tearing them within a few sessions. Seems logical since I tend to keep a pretty firm grip on the bars these days.
You can find a Park logo on the rubber velcro strap, “We Are Park” logo on the pinky finger and the Park block logo all over the palm. You can also find a suede pull tab to help slide the gloves on. Keeping a clean look without really overdoing branding like you can find on some gloves these days.
Since I’ve had the gloves, I’ve spent most of my time wearing them while riding at the local indoor park here, so they really haven’t seen any trails or street riding or any sort of wear from digging or anything. I’ve been running the ODI Longneck grips the whole time and outside of riding, I’ve wore these while riding the motorcycle and while working on my bikes so that’s why they are looking a little black from the grease.
Like I said earlier, these gloves are pretty thin so I almost expected them to tear pretty quick. They have yet to do that, which was a surprise since I figured having the perforations would make it a little easier to tear through, but so far we’re doing real good. The only real wear is on the Park logos that you can see pretty clearly in the photos above. Not too bad for a months worth of riding, right?
Overall, I really like how these fit snugly on my hands and allow enough air flow to keep them from really getting too warm. They’ve definitely held up to the wear and tear a lot better than I had anticipated as well. I like that they’ve added that extra thick piece between the thumb and index finger where there’s usually a good amount of rubbing from adjusting on the grips. I haven’t had any issues with my hands slipping with these at all even once they get pretty moist from a good session.
I did notice that due to how thin they are, every now and then my hands do start to feel like they would after riding all day without them, but I guess you could take that as a positive for those of you who don’t like the feel of wearing gloves while riding, right?
I’d say these definitely are worth giving a go if you are in the market for a new pair of gloves.
You can pick up a pair of the Shiv gloves direct from the We Are Park Web Store for £23 (Roughly $37.05 U.S).
To find out more about We Are Park, visit their website — WeArePark.co.uk.
You can also find them on Facebook and Twitter.
