Pearl Izumi P.R.O. Aero Glove Review Update – “Houston, We Have A Problem.”

Sometimes you really have to live with a product before you get to know it well.  It’s kinda’ like being married.  Well, I wrote a review of my 2012 Pearl Izumi P.R.O. Aero Gloves back in July, and I gave them a raving review.  Well, the proverbial honeymoon is over.

As I had mentioned in my previous write-up, I loved these gloves, and they had become my “Go-To” set whenever I rode.  I carefully put them on, carefully took them off, hand washed them after every ride in detergent made for delicate garments, and hung them to dry, per the manufacturers instructions.  Alas, it was to no avail.

After one ride late August, I noticed a faint black tint on my hands, and I washed the gloves thinking nothing of it.  The next time I rode the blackness on my hands got worse.  Again, I washed and hung dry the gloves.  This time, the black tint got onto my drying rack (which is white metal), and I could see the gloves’ palms were color-bleeding badly.  Well, I used them one more time to see if they would cease to bleed, but the dye was all over both hands, and if I touched anything, it got dyed, too.  Pretty hearty stuff, this dye.  According to the Pearl Izumi website, the gloves are constructed with “Pittards® WR 100X Natural Carbon Leather palms,” which are “69% genuine leather 19% polyamide 12% polyurethane.”  That indeed sounds like pretty important stuff, until it begins to bleeds on your hands, that is.

I have had these gloves since April, and the whole color-bleeding thing is a mystery.  I have never had any other set of bicycling gloves run like this, and some of them I have had for over two years!  The only time I have seen a real (or synthetic) leather glove run was when I bought a new pair of motorcycle gloves.  In those cases, the gloves color-ran right away and faded with time (which is normal), but not the other way around.

Currently the gloves are at Tweaked Sports while they check with Pearl Izumi about the situation.  So far, it has been a very slow go, and I am not sure what the status of my warranty claim is.

However, it has already taken way longer than it should – Over five weeks, and counting.