For the most part I agree. Lace that is too stiff can actually be brittle. On a couple of gloves I relaced, the old white lace had the feel of shoe lace.... but they weren't Rawlings or WIlson gloves (one was a Rodriguez). But they all do get pretty dirty pretty quickly.
I have some stuff that just about as stiff as they come. I call it my Viagra lace because it'll make the floppiest of gloves stiff again!
I have no worries about it being brittle but I find that I have to "pre-condition" the lace just to make it more manageable.
When it comes to dirt, I'm more of a pragmatist. Use a white glove & a black glove for the same amount of games under the same exact conditions & they're equally just as dirty! It's just going to be more evident on the white!
I have a couple of gloves in my collection that are either all or predominately white. I have been sorely tempted to break out the all white glove because pattern-wise, it's perfect for me. My reason for not using it is not that I'm afraid of getting it dirty. It more of the , Look at me! Look at me!", nature of an all white glove that prevents me from using it.