About Gloves

Picking the Right Glove

For information on glove sizing see below

There are many hundreds of types of gloves. How do you choose the right one for you? Factors to consider include:

1   Flexibility and comfort
2   Resistance to abrasion, cuts and tears (EN388 test - see below)
3   Resistance to water, chemicals, heat and cold
4   Durability
5   Cost

The most common glove materials are:

1   Cotton - cotton gloves, which are often combined with polyester to produce a polycotton, are probably the most comfortable gloves to wear and provide good sensitivity and dexterity. They protect the hand but provide little resistance to abrasion, cuts, tears and heat/cold and no resistance to chemicals or water. As a result they are generally less durable than all but disposable gloves however they tend to be inexpensive.

2   Latex (Natural Rubber) - Latex is the most elastic substance known to man. As a result it is very flexible and comfortable to wear. Most disposable gloves are made of latex and are used for food preparation or medical purposes. Latex provides superior grip and has good resistance to abrasion, cuts and tears although this is dependent on the thickness of the material. Latex should not be used in contact with oils, grease or petroleum products and some people are intolerant to latex.

3   Leather - The flexibility and comfort of a leather glove will depend on the type of leather and the degree of protection required. Driver gloves are made from premum grain leather and are soft and comfortable to wear while longer welding gloves made typically from split leather are thicker to provide greater protection. In general, leather gloves have good strength and abrasion resistance. They resist heat and cold but are generally not used in wet conditions or in conjunction with chemicals. Their major advantage is their durability.

4   Nitrile (Synthetic Rubber) - Nitrile gloves provide excellent protection from hazardous chemicals, solvents, oils and animal fats. Cotton gloves are often dipped in nitrile to provide a comfortable inner with a highly resistant and durable outer. Nitrile gloves have better abrasion and cut resistance than latex or PVC but should not be used with ketonic solvents (acetone etc).

5   Polyurethane (PU) - Polyurethane offers great flexibility and comfort. Nylon gloves coated with PU offer good protection and water resistance while still leaving the user with great "feel" for what he/she is doing.

6   PVC - PVC provides excellent resistance to many chemicals and oils at a price that is less than nitrile. It provides better water resistance than nitrile and good abrasion resistance. Like nitrile, most PVC gloves have a cotton lining that is dipped or double dipped in PVC.

There are a number of other materials like Kevlar, Dyneema, Spectra and Chainmesh whose primary aim is cut resistance.

Armour Safety are happy to provide advice and samples of gloves for you to try. Just contact us.

Glove Sizing

When picking the right sized glove for you there are 2 measurements to consider:
1   The width of the hand, and
2   The length of the hand
In general pick the largest of the 2 sizes (if different) as determined by the 2 measurements, unless you are not worried about the length of the glove and/or would prefer it to be tighter fitting.

Measuring hand width

Wrap a measuring tape around your dominant hand just below the knuckles, excluding your thumb and make a fist. This measurement is your hand width.

  178-202mm   S
  203-228mm   M
  229-253mm   L
  254-279mm   XL


Measuring hand length
Measure from the tip of your middle finger to the bottom edge of your palm

  171-181mm   S
  182-191mm   M
  192-203mm   L
  204-214mm   XL


If you have any further questions about sizing just call us.

Glove Protection

All personal protective equipment (PPE) in the European Community is required to carry a CE mark as a sign the product complies with the essential requirements of Directive 89/686/EEC. The EN rating on a glove stands for European Norme and has become an international rating system that is recognised by Standards New Zealand in AS/NZS 2161:1998.

The most common EN is EN388 for Mechanical Hazards. This comprises 4 numbers - in order for Abrasion Resistance (0-4), Cut Resistance (0-5), Tear Resistance (0-4) and Puncture Resistance (0-4). So a glove like Maxiflex that is rated 4141 has maximum abrasion and tear resistance but little cut or puncture resistance. Aramax that is rated 3444 has high cut and puncture resistance.

Abrasion Resistance - How well can the glove resist exposure to repeated abrasion? This is measured by the number of cycles before the hand is exposed throught the cut - 1=100, 2=500, 3=2000, 4=8000

Cut Resistance - How good is the gloves resistance to blade cut? This is measured using an index - 1=1.2, 2=2.5, 3=5, 4=10, 5=20

Tear Resistance - What force (Newtons) is required to enlarge by teraing a precut hole in the material of the glove? 1=10, 2=25, 3=50, 4=75

Puncture Resistance - What force (Newtons) is required to puncture the palm of the glove with a calibrated spike? 1=20, 2=60, 3=100, 4=150