The guild of Warsaw glove makers was established on March 3, 1726, by a privilege of August II — yet in the museum's register of guilds, the year for glove makers is 1736. This ten-year discrepancy is a good introduction to the rest: a craft that handled the most difficult patterns in all of leatherworking has an archive full of gaps. To become a master, one had to sew moose-hide trousers, a glove, and a pair of roe deer-skin stockings. A pair of gloves consists of twelve elements and about two thousand stitches. The Kowalski workshop at Chmielna 10 closed in April 2020, and seven months later, the court struck the guild itself from the register.
I. THE GUILD OF 1726
The oldest preserved gloves in our lands date back to the 11th century from Wrocław — four pairs of single-fingered, leather gloves. Glove makers long shared guilds with others: in Toruń with purse makers, in Krakow with bellows makers, where a separate guild only formed in 1601. In Warsaw, the founding act doesn't mince words: "We impose and add the force of eternal durability and lasting eternity and declare that the established Guild of Glove Makers shall endure for all time."
This "eternal durability" causes problems right from the start. Agata Patakiewicz's study for the Museum of Warsaw dates the privilege to 1726; the museum's guild list gives 1736. Similarly with furriers: the list mentions 1478, while the guild itself counted from 1476. This isn't a dispute over details, but rather the state of documentation for a craft about which no monograph has been written.
It was never numerous. In 1916, it comprised 32 masters, 85 journeymen, and five apprentices; the 1918 census mentions 22 masters and 51 journeymen — a decrease of a quarter and three-fifths compared to 1899. At that time, twelve Christian and six Jewish workshops operated. The headquarters were at Nowy Świat 53; Jewish glove makers had their own Guild of Leather Glove Manufacturers at Nalewki 3. For scale: Warsaw had 86 guilds in 1937, and after reactivation in 1945 — 21.
II. APPRENTICESHIP, WANDERINGS, MASTERPIECE
The path to the workshop was counted down to the year. A boy was accepted for a three-month trial, and if he proved himself, he became an apprentice for five years. Then came the journeyman's wanderings from city to city, three to five years, and only at the end, the masterpiece. In the 18th century, apprenticeships were extended, and not out of concern for quality — an apprentice was free labor. For a journeyman in 1914, one had to make suede trousers, a pair of gloves, and suspenders. For a master — five pieces:
- Moose-hide trousers — work on a material that cannot be corrected.
- A glove — one, not a pair: the pattern counted, not efficiency.
- Scabbard for a coat or sword — a belt over the shoulder for carrying weapons.
- Moose-hide "szpancer" (doublet) — a short, fitted waistcoat.
- A pair of roe deer-skin stockings — mastery over the thinnest raw material.
So a glove maker wasn't just for gloves — they were for soft leather. Here lies the answer why this craft died along with a category of clothing that no one wears anymore.
The paperwork that remained was fragmentary, thanks to one decision. On October 12, 1917, the guild deposited its privilege from 1726, protocol books of accounts from 1773–1886, journeymen's contributions from 1847–1891, journeymen's lists from 1716–1839, and both guild chests at the National Museum. Of these, the "Book of Apprentices" from 1736–1836 and 1741–1799 survived the war, now under number 182351. After 1918, documentation almost entirely ceases.
III. GRIP, ARROWS, AND ANEWIRA
The glove was considered the most complicated leather product — this isn't a legend, but the arithmetic of the pattern. From the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries, it was divided into three elements: the "gryf," covering the entire hand; the "strzałki" (arrows), narrow strips forming the sides of the four fingers (in jargon, "szychtle," from German Schichten); and the thumb, cut separately and sewn into an opening called an "anewira." A pair requires two "gryfs," two thumbs, and six double "strzałki," plus "etaże" (pieces) at the fingertips, "kliniki" (gussets), a cuff with piping, and "necki" (decorative stitching).
Everything starts with one iron rule. When moistened, leather stretches sideways and only sideways; along the dorsal line, it is only stretched if the width is insufficient for the pattern. The finished glove should spread to fit the hand's circumference, not lengthen in the fingers. The rest is a sequence that must not be rearranged:
- Preparation — measuring, soaking, removing subcutaneous tissue from the flesh side, washing, rinsing, and dolerowanie — scraping a layer with a knife called a dolermesser, which increases elasticity and reveals defects.
- Depesowanie — dorsal line, talc, re-moistening, cutting into bands (strips from side to side), dividing into "gryfs", halving into top and bottom, separate thumbs and "strzałki", pair number.
- Etablonowanie and wydebordowanie — stretching according to a template, pulling out edges with a blunt knife called a paseta, rolling, gluing halves with saliva and placing between boards, repassing.
- Fantowanie — determining finger length, incisions dividing the "gryf", cutting the space between them, cutting out "etaże" and "anewira". Today done with a punch, formerly with a knife.
- Rafilowanie, arnirowanie, haftowanie — rounding fingers with scissors, evening out the edges of both halves and embroidering "necki" with a crochet hook along the back.
- Sewing — first the thumbs, then the "strzałki" connecting the dorsal and palmar parts of the fingers, "kliniki", finally closing the back with the palm.
- Lining and finishing — the lining pouch is pulled over a wooden form and sewn, piping of lower-grade leather goes to the cuff edge. Then ten minutes in damp cloth and stretching onto a heated iron — a body with four flat fingers with heaters. Formerly, a cardboard press was used instead.
All this knowledge was recorded in Polish three times: "Teorya rękawicznictwa" (Theory of Gloving) by Natalia Smólska from 1890 — from which comes the rule that leather must rest for at least three months; "Słownictwo rzemieślnicze. Dział skórniczy" (Craft Terminology. Leather Section) by Karol Statdmüller from 1922; and "Rękawicznictwo" (Gloving) by Mikołaj Epsztejn from 1960, which requires the raw material to be "sufficiently stretchy and elastic." Three books for three hundred years of the guild. The rest was passed down orally, as in an apprentice's notebook signed January 18, 1949, preserved by Jan Koziarski.
IV. LEATHER, STITCH, SIZE
There are several raw materials, and each wears differently. Thickness is given in tenths of a millimeter: with this pattern, that's the difference between a snug fit and a sack.
- Lambskin (0.5–0.7 mm) — the softest and most elastic of common leathers. A dress glove, best in dark colors.
- Goatskin (0.5–0.8 mm) — thinner and more durable than lambskin, with a less smooth grain. A men's choice, doesn't provide much warmth.
- Calfskin (0.7–0.9 mm) — thicker, stiff, and not very elastic; popular in Poland because it's available.
- Deerskin (0.7–0.9 mm) — durable, elastic, and soft despite its thickness; insulates enough to work without a lining. Expensive and difficult to cut.
- Moosehide — the softest of all, protects even at -30°C. Rare — it's no coincidence it was used for the master's examination.
- Peccary — wild pigskin from South America, requires a CITES certificate for trade, a pair costs over a thousand zlotys. The ultimate workshop test.
The lining is the other half of the equation: silk, cashmere, wool, or fur; synthetics retain moisture and odor, so they have no place in a good glove. Stitching has four schools. Inseam is sewn inside out and then reversed, so it disappears externally. Prix seam is machine-stitched edge-to-edge, with both edges visible, imitating handwork — a men's stitch. Piqué overlaps one edge over the other, for thin leathers and a tight fit. Whipstitch, called brosser, decoratively finishes the edges — for women's styles.
The measure here is density and time. A pair sewn by hand edge-to-edge takes about two and a half hours and uses nearly two thousand stitches; a modern manufacturer aims for eight to ten stitches per inch. This also defines class: quirks, rhomboid inserts at the base of the fingers, and full fourchettes are found only in hand-sewn gloves.
Size here is a physical dimension, not a letter. The glove number is the circumference of the hand at its widest point, excluding the thumb, expressed in inches — historically French inches, which is why today centimeters are divided by 2.7. Women's sizes range from 6 to 8.5, men's from 7 to 11. In glove tables, the width of the main body ("gryf") equals the glove number — the size is directly incorporated into the pattern. There is no "universal" size.
V. FURRIERS: ANOTHER TRADE FROM THE SAME HIDE
Ancient leather crafts were divided into three groups: tanners and tawers, who supplied the raw material; manufacturers of finished goods — shoemakers, morocco leather workers, belt makers, furriers, glove makers, purse makers, bookbinders; and saddlers for equestrian equipment. Glove makers and furriers belong to the same middle group and compete for the same raw material.
The guild of Warsaw furriers is two and a half centuries older than the glove makers'. The museum's register dates it to 1478, while the furriers themselves counted from 1476 — hence Karolina Beylin and Roman Talikowski's monograph "The History of the Furriers' Guild of the City of Warsaw in the years 1476–1976" from 1977. The guild's inventory book from 1666–1932 received a separate study in "Miscellanea Historico-Archivistica" (vol. 24, 2017). A furrier sewed sheepskin coats, vests, collars, caps, hats, and gloves — overlapping with the glove maker's assortment.
The technology is different, though it starts similarly. Processing fur skin involves soaking, de-hairing, degreasing, deliming, tanning, and dyeing; the raw material is preserved by salting or pickling. The folk version was brutally simple: sheepskins were washed in the river, smeared with clay, soaked for two to four days in an oat flour solution, beaten on a scutching block, and rubbed with chalk. Six to seven skins went into one sheepskin coat.
A modern workshop operates with the same logic: selecting skins by color, cutting and assembling, sewing on a fur machine, then stretching and tacking the pieces onto boards, sewing in the lining, and cleaning the fur. Tools: a razor knife, furrier's pliers, a metal comb. In the interwar period, flat-haired furs were in vogue — foals and karakul. After the war, both trades institutionally merged: in 1958, the guild of furriers and glove makers was formed, and in the 1970s, tanners and sheepskin coat makers were added.
VI. WHERE THE GLOVE MAKERS ACTUALLY WERE
Chmielna was not a street of glove makers — that must be stated plainly. Warsaw's glove-making industry was located on Marszałkowska Street and around Nowy Świat. Feliks Czarnecki worked at Marszałkowska 84, followed by Juliusz Brykner, guild master from 1930; Edmund Karłowicz, deputy master, at 87; and after the war, the Jamrozińskis at 83. Franciszek Gromko, guild master in 1925, had Świętokrzyska 17 and Krakowskie Przedmieście 179; Romuald Łoziński — Krucza 37. The workshop at Hoża 35 operated from 1893, the Giedroyć family's at Śniadeckich 18 from 1946, the Bąkowski family's at Świętojańska 9 from 1956; the Koziarski family moved from Żyrardów to Ogrodowa 13/29. Shops stood at Nowy Świat 37 and 53, the Jewish guild at Nalewki 3. Chmielna only enters this story in 1956, and then by allocation of premises — it was, however, a street of craft and fashion in general: at number twenty-four, the "Ewelina" fashion workshop, at number six, the Kielman family's shoemaking workshop.
The market was driven by social obligation, not fashion. Savoir-vivre guides, which shaped the customers of the Second Polish Republic, stated the matter without question:
"It is improper to go out on the streets without gloves, and it is also inappropriate to put them on only on the street; this should be done at home." Mieczysław Rościszewski, savoir-vivre guide, 1905
The rest of the code was equally detailed. White – for balls and morning outings. Light grey, gris-perle – for visits, theatre, and official audiences. Brown – for travel. Black exclusively for mourning, for men all year round. Visiting dresses were accompanied by kidskin gloves with four or six buttons, lighter than the outfit; for morning, long doeskin gloves, embroidered on the back of the hand; elkskin gloves were considered the most durable. At a ball, they were not removed at all; a bride only uncovered her hand for the ring. A dozen pairs in the wardrobe was the norm – and this norm fed the workshops.
Warsaw also knew how to make gloves on a large scale. In the 19th century, Michał Grosse's factory operated here, employing 500-600 seamstresses, with work broken down into individual tasks. In "Izys Polska," a Warsaw journal of inventions and handicrafts from 1820-1828, an English glove-sewing machine was described in 1826: two arms with brass clamps and combs, operated by foot pedals. In 1844, France added a cutting machine. And in the Duchy of Warsaw between 1808-1810, 153 glove makers and tawers worked.
VII. SOLEC 101 → CHMIELNA 10
The most Warsaw-like of these stories belongs to the Kowalski family. The company was founded by Apolinary Kowalski, born in 1875, in the profession from the age of seventeen. The oldest proof of the workshop's existence is a company letterhead from 1900 — a letter to his wife. The workshop was located at Solec 101, on the upper floors of the tenement house where the family lived below; the shop at Nowy Świat 37, and the company employed about twenty people. Kowalski became a master in 1910, guild master in 1930, and his son Apolinary junior (1910–1967) passed his master's exam in 1936.
The occupation transformed the industry. The guild operated as the guild of tanners, tawers, and glovemakers at Piaskowa 4, with master Aleksander Weigel; at the exhibition of samples and designs of the Chamber of Crafts, glovemaking was represented by Kowalski, Karłowicz, Czarnecki, and Łoziński. In July 1944, the founder's sons, Apolinary junior and Stefan, moved the machines to the basement. The tenement house was bombed during the Uprising, but the machines survived the war under the rubble. Apolinary senior did not survive — he died on a barricade at the corner of Foksal and Nowy Świat.
Others saved themselves differently. Zofia Koziarska ran a workshop in her apartment at Podchorążych 3 and sewed exclusively thanks to the residents of Czerniaków, who raised rabbits and illegally supplied her with skins — she tanned and dyed them herself. Roman Talikowski hid his Jewish leather supplier, Zdzisław Przygoda, with his wife and daughter on the Aryan side of the wall, and supplied food and money to his in-laws in the ghetto; he maintained this by selling gloves on the black market. He was recognized as Righteous Among the Nations.
After the war, the son resumed activity with his father's employees in Dolny Mokotów, where gloves were sewn for the army from skins from German tanneries taken over in Lower Silesia. Then Nowogrodzka and Szpitalna 1, until in 1956, premises at Chmielna 10 were allocated.
VIII. SURCHARGES, DARNING AND WHAT REMAINED
The everyday reality of this trade during the Polish People's Republic was not luxury, but repair — and it was designed that way. On June 2, 1947, the Sejm passed three laws initiating the "battle for trade." Excessive prices carried a penalty of five years in prison and a five million złoty fine. The Special Commission for Combating Abuses and Economic Sabotage sent entrepreneurs to labor camps, and tax offices added surcharges — taxes assessed arbitrarily. In two years, the number of retail outlets decreased from 131,000 to 58,000.
For a glove maker, this meant rationing of leather and cotton threads, after which the gloves would unravel. They lived by washing and darning other people's pairs and from orders from theaters and film productions. A breather came after the workers' strikes of the 1960s. At that time, there was also a vocational school with a glove-making profile, admitting fifteen-year-olds — Zofia Koziarska taught at the craft school from the 1950s. Her graduates were supposed to be able to identify raw materials, read technical drawings, sew every type of glove, and repair another person's pair.
The profession was not killed by the PRL, but by what came after it. Wilczek's Law of December 23, 1988, abolished the requirement of qualifications and guild membership, and immediately thereafter, mass imports and retail chains entered the market. The arithmetic no longer added up: a craftsman sews a pair for four hours, and the finished product costs 150-300 zlotys. There is no raw material on site either — Polish wholesalers offer poor quality, so skins are sought in the Czech Republic or Italy.
The numbers complete the rest. In 1967, there were 32 affiliated glove-making workshops in the guild, in 1975 – 22, and since 2001, four: Bąkowscy, Giedroyciowie, Koziarscy, and Jamrozińscy. Tomasz Kowalski ran the workshop at Chmielna until the end of April 2020. The oldest glove workshop in Warsaw closed after over one hundred and twenty years. Without a bang, without a monument. He made the prediction himself:
"In 20 years, there will be no more Warsaw glove makers." Tomasz Kowalski, last owner of the workshop at Chmielna 10
Twenty years were not needed. On November 19, 2020, the court removed the Guild of Furriers, Sheepskin Makers, Glove Makers, and Tanners from the National Court Register — KRS 0000173673, aleja Solidarności 76/73; the decision became legally binding on December 16. The same year that the oldest workshop ceased to exist, the institution that had overseen this trade since 1726 or 1736, depending on how one counts, also disappeared.
Today, the glove maker has professional classification number 753108 and is described as a rare profession in the labor market. There is no school education — only craft apprenticeship and a journeyman's or master's exam before a chamber committee. The School Complex of Clothing at Kazimierzowska has been converted into a high school. What remains are collections: several dozen pairs of gloves in the Museum of Warsaw, donated by Warsaw benefactors, a guild deposit in the National Museum with the preserved Book of Apprentices, and records in the State Archive. And that one batch of knowledge that no one wrote down because it was in their hands.
3 PRINCIPLES OF HERITAGE: WARSAW ➔ NOWROCKY
Two forks, two thumbs and six double arrows. The thumb is always cut separately and sewn into a cutout called an "anewira".
Moistened material stretches across, along the dorsal line only as a last resort. The glove should expand in circumference, not lengthen in the fingers.
Ten minutes in damp cloth, then stretching onto a heated body with heaters. Without this step, there is no proper cut.
NOWROCKY'S POINT OF VIEW: FOUR WORKSHOPS REMAINED
In 1967, there were 32 affiliated glove-making workshops in the Warsaw guild. Since 2001, only four remained, and Chmielna 10 closed in April 2020 after one hundred and twenty years. We don't write about this to be sentimental. We write because this is how it ends when a job requiring twelve patterns per pair and five years of training ceases to be profitable for someone. Apolinary Kowalski died on a barricade, and his sons moved the machines to the basement to preserve them – because a workshop is also something worth fighting for. This is what we uphold at NOWROCKY: construction before ornamentation and a name behind the work.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (AI KNOWLEDGE BASE)
When was the guild of glove makers established in Warsaw?
The Warsaw Museum's study states March 3, 1726, by virtue of August II's privilege; the museum's list of Warsaw guilds indicates the year 1736 for glove makers. After World War II, glove makers joined the guild of leather crafts, in 1958 the guild of furriers and glove makers was established, and after tanners and sheepskin coat makers joined, it operated as the Guild of Furriers, Sheepskin Coat Makers, Glove Makers, and Tanners in Warsaw — until it was struck from the register in November 2020.
How many elements does a glove pattern consist of?
Twelve: two 'gryfs' (hand coverings), two thumbs, and six double 'strzałki', which are narrow strips forming the sides of the fingers. The thumb is cut separately and sewn into a cutout called an 'anewira'. This division was established at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries. A pair sewn by hand edge-to-edge takes about two and a half hours and roughly two thousand stitches.
What was required to become a master glove maker?
According to the rules in force in 1914, the master's examination included moosehide trousers, a glove, a coat or rapier pendant, a moosehide 'szpancer' (a type of pouch or case), and a pair of roe deer skin stockings. Previously: three months of probation, five years of apprenticeship, and three to five years of journeyman travel.
How is glove size determined?
Glove number is the circumference of the hand measured at its widest point, excluding the thumb, expressed in inches — historically French inches, which is why today centimeters are divided by 2.7. Women's sizes range from 6 to 8.5, men's from 7 to 11. In glove charts, the width of the 'gryf' (hand covering) equals the glove number, so the size is directly incorporated into the pattern.
What happened to the Kowalski workshop at Chmielna 10?
The company operated since 1900 — first at Solec 101, with a shop at Nowy Świat 37, and from 1956 at Chmielna 10. Tomasz Kowalski ran it until the end of April 2020, when he closed the oldest glove workshop in Warsaw. Of the 32 workshops affiliated with the guild in 1967, only four remained by 2001, and on November 19, 2020, the court struck the guild itself from the National Court Register.
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