The great Spirit Short Motorcycle Gloves ripoff

<p>Spirit sell a pair of gloves called Spirit Short Motorcycle Gloves. They are advertised on their website as 100% ***hide and they look really great. At R749 they are also cheaper than premium brands such as Alpine, but look just as good.</p> <p>They are mostly perforated ***hide and on the palm area and inside of the thumb they have suede overlay. I bought a pair and was very happy with them, for a while. After about a year I noticed that the suede was starting to fray and after about 18 months I noticed a hole appear in the thumb area. I was really busy and had more important things to attend to so I only complained when the hole had gotten so big I was forced to buy another pair of gloves.</p> <p>I emailed Spirit and voiced my concern that the suede area didn’t appear to be leather, as it had worn completely through. After all good quality suede, like that used in the production of leather jackets, does not wear through like that. They rep****, ignoring my concern, simply stating that there was nothing they could do as I had had them for some time and it was normal “wear and tear”.</p> <p>After a couple of emails to and fro they finally clarified that the gloves have suede leather overlay in the palm region and in addition to this, the underlay area is leather. I turned one of the gloves inside out to inspect it, and yes, I could see that most of the glove has an underlay, which is ***hide, except for just one area of the glove, that has no underlay at all. And it’s the area of the glove that wears through. In the inside thumb area there is no leather underlay, only a very, very thin layer of suede. And it would make absolute sense that the very thin, soft suede that they use in the production of their glove would wear through in this area, in a short period of time, because there is no leather reinforcement at all.</p> <p>I asked their customer complaint representative two questions, to which I never received a response. Firstly, are they aware that there is no leather underlay in the thumb area of the glove? And secondly, is it acceptable that the Spirit Short Motorcycle Gloves wear through in just 18 months under normal use? I believe that it is not at all acceptable. Yet, in the emails Spirit sent me it appears that the company does have the attitude that it is completely acceptable that their Spirit Short Motorcycle Gloves wear through in such a short period, calling it “wear and tear”.</p> <p>Don’t waste your money buying these gloves as you will have to replace them within twenty four months. And since it takes some time for them to wear through, when you finally notice that it has happened, Spirit will tell you that you have had them for some time so they are no longer covered by their Satisfaction Guarantee. Rather invest an extra R300 and get yourself a decent pair of leather gloves that will last much longer.</p>