The type of leather that is used when making leather gloves can drastically affect both the feel and performance of your gloves. The most commonly used leather for gloves is cowhide, it is easy to maintain, has a texture and is very resistant to wear and abrasion. Another very commonly used hide is pigskin. Pigskin hide has a soft feel and is very supple, additionally, it will not harden when it is wet. Surprisingly deerskin hide is very soft and has very nice characteristics. The deerskin hide is more breathable than other leathers keeping your hands from overheating. A domestic leather option is a sheepskin, it is rated amongst the softest of leathers and is very dexterous while being manipulated. While not very common Buffalo hide makes amazing workmen’s leather gloves. Due to its ruggedness and strength, it is extremely resistant to punctures and abrasion.

The type of hiding is important but equally as important is the location from which the animal skin is taken from. There are three main regions in which hide is removed to make leather. The first region is the side, side-split leather can provide the best quality leather and is often times the most expensive to produce. The shoulder is another section of a hide that is used in making leathers. Shoulder hide provides good quality but is more modest when it comes down to producing and pricing. The belly hide is the last section that is used for leather production. It is the cheapest to make and provides the least amount of quality.

Grain quality of leather can change how your leather gloves feel. Gloves that use full-grain leather have a very smooth surface and have little of any flaws, making this a very common choice for high-quality gloves. Full-grain leather is unblemished by sanding or buffing to remove natural marks. Rather than wearing adhesion, full-grain leather strengthens and forms a patina. These qualities make full-grain leather a good choice for workman’s gloves. Another type of grain is known as top-grain, it is the most common of leather types. Top-grain leather is a high-quality leather that is sanded for a smooth plastic-like feel and is very flexible. Much like full-grain leather, top-grain forms a pinna making it much more corrosion resistant. Oddly enough while full-grain is considered the higher quality leather, top-grain has better stain resistance. The best leather gloves will use either top-grain or full-grain for the best results.

Good leather gloves are only as comfortable as their linings. The materials used in the lining of leather gloves change with the purpose of each glove. Some very common materials are used as well as unique materials you may not have expected. One such material, wool, is commonly used due to its ability to retain heat and remain comfortable. Wool is naturally resilient which improves the fitting of the glove. Silk linings provide a luxurious feel and offer some practical features. Silk linings smoothness make this lining perfect for anyone that wears jewelry on their hands as it slides freely in and out of the glove with ease. A more common lining found in leather gloves is cashmere. Cashmere is generally knitted and extremely soft when against your hand. Cashmere is incredibly light making leather gloves lined with them seem like you’re not wearing gloves at all. The gloves on this list were all selected with a quality liner in mind.

With some gloves you want a nice warm interior to keep your hands warm during the cold winter nights. With others, you want a lightweight breathing lining for comfort during the warmer summer days. Wool linings heat retention combined with its thickness make it a great choice for use during winter holidays. However, a silk lining would be the ideal choice for a midsummer glove. I’ve included an assortment of gloves to ensure that regardless of the season there is a glove on this list that has a high-quality lining that will provide comfort regardless of the season.

How the lining is added to the gloves can completely change the feeling of your leather glove. While some linings are added to the glove prior to the final molding, others are added after the final molding. Linings that were added prior to the final mold can have seemingly more room for your hand and helps with durability. Linings that were added after the final mold can seem to grip your hand but can become detached and may require more maintenance. Picking one can be difficult so in this list I included gloves that use both methods of lining attachment.

The size and shape of your hands can dictate what type of leather glove you choose, and people have a variety of different hand shapes. Having gloves that come in multiple different sizes was a key trait of the leather gloves I chose for this list. Figuring out your glove size is as simple as measuring the palm on your dominant hand and then finding the size that best fits your hand specifically. Additionally, the lining of gloves can feel like it absorbs your hand so if you prefer a looser feel it can help to try multiple sizes before making your choice.

The way a leather glove feels on your hands is probably one of the most vital aspects to establish when purchasing a quality pair of gloves. If they’re too constricting they can quickly become uncomfortable making you choose between removing your gloves or being very uncomfortable until you don’t need them anymore. If the gloves are too loose you could end up losing them from your hands entirely, rendering them useless. While trying to keep our best of the list I selected gloves that offered both a more covered feeling and an assortment of looser fitting gloves.

No one wants to buy the same product repeatedly due to them getting worn out over time. While no leather gloves will last an eternity it was critical to find gloves that would be able to last a relatively long time. Depending on the type of leather, tanning, and lining that was used leather gloves like any other gloves, will last either a single day or for a few years to come. Leather gloves that use the lower quality of leather and with hides from the belly section of the animal were listed lower on this list whereas the higher quality leather gloves were placed at the top. Signs of wearing including fraying threads on stitching, and cracking leather. If you notice these appearing on your leather gloves it may be time to consider purchasing a new set.

The tanning of leather is a crucial part of making high quality and durable glove that will withstand abrasion and anything you can throw at it. People have been tanning leathers since the stone age, around 8,000 BCE to be exact. In that time the tanning process has only improved and become more complex. There are 9 different steps and each has a process when tanning leather, each of which has its own unique purpose and oddly enough generates a different kind of waste. While choosing the best leather gloves it was important to find products that were capable of being consistently and reliably tanned with high quality and attention to care. There are two main types of tanning which are, vegetable tanned, and chrome tanned. The vegetable-tanned method can take much longer to produce but this process makes the leather more durable. The chrome or chromium method happens much more quickly but the leather is made thinner and more capable of being stretched.

When first looking over leather gloves that offered a high caliber of leather and lining I quickly realized how many different situations in which you could need leather gloves. From driving gloves to working gloves the requirements for each varied and choosing a single best leather glove became a more difficult task than I originally estimated. I chose four different purposes for the leather gloves on this list and set out to try to find a few options the best suited each of these unique needs.

The first of my four purpose approach to choosing the best leather gloves is choosing the best leather glove for driving. Good leather gloves can severely increase your grip on the steering wheel of a car which helps to improve your handling of a vehicle. They can also prevent dirt that is on a steering wheel from ending up on your hands. While it doesn’t happen very often sometimes your hands become wet, and if your hands are sweating or you just washed your hands this could cause you to lose your grasp on your steering wheel or clutch. If you were wearing leather gloves while driving they could ensure you have an unflinching grip on your car. A handful of leather gloves on this list would be ideal for a good set of driving gloves.

The next purpose and probably the most common reason for needing a leather glove is to keep your hands warm during cold weather. In cold weather, your body will naturally constrict and limit circulation to your extremities in order to keep the core of your body warm. A high-quality leather glove is a perfect solution to this natural response to cold weather. Gloves that feature a wool lining, and use thicker grained leather are the perfect remedy and I’ve made sure to include them in this buying guide.

Hard work can be extremely taxing on your palms and fingers. Failure to use a glove to protect your hands while working can result in the forming of calluses and other unsightly blemishes relating to rough abrasions while working. Leather gloves, unlike hands, can form patinas and pinnas with both increase the durability and longevity of a higher quality pair of leather gloves and remain as stylish as the day you purchased them. As my third of four general-purpose leather gloves, there are a few fine selections for any hard working individual that needs a glove that can withstand the work.

For my fourth purpose, I added a few good pairs of leather gloves that could be used in a formal or business setting. They can set a tone that not only are you prepared and well organized but you think even the most basic of necessities, like hand warmth. The standard dress glove is black and can be added to most business professional attire and usually has elegant features that bring out the quality of the leather. Some of the leather gloves I listed possess points that are stitching on the backside of a glove that is raised. Quirks are small points on the fingers that are used to make an adjustment to custom-made leather gloves. Subtly they add a higher quality characteristic that is noticeable. In order to encompass a two-tone coloring, leather gloves sometimes feature fourchettes which are panels on the sides of the gloves. While they aren’t generally used as a professional glove they stand out and make a leather glove look more unique.