Apart from leather and silk or cotton fabric, gloves could be made from knitted yarn. Knitted silk, wool, linen or cotton thread had the advantage of pliability and a smooth fit, could be dyed in a wide range of colours and embellished in several ways. Unlike the practical and informal gloves of today, many of these early examples were elaborate and costly. In particular, they were used in the Church as a badge of high office and were worn by cardinals, archbishops, bishops and mitred abbots. Many of the most intricately knitted gloves came from Italy and Spain.