It is a widely held belief that 75% of all Land Rovers ever built are still on the road. We'd like to think that much the same claim can be made for our gloves. Cornelia James is two years older than the Land Rover, which came into being in 1948, and the two marques, both born in those dark, austere, post war years, share many qualities. After the war, goods of all types were in short supply and heavily rationed.
The Land Rover came with aluminium (not rationed) body parts and in any colour that you liked as long as it was green in order to use up all the wartime green paint that was sloshing around. Cornelia's gloves required the surrender of two precious ration coupons (as opposed to seven for a dress) and, available in an array of colours, offered a ready means of spicing up outfits that had seen the rigours of war.
The Land Rover was very much a utility vehicle - a far cry from the 'Chelsea tractors' of today and gloves, too, were a commodity rather than a luxury. If you nipped out to buy a bottle of milk (rationed to 2 pints per person per week), you'd put on a pair of gloves.
Over the years the Land Rover, in all its incarnations, has been tested to near destruction in every clime and country, as have our glove; balls, banquets, parties, state occasions, weddings, even - a special mention - the reeling at the Summer Ball at the Caledonian Club. There is something indestructibly British about the hum that emanates from the differential of a Series l Land Rover and the cut of a good pair of gloves from Cornelia James offers the same reassurance.
Land Rovers aren't guaranteed for life and neither are our gloves. But they are built to last and we stand right behind them. If you ever encounter a problem with your Cornelia James gloves, send them back to us and we'll do whatever we can.