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How Should Leather Gloves Fit? Measuring, Sizing and Linings

“A good leather glove fits like a second skin on day one and like a favorite one by January. If it slides on with room to spare in the store, it will be floppy by the first snow.”Her take

What a good fit feels like

Leather gloves should be close-fitting from the start. Your fingertips should reach the ends of the fingers with no empty space, the palm should be smooth with no wrinkles of spare leather, and the cuff should sit flat against the wrist.

Leather softens and stretches slightly with wear, especially thin unlined leather, so a glove that feels a little snug at first usually becomes just right. One that feels comfortable and roomy at first will end up loose.

How to measure your glove size

Women's leather gloves are commonly sized in inches, often from about 6 to 8 in half sizes. Many labels use letters instead, and on most charts 6.5 inches is a small and 7 inches a medium, but a 7.5 can be a medium or a large depending on the label, so always check that brand's chart.

• Use a soft tape measure on your dominant hand, usually the slightly larger one.
• Wrap it around the widest part of the hand, just below the knuckles, keeping the thumb out.
• Hold it snug against the skin but not tight, with your hand flat and fingers together.
• Read the number in inches. A 7-inch measurement suggests a size 7.
• No tape? Wrap a strip of paper or string, mark where it meets, and measure it flat on a ruler.
• Some brands also list finger length; if your fingers are long or short for your hand, check that line on their chart.

Three tests when you try them on

Make a fist. It should close fully without the leather pulling hard across the knuckles or the seams straining.

Look at the fingertips. Press each one: there should be no more than a tiny bit of space at the end.

Look for a slight crease across the knuckles when your hand is relaxed. A small crease means the glove is close-fitting; no crease and loose folds mean it's too big; if you struggle to bend your fingers, it's too small.

Lined or unlined: does it change the size?

Linings take up space inside the glove. Unlined leather gloves are the thinnest and stretch the most, so buy them closest to snug. Silk-lined gloves feel similar to unlined. Cashmere, wool and fleece linings add warmth and bulk, and thick linings give less room to stretch, so if you are between sizes in a heavily lined glove, the larger size is often more comfortable.

For very cold places, warmth comes from the lining, not the leather. A thin unlined glove is for style and mild days; a cashmere or wool lining is what makes a glove suitable for a Midwest winter.

Choosing a style

A wrist-length glove is the most versatile and slips easily under coat sleeves. Longer cuffs that reach a few inches up the forearm keep wind out with three-quarter or wide coat sleeves. Touchscreen-compatible fingertips are useful if you check your phone outdoors.

Black, chocolate, cognac and gray go with almost every coat. A contrasting glove, such as cognac with a navy coat, looks deliberate; one that almost matches but not quite can look like an accident.

How to care for leather gloves

If they get wet, pat them dry, reshape them on your hands, and let them dry flat at room temperature, away from radiators and heaters, which can stiffen and crack leather. Use a leather conditioner suitable for gloves now and then to keep them supple.

Store them flat, not balled up in a pocket, and away from direct sunlight. Pull them off by the fingertips gently, not by the cuff, to protect the seams.

Questions people ask

The takeaway

Measure below the knuckles in inches, choose snug over roomy, pass the fist and fingertip tests, size up for thick linings, and dry them away from heat.

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