My daughter bought me a pair of the waterproof Dragon MTB gloves for my birthday in October.

I wore them 5 times when they mid palm seam tore half way round Kirroughtree black. I wore the gloves until I got back to the car and they were then returned for a warranty claim.

Sealskins have replied:-  No manufacturing defect , only wear and tear which can occur any time after purchase.

Is it worth approaching Trading Standards about this as I would expect them to last more than 5 rides ,especially when they were nearly £40 ?

What did the shop say?

Really unimpressed with their cycling gloves. Bought a few pairs of summer ones when they were reduced, all the mesh bits on the back of the hands separated from the rest of the glove within a few rides. The rest of the gloves fell apart within a year.

Love their non-cycling winter gloves though, have some of the waterproof wool ones that must be 15+ years old & still going strong!

Sealskins have replied:-  No manufacturing defect , only wear and tear which can occur any time after purchase.

Standard response from Sealskins I’m afraid.  Unlikely to budge.  Spend your money elsewhere next time.

I’m guessing your young lady bought them from a shop, not Sealskins directly, so the shop would be my first call…

Sounds like Seal Skin aren’t to keen on Customer Service, but the problem might be the way you tried to return them.

It seems almost unique to cycling, but we’re really hot on ‘Warranty’, but you shouldn’t confuse ‘Warranty’ with Guarantee or Satisfactory Quality which are all different.

As Seal Skin have said, a warranty only covers Manufacturing Faults, it doesn’t mean “these gloves will last a few years” as you might expect from a glove.

Really, unless your Daughter bought them directly with Seal Skin you should take them back to where she bought them and return them as being poor quality.

See link for more detail

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/consumer-rights-refunds-exchange/

Thanks all, the gloves were bought from Outdoor GB who returned them to Sealskins.

The shop aren’t interested,other than sending them to Sealskins.

you can use the sale of goods act to get the shop to swap them.  They should be lasting more than 5 months.

They have to be fit for purpose, and it looks like they fail that test.

It’s the shop’s problem not yours. I’d ask for a refund.

They’re not even made out of seal skins so I doubt they are particularly bothered about trading standards.

*empties SportPursuit basket containing 2 pairs Sealskinz gloves*

They have to be fit for purpose, and it looks like they fail that test.

Be wary of this – “fit for purpose” is the lowest possible qualification, as far as I understand it. The example I was given by a Trading Standards employee, also a cyclist:

If you want a cross-country mountain bike and I sell you a hybrid commuter, or even a Brompton, that fulfils the legal qualification of “fit for purpose”. Because you can ride it as a bike. Even cross country, even if only briefly.

If you want a cross-country mountain bike and I sell you a bucket, _then_ can you argue that what I sold you is not “fit for purpose”. There are many other levels of recourse before you get to “it doesn’t fulfil even the most basic interpretation of its purpose.”

Just to round this off, my daughter got a refund from the shop today 👍👍