How Glove Sizing Works
Most glove size charts — for work gloves, winter gloves, and classic dress gloves — are built on one measurement: the circumference of your hand around the widest part of the palm, excluding the thumb. That single number determines both a numeric size and a letter size.
The formula
Numeric glove size is your palm circumference in inches, rounded to the nearest half inch. A palm that measures 8.7 inches around rounds to size 8.5; a palm at 9.3 inches rounds to size 9.5. Manufacturers that use letter sizes then group those numeric sizes into roughly one-inch bands:
- XXS: under 6 in (15.2 cm)
- XS: 6 - 6.5 in (15.2 - 16.5 cm)
- S: 6.5 - 7.5 in (16.5 - 19.1 cm)
- M: 7.5 - 8.5 in (19.1 - 21.6 cm)
- L: 8.5 - 9.5 in (21.6 - 24.1 cm)
- XL: 9.5 - 10.5 in (24.1 - 26.7 cm)
- XXL: 10.5 - 11.5 in (26.7 - 29.2 cm)
- XXXL: over 11.5 in (29.2 cm)
How to measure your hand
Wrap a soft tape measure around your dominant hand at its widest point — across the palm, just below the knuckles, with the thumb tucked out of the way. Keep the tape snug but not tight, and take the reading with your fingers relaxed and together. If you don't have a tape measure, wrap a strip of paper or string around your palm and measure that length against a ruler.
Why hand length also matters
Circumference sets the size, but hand length (measured from the wrist crease to the tip of your middle finger) tells you whether the fingers of that size will actually fit. Two people can share the same circumference and still need a different fit if one has noticeably longer or shorter fingers relative to their palm width — this calculator flags that with a simple length-to-circumference ratio.