Leather gloves for Oscar-winning Frankenstein were made in a workshop in Pécs

Kate Hawley took home the Oscar for Best Costume Design on Sunday in Los Angeles for the costumes in Guillermo del Toro’s film Frankenstein – and there’s a bit of Hungarian success in there too. The gloves featured in the film were actually made in a small workshop in Pécs, named Karma Kesztyű.

We visited Karma Kesztyű late last year to show the work going on in the workshop where gloves are still manufactured following the traditions of Pécs’s 160-year-old glove-making heritage. In addition to manufacturing gloves under their own brand, Karma Kesztyű also accepts custom orders and does contract manufacturing. However, what gets them in the news most often are the gloves they design for Hollywood celebrities and various film productions. The family business receives special orders through an American partner; among others, Madonna, Rihanna, Lady Gaga, and Ryan Gosling (in the film Drive) have all worn gloves made in the Pécs workshop before. By now, the reputation their work has gained is significant enough that they are often contacted directly by the productions themselves.

Their most recent such assignment involved making hundreds of gloves for the movie Frankenstein.

Kate Hawley’s team also worked directly with the Pécs-based workshop. According to the company’s statement, the connection dates back to a previous collaboration on another film: one of Hawley’s assistants had previously worked with the Karma workshop for another production, and following that positive experience, she reached out to the Pécs glove makers again. Although the Pécs-based glove manufacturer had previously been involved in international film productions, the press release states that this is the first time Karma Kesztyű appeared under its own brand name among the costumes for such a prestigious production.

The company ended up manufacturing 400 pairs of gloves for the production in 2024. The collection included elegant wedding gloves, delicate tulle and lace gloves, as well as work gloves and military gloves. Victor Frankenstein’s iconic red gloves (which also appeared on the film’s poster) were also made in Pécs.

Since the workshop uses traditional manual manufacturing methods, a single pair of gloves can represent the work of up to 10 skilled individuals. “Working on such a 
major international production was an incredible experience. It is a special joy for us that the tradition of Pécs glove-making could be featured among the costumes of an Oscar-winning film,” the statement reads.

For the small workshop in Pécs, participating in film productions isn’t just about the revenue; “the team really enjoys working on these projects – they love the exciting, extreme challenges, not to mention that they love watching the films and seeing their own work on the big screen. One time, we even went to the cinema together to watch one of the movies” – Bernadett Hornicz, the head of Karma Kesztyű,told Telex last December.

Frankenstein was nominated for a total of nine Oscars this year and ultimately took home three statuettes: for Best Costume Design, Best Hair and Makeup, and Best Production Design.

As mentioned in our article about the film’s costumes, they didn’t set out to be historically accurate; instead, they blended the fantasy worlds of Shelley and del Toro with the actual historical era. “It’s so funny when people think that I’m historically accurate – no I’m not! I do all the research and then I let it go. I like breaking the rules because it’s all about the story that we’re telling…It’s not a Mary Shelley biography, it’s not a documentary; it’s Guillermo’s mythology,” Kate Hawley previously told Dazed magazine.