Gloves are garments designed to cover the hand, with separate sheaths or openings for each finger, including the thumb. They serve various purposes, including protection from cold, heat, friction, abrasion, chemicals, and diseases. Gloves also provide a barrier for tasks where bare hands should not be used.
Materials
Gloves can be made from a wide range of materials, each suited to different uses:
- Cloth
- Knitted or felted wool
- Leather
- Rubber
- Latex
- Neoprene
- Silk
- Metal (in the case of mail gloves)
- Kevlar (for cut protection)
Types of Gloves
Commercial and Industrial
- Aircrew gloves: Allow touching hot surfaces temporarily.
- Anti-vibration gloves
- Barbed wire handler’s gloves
- Chainmail gloves: Used by butchers, woodcutters, and police.
- Chainsaw safety gloves
- Chemical-resistant gloves
- Cotton knitted gloves: Used in automotive workshops, building maintenance, and logistics.
- Temperature protective gloves
- Cut-resistant gloves
- Fireman’s gauntlets
- Food service gloves
- Gardening gloves
- Impact protection gloves
- Medical gloves
- Military gloves
- Rubber gloves
- Sandblasting gloves
- Welder’s gloves
Sport and Recreational
- American football gloves
- Archer’s glove
- Baseball glove (catcher’s mitt)
- Billiards glove
- Boxing gloves
- Cricket gloves: Batsmen and wicket keepers wear different types.
- Cycling gloves
- Driving gloves
- Eton Fives glove
- Falconry glove
- Fencing glove
- Football goalkeeper glove
- Gardening glove
- Golf glove
- Ice hockey glove
- Gym gloves
- Riding gloves
- Racquetball gloves
- Lacrosse gloves
- Kendo kote
- MMA gloves
- Motorcycling gloves
- Oven gloves
- Paintball glove
- Racing drivers gloves
- Scuba diving gloves: Cotton, dry, and wet gloves.
- Shooting glove
- Biathlon glove
- Pistol glove
- Target rifle glove
- Skiing gloves
- Touchscreen gloves
- Underwater hockey gloves
- Washing mitt or glove
- Webbed gloves
- Weightlifting gloves
- Wicket-keeper’s gloves
- Wired glove
- Power Glove: For Nintendo Entertainment System.
- Wheelchair gloves
Women’s Fashion
- Wrist (“matinee”) gloves
- Elbow gloves
- Opera or full-length gloves
Others
- Fingerless gloves: Useful for tasks requiring dexterity.
- Leather gloves: Used in sports, construction, and by criminals to avoid fingerprints.
History
Gloves have ancient origins, depicted in Egyptian tombs and mentioned in classical literature. They were used by Romans and became a fashion item in the 13th century. By the 16th century, gloves reached peak elaboration with Queen Elizabeth I popularizing richly embroidered and jeweled gloves. Gloves were also part of royal insignia and liturgical attire.
Leather Gloves
Common Uses
- Sporting events: Baseball, handball, cycling, American football.
- Occupational protection: Beekeepers, construction workers, welders.
- Criminal use: To avoid leaving fingerprints.
Types of Gloving Leather
- Lambskin: Popular in Europe for fashion gloves.
- Cowhide: Used for lower-priced gloves.
- Deerskin: Strong and elastic.
- Goatskin: Hard-wearing but coarse.
- Hairsheep: Soft, supple, and durable.
- Peccary: Rare and luxurious.
- Sheepskin (shearling): Warm and casual.
- Slink lamb: Used in expensive gloves.
Leather Glove Linings
- Cashmere: Warm and light.
- Silk: Warm in winter, cool in summer.
- Wool: Natural warmth and comfort.
Fingerless Gloves
These gloves, also known as “glovelettes,” are used for activities requiring finger dexterity, such as cycling, weightlifting, and using touchscreens.
Convertible Mittens
These hybrids combine the features of gloves and mittens, allowing for finger dexterity while keeping the hand covered.
Pontifical Gloves
Used by the pope, cardinals, and bishops during mass, these gloves have been part of liturgical attire since the 10th century.
Gloves have evolved significantly over time, serving various practical, protective, and decorative purposes across different cultures and industries.
[glossary_wikipedia]A glove is a garment covering the hand, with separate sheaths or openings for each finger including the thumb. Gloves protect and comfort hands against cold or heat, damage by friction, abrasion or chemicals, and disease; or in turn to provide a guard for what a bare hand should not touch.
 Assorted gloves (a museum collection) | |
| Type | hand's protection |
|---|---|
Gloves are made of materials including cloth, knitted or felted wool, leather, rubber, latex, neoprene, silk, and (in mail) metal. Gloves of kevlar protect the wearer from cuts. Gloves and gauntlets are integral components of pressure suits and spacesuits.
Latex, nitrile rubber or vinyl disposable gloves are often worn by health care professionals as hygiene and contamination protection measures. Police officers often wear them to work in crime scenes to prevent destroying evidence in the scene. Many criminals wear gloves to avoid leaving fingerprints, which makes the crime investigation more difficult. However, the gloves themselves can leave prints that are just as unique as human fingerprints.
If there is an opening but no (or a short) covering sheath for each finger they are called fingerless gloves. Fingerless gloves are useful where dexterity is required that gloves would restrict. Cigarette smokers and church organists sometimes use fingerless gloves. Cycling gloves for road racing or touring are usually fingerless. Guitar players may also use fingerless gloves in circumstances where it is too cold to play with an uncovered hand.
A hybrid of glove and mitten contains open-ended sheaths for the four fingers (as in a fingerless glove, but not the thumb) and an additional compartment encapsulating the four fingers. This compartment can be lifted off the fingers and folded back to allow the individual fingers ease of movement and access while the hand remains covered. The usual design is for the mitten cavity to be stitched onto the back of the fingerless glove only, allowing it to be flipped over (normally held back by Velcro or a button) to transform the garment from a mitten to a glove. These hybrids are called convertible mittens or "glittens".