O.K., but why buy from Superior?

A quick glance at job injury stats can create some false impressions. While hand injuries in no way represent the majority of lost-time injuries, it is the nature of those injuries that tells the real tale, and a closer look at the stats shows why: hand injuries are the most preventable. And when it comes to hands, preventable = gloves.

Consider as well the role your hands play in the workplace: hand function is on par with eyesight, and many jobs become impossible to perform–safely or otherwise–without the full functioning of either. This puts hand protection at the top of the list in most jobs when it comes to safety, productivity and the role of protective apparel. A little education goes a long way too–Superior has made both their specialty.

The number-one reason to buy from Superior–besides our reputation of having the most unique product selection in the industry–is our passion! We live and breathe hand protection. With the largest glove selection of any company–over 2500 styles in warehouses across Canada and the U.S.–our products are also the most technically innovative. We love it, and it shows. And our rule of thumb is: if you don’t see it here, tell us!  We’ll create it for you.

Take a look through our website to see gloves you just can’t find anywhere else.

Our History: Where it all began

A great company is like a recipe, combining a unique set of ingredients in a highly individual way. But the success of such endeavors invariably rests on the passion of the creator. It’s the magic ingredient, and it’s how Superior Glove came to be.

The Big Guy…

Frank Geng. Patriarch of Superior Glove Works. The Glovefather.

To say he turned around a fledgling glove company is an understatement. Hailing from postwar Hungary, Frank immigrated to Canada in search of both opportunities and a place to raise a family with new bride Vilma, whom he met in Canada.

Location, location, location

Before Frank took the reins of the Acton Glove Company in 1961, he’d already sized up a built-in, two-fold advantage: location. Sitting right next door to Canada’s largest leather tannery, in what was known at one time as the Largest Tannery in the British Empire, he had the vision needed to build the kind of hand-protection empire that would go on to become the largest in the country. His own expertise in leather tanning put him in good stead for such a major undertaking. Accordingly, such vision necessitated a name change, and Superior Glove Works Ltd. was born.

The Marketplace

Targeting the myriad industries running along the famous 401 corridor of Southern Ontario–Rockwell International, Stelco, Dofasco, GM, Ford, Magna, etc.–Frank worked hand-in-glove with buyers to tailor his products to their needs.

He seamlessly capitalized on the bits of leather that were of no use to neighboring Beardmore Leather by creating styles for farmers and factory workers alike in what was then Canada’s economic engine, utilizing offcuts to their mutual advantage. Out of this flurry of creativity was born the fitter glove, a bestseller, and an icon of hand protection in North America. Not surprisingly, Frank had a large portion of the hand-protection business all sewn up for a number of years. But as we all know, nothing lasts forever.

Change: the only thing that stays the same

As business progressed, Frank added a tannery to further process the split leather supplied by Beardmore. Still without a market for this raw material still, he took full advantage of low material costs to further specialize and expand into other markets. For as any successful businessman knows, diversity is the key to success. That, plus the innate understanding that no one can rest on their laurels forever.

And so, by about 1975, when the great paradigm shift in manufacturing had firmly begun to manifest in western society, Frank had already begun to lay the groundwork of change in anticipation. A shift in production to China was necessitated by an increasingly transient work force, and a change in how gloves were sold led to sales through distribution only. But that wasn’t all. Glove styles began to grow exponentially, since leather was no longer king, and rapidly evolving fiber technology led to a whole new generation of hand protection, which Superior eagerly adopted in order to keep up with increasingly sophisticated changes to workplace technology.

Today

In the process of expanding into new manufacturing locales and sales markets, Superior’s product range evolved from just five styles in 1961, to over 2500 today. We even expanded into Eastern Canada at a time when most manufacturing was being moved overseas. Today, our Point Leamington plant in Newfoundland produces a whole new generation of string-knit gloves and sleeves, and is the site of some of our best innovations. We have our own nitrile dip and coating lines, PVC dotting lines, yarn development capability, and cleanroom laundry—making us the most flexible and vertically integrated North American glove manufacturer.  Our main plant in Acton features an in-house lab to test our latest designs, and our sales team now covers the USA, Canada, and parts of Europe as we continue to innovate and seek out the best materials and methods.

More Information?
Call us: (800) 265-7617
http://www.superiorglove.com/