Holy Palms? I have all the answers here!

Did you know that those annoying holes in your glove occur because of the tape on the top of your stick? Yep, the combination of the adhesive and the abrasive fibers in hockey tape is excellent for making short work of your gloves. We'd all probably agree a little extra ventilation isn't the worst thing. Less material also might mean there is less glove to smell bad. But the eventual result is that parts of your hands start sticking out of your gloves, and that's not comfortable or safe.

I feel your pain. I used to blow through a pair of palms in about 9 months. This wouldn't have been so bad except that it took me 8 months to break in the typical pair. To make things worse, the hockey industry goes to great lengths to ensure they're no longer producing the gloves you like when your old ones wear out. Which forces you to try something new which takes another 8 months to break-in. It's a cycle of bitter disappointment.

Of course you have several choices to fix this issue. Just playing until the gloves turn into really odd wrist bands is a common one, though not one I personally endorse. Duct tape is neither unheard of or comfortable. Buying a new pair of gloves every nine months happens, but it's expensive. Fear not! I have three better options:

1. Fix your worn out gloves
2. Try a Command Grip
3. Change your tape

Fix your worn out gloves
Yeah, we can fix your gloves with a brand new palm. Our typical turn-around on a full re-palm is two days. Repalming replaces the entire palm including the fingers and thumb.

We offer a couple choices on palm material. Traditional Clarino palms with reinforcement go for $30 per glove. Clarino is the high end synthetic suede material that most gloves come with. If you're getting a year out of your original palms, you'll get about the same from this type of palm.

We also offer digital leather palms. Digital leather is an engineered material which was designed in response to NATO and British Defense Ministry requirements. It is exceptionally comfortable and insanely durable. I had a pair of digital palms last two and a half years. In fact, both gloves fell apart and I still didn't have any holes in the palms. It's $36 per glove for re-palm with digital leather.

Try a Command Grip
Tacki-Mac makes a product that most of you probably always thought was just for people too lazy or dumb to tape their own stick. What you didn't know is that it is made to offer excellent grip without destroying your glove palm. The Command grip wears out over a several months without putting holes in your palms. It's pretty easy to install and replace as well. They come in a vast array of colors and cost $5.99 (much cheaper than a new palm.

Change your tape
There are a couple options for taping the top of your stick which are much better than traditional hockey tape. Powerflex has been an option for a long time. However, the issue with Powerflex is that it gets squished in your bag and lumped into one big mess with no end to start peeling from. This makes me sad.

We've started carrying cohesive gauze tape. Cohesive tape only sticks to itself and miraculously does this without adhesive. This makes it a a great choice to keep your gloves from wearing out. I'm not convinced that it works as well as the Tack-Mac grip, but it does also come in a vast array of colors and is installed with a technique which hockey players should be well accustomed to using.

So there you go. We can fix your old pair and you can save your new pair from an untimely death. There is one more possibility which came to mind . . . you could retire from hockey when your gloves wear out, but we'd all think less of you for it.


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© 2014 Scott Noble. All Rights reserved. Reproduction of this article in whole or part is strictly prohibited without the author's prior express written permission.