The Mystery of Naked Metisse Leather Solved!

When the new line of luxurious leather gloves by Grandoe arrived a few days ago (tagged: Made from Naked Metisse Leather), I struggled to recount my 2 decades of glove experience to interpret the meaning. I even beckoned our warehouse manager, Alaqui, a Moroccan who speaks fluent French, thinking it was one of those fancy words inspired by the French romantics. No luck there either. Google and my Webster’s failed me, too.

I then resorted to humble myself and go back to the source. First, I sent an e-mail to my new glove friend, Mike D’Arcy, one of the Czars at Grandoe, and asked for the meaning. His reply was simple as if I (The Glove Guru) should have known, “Metisse is the finest leather available.” Hmmmm, Thanks a bunch, Mike, I said to myself.

Thinking there was no way we could convince any of our customers from CPW (that’s Central Park West in case you’re not into NYC acronyms) that Naked Metisse leathers were the finest for gloves, I had to call Mike.

Mystery Solved: When I asked Mike on the phone, he simply chuckled. Instantly, I felt foolish but I still had to know. The nerve of him, I thought. After a short pause, he said laughing; it’s a word we made up! “OK, fine, but what is it, Italian Nappa? European lambskin?”, I asked.

Incredibly, I soon learned that these fifth generation glove makers from Grandoe were onto something new to me; old to them. The leathers they use (for more than a century) are made from Ethiopian Highland Sheepskins, which are the finest leathers available and have an international reputation for use in gloves. Sheep raised there near the Equator provide a softer and finer grain ideal for luxurious fine fashion leather gloves.

Now that I solved the mystery of Naked Metisse Leathers, I wonder who is going to make it to Wikipedia first, Mike or me. I know I’ll beat him to Google due to this post. He still gets kudos for the word and the gloves.