The Scottish Mountain Heritage Collection
1627.2021.1
Erve Down Mittens
24/08/2021
Hermione Cooper
24/08/2021
Pair of fabric mittens. Elasticated tops and velcro fastenings
nylon
39(L) cms
1 pair
"ERVE NYON SWITZERLAND"
taupe, red
Erve
Switzerland
There is a modern clothing company based in Belgium called Erve; it began life in 1985 though, somewhat confusingly, the Erve mittens we have here n the collection pre date that by a couple of decades. The advert opposite tells us that another Erve was in the market place by March 1970 at least, though they were based in Nyon, Switzerland. Both the Swiss Erve and their UK importers, Dodwell & Co. seem to have subsequently disappeared….but we have the mittens!
We do know that Erve was considered the Rolls Royce of down clothing in the 1960/70’s and suspect that UK companies such as Point Five and Mountain Equipment slowly captured the market.
The very fine pair of mittens we have here once belonged to Roger O’Donovan who, amongs many other things was a member of the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) back in the 1960’s and we’re fairly sure these were his sledging mittens; used when driving dog teams down in Antarctica.
Roger passed away some moons ago and the mitts were kindly donated by his wife Jane.
24/08/2021
24/08/2021
Spectrum : UK Museum documentation standard, V.3.1 2007
24/08/2021