Glove Makers Hang Up Their Tools
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It opened in 1933 and closed in 2009, and Bob Perrella was there during all 76 years.
Perrella’s was one of several glove-making factories that helped put Gloversville on the map, and it was the last plant to still make all of its gloves in Gloversville. However, that ended in February 2009 when the facility shut its doors.
“We were making golf gloves for Titleist right up to the last day we were in the shop,” says owner Bob Perrella. “But nowadays, discount stores can sell gloves for as little as $7, and we couldn’t even make them for that amount. So that was a sign we better call it quits.”
Perrella, 83, was just an 8-year-old boy when he went to work in 1933 for his parent’s glove manufacturing company. The original factory facility still stands today in Gloversville, although it is occupied by another company.
“I was 83 when the plant closed, but another employee, Bert Salluzzo, was 90 when the doors finally shut,” Perrella says. “Bert was sewing gloves when he was 90, but now both he and I are having health problems due to old age. He went to work for the company at age 17, and the only time either of us ever missed work was when we served in the armed forces during World War II.”
Perrella says the company was founded in 1933 solely as a manufacturer of ladies dress gloves, then branched out in later years.
“Back then, the glove industry was so large that everyone was able to specialize in a certain product,” he says. “My dad, Joseph, actually began our business in the back room of our house, where he set up a sewing machine and cutting table. My father sold a whole lot of dress leather, stylish and affordable ladies gloves during our many decades of operation.”
Story by Kevin Litwin
