Fitness / December 28, 2023

The 20 Best Winter Gloves for Men

Is your wardrobe ready for winter? Depending on where you live, numbing temperatures may be on the horizon (or already here). Hopefully your winter arsenal includes a down puffer, a smart winter coat, and a pair of weather-resistant boots, but if you don’t have a pair of warm winter gloves, you’re not as prepared as you think. Whether you’re hailing a cab, cross-country skiing, or chopping wood to get the fireplace going, a pair of winter gloves for men (or mittens) will keep your hands from freezing.

While it’s easy to bundle up your body for almost any weather, hands present a unique challenge, as it’s difficult to fill gloves with insulation without making your fingers useless. Keeping your core warm and generating body heat through exercise are easy ways to improve circulation and prevent your hands from getting too cold, but in winter weather, a good pair of gloves are a must. Which is why we picked the Flylow Wolverine Gloves as our best overall pick—they are tough, warm, and waterproof but still supple enough for good dexterity, plus they are handsome enough to pull off a cold winter’s night out on the town.

The winter activities you need gloves for will dictate the style and level of insulation you need, so we offer our favorites in a wide range of styles below.

Why You Should Trust Us

Brief two-year stint in Hawaii aside, Justin Park has lived in places where winter lasts at least half the year. For the past 13 years, he’s been skiing, hunting, biking, and just generally trying to stay alive above 10,000 feet in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains. He own about two dozen pairs of gloves—much to the chagrin of his partner—and he’s tested dozens more and landed on my favorites for everything from chopping wood to summiting peaks. For this article, he tested an additional dozen or so of the latest gloves from the top brands.

Paul Jebara is a NYC-based freelance journalist and photographer specializing in travel, architecture, design, and men’s style. He’s a third-culture kid, polyglot, and heliophile who’s ventured to 50 countries (and counting) questing after authentic experiences. His writing has also appeared in Condé Nast Traveler, Architectural Digest, Dezeen, Bon Appétit, and more.

Best Overall Winter Gloves: Flylow Wolverine Gloves Flylow Wolverine Gloves

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Flylow started in the gloves category by stamping their logo on leather work gloves as giveaways at trade shows. They’ve come a long way since those days and now have more than a dozen different gloves in their lineup now, but the work glove style persists in the new Wolverine. While cheap leather work gloves can make a decent ski glove, the Wolverine makes important improvements such as coming pre-treated with waterproofing. The neoprene cuff with Velcro strap is also much more secure than the loose elastic most work gloves employ. The 60 grams of Greenloft wool-based insulation paired with a tough but thin goatskin leather keeps you warm but retains much more dexterity than work gloves, thanks in part to a pre-curved shape. These are only moderately warm, but are a great all-around glove for work, skiing, and other forms of winter play.

Best Value Winter Gloves: Kinco Lined Pigskin Work Gloves Kinco Lined Pigskin Work Gloves

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These full-leather pigskin work gloves from Kinco are warm, durable, and a fraction of the cost of most winter gloves. They’re also widely available, so they’re common on job sites and ski slopes all over the U.S. Their synthetic insulation will keep you warm even when wet, but these gloves are best when treated with waterproofing such as Sno Seal or Nikwax, as the untreated leather can easily soak through during use. The pigskin leather is thick and durable, but the gloves lack the mobility of more finely constructed gloves. Getting a larger size can help with warmth, but fit them tight for better mobility in the fingers.

Best Overall Mittens: Swany Toaster Supreme Mitts Swany Toaster Supreme Mitts

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Most mitts are cozy, but many render your hands useless and they need to be removed frequently when you actually have to do something with those four fingers and thumb. The unique design of Swany’s Supreme Toaster Mitts, originally created for military expeditions in the Arctic, employs a watertight zipper on the back of the hand to let you poke your hand out when needed. The included touchscreen-compatible liner gloves keep you from freezing your hands during these excursions outside the mitt. The zipper also gives you a slot for tucking in a hand warmer packet for additional warmth, hence the Toaster moniker. The Leathershield goatskin is much softer and more flexible than most leathers used in winter gloves, allowing you a confident grip, even though they’re mitts. The 120 grams of synthetic insulation in combination makes this mitt a great choice for people that want maximum warmth without sacrificing finesse and comfort.

Best Versatile Winter Gloves: Give’r 4-Season Gloves

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The wind- and waterproof 4-Season Gloves from Give’r have been rigorously tested in the mountains around Jackson Hole, Wyoming, to ensure they can outlast even the worst winter weather. They’re made of premium cowhide leather paired with breathable synthetic materials in a multilayered design that ensures a warm feel and ample dexterity for any winter task, from bombing snowy slopes to chopping splintery wood. Although they’re tough and capable, keep in mind that these gloves will require some time to break in since they’re pretty thick and bulky.

Most Durable Winter Gloves: Baist Everyday Mitts Baist Everyday Mitts

Justin Park

Mitts are great for warmth and if you’re a skier that spends time punching race gates or busting through tight glades, a full-leather build provides the extra durability you need. Baist is a fairly new, ski-first glove brand based in Vermont that puts an emphasis on durability as evidenced by the substantial reinforcement in high-wear areas on these mitts, with doubled-up goat leather on the knuckles, palm, and space between thumb and index finger where you grip your poles. They come with a warm, removable liner glove made from two layers of synthetic insulations which makes the combination of the two gloves exceptionally warm, but lets you lose the liners on warmer days. Baist claims the system has you covered for temperatures ranging from -20 to 45 degrees.

Best Wool Winter Gloves: Filson Leather Palm Mackinaw Wool Mittens Filson Leather Palm Mackinaw Wool Mittens

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Made in Seattle, Filson’s Leather Palm Mackinaw Wool Mittens can absorb a third of their own weight in water without feeling damp, so you can go ahead and build that backyard igloo—your hands won’t get soaked. They’re also built with a grippy deerskin palm, rib-knit cuffs, and a moisture-wicking microfleece lining for added warmth and breathability.

Best Fleece Winter Gloves: Patagonia Better Sweater Fleece Gloves

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When you can’t decide between gloves and mittens, pick up Patagonia’s two-in-one Better Sweater Fleece fingerless gloves. Their mitten tops will keep your fingers from going numb, but the tops can be folded back and secured with buttons when not needed. They’re made with recycled polyester fleece and are dyed using a low-impact process that requires less water and energy than other dyeing methods.

Best Leather Winter Gloves: Vermont Glove Jefflo Mitts Vermont Glove Jefflo Mitts

Justin Park

Vermont Glove is a 100-year-old glove company that makes leather gloves for work and sport that you can wear for years. The gloves take some care and heavy use to break in. But the fairly thick goatskin leather used in the Jefflo Mitt responds well to abuse and likes regular application of neatsfoot oil to help with waterproofing and accelerate the break-in period. The mitt has a sewn-in recycled polyester insulating liner, but there’s enough room to add a liner glove if you need extra warmth. This is a great ski mitt, but once you’ve beaten it into a custom fit for your hands, you’ll want to use it for everything.