The purpose of this thesis was to design and manufacture an individual ski glove for cross country skiing for a client. My client is 43-years old and likes to do cross country skiing on her free time. She has got a congenital disorder, dysmelia, on her left arm. Because of this disorder she needs an assistive device, a glove for skiing that will keep her arm warm and the ski pole securely tighten to the glove. At the moment she had a ski glove made out of neoprene but that was not enough to keep her arm warm.

After I met the client and based on our talks, I decided to manufacture the glove out of silicone because it would be possible to make a fitting glove that would be easy to use and to keep clean out of it. At first I thought about adding some battery powered heating device to the glove but then decided to keep it simple and sew a few leather gloves with thick lining that can be worn over the silicone glove. My client was happy with this decision as one of her wishes for the glove was that it would be as minimalist and as easy to use as possible.

While I was working on the glove I had to take notice on my client’s whishes as well as my own skills. At times the project seemed to be quite challenging since I did not have much experience working with silicone and I ended up making many versions of the glove until I got every detail right. But as the project went on my confidence on my skills grew and at the end I was pleased with the outcome.

My client was also happy whit the new glove, it had the characteristics and appearance that she had hoped for. Unfortunately the product development project was place outside of the skiing season so I did not get any feedback on how the silicone glove worked in winter conditions.