The Best Designer Gloves: Leather, Cashmere and Shearling Pairs Worth Owning

The best designer gloves for most women are a short pair in lambskin, often sold as nappa, lined in cashmere, silk or wool, in black, dark brown or burgundy, and fitted snugly across the palm with no slack at the fingertips. Add a long pair if you wear coats with wide or three-quarter sleeves, and a shearling mitten if your winters are properly cold.

Below, our editors explain which leathers and linings are worth paying for, how to measure your hand the way glovemakers do, what actually works on a phone screen and how to keep leather soft for years, with the pairs we would buy now from houses including Bottega Veneta, Khaite and The Row.

Leather gloves for women: which leather to choose

Most designer gloves are made in lambskin, and for good reason: it is thin, supple and takes a close fit. Brunello Cucinelli describes nappa as a soft, compact, lightweight leather with a very fine grain and a semi-polished look, which is the finish to look for. The other leathers you will meet have different strengths.

Leather descriptions for hair sheep, deerskin and peccary are from the Dents guide to buying gloves. None of the pairs in our edit is peccary or deerskin: the houses below work in lambskin and nappa, with suede, patent and shearling for specific jobs. If you want peccary, look to a specialist glovemaker.

Cashmere-lined, silk-lined or unlined: which lining is warmest

The lining decides how warm a glove is and how close it fits. Dents describes a cashmere lining as supremely soft, warm and lightweight, and silk as naturally temperature-regulating, which makes it a year-round lining. In practice:

For a New York winter, cashmere-lined gloves are the right everyday choice. In Chicago or Minneapolis, or if you run cold and wait on train platforms, go further with shearling. Silk-lined gloves suit fall, mild-winter cities and anyone who wants the slimmest possible hand.

The best designer gloves for every day: short leather pairs

This is the pair you will wear most, so buy the color of your shoes and bag rather than your coat. Black works with black, gray and navy coats; dark brown and cognac with camel and chocolate; burgundy works with almost everything, and it is one of the season's rising colors: Trendalytics, which tracks search and market data, has rich burgundy up 46% year on year in its fall-winter 2026 report. Our guide to wearing burgundy has the pairings.

Look at the cuff as well as the hand. A short glove should close neatly at the wrist bone so it tucks under a coat sleeve without a gap; a slit or elastic cuff helps it slide on over a watch. Max Mara's wool-lined nappa gloves are the best-value pair here, Bottega Veneta's cashmere-lined gloves are woven in the house Intrecciato on the back, and Loro Piana's Nora is the quietest pair, in brown lambskin.

• Camel coat, jeans, loafers: dark brown or burgundy gloves and a burgundy bag.
• Black wool coat, tailoring: black lambskin, silk-lined for a slim hand.
• Navy coat: Burberry's check wool gloves with leather palms, for a little pattern.

How to measure your hand for glove size

Glovemakers size by the circumference of the hand. Dents' method: wrap a fabric tape measure around your dominant hand at its widest part, excluding the thumb, with the hand flat and open rather than clenched, and the tape snug against the skin (Dents size guide). In numeric sizing, the circumference in inches is the size: a 7-inch hand takes a 7.

Letter sizes are not standard between houses, so where a brand gives numeric sizes, as Khaite, Gabriela Hearst and Bottega Veneta do, use them. Dents advises that leather gloves should feel snug at first and will stretch with wear, that thicker leather stretches less, and that you should round down if you fall between sizes. Two checks in the fitting room: your fingertips should reach the ends of the glove without pressing against them, and you should be able to make a fist without the leather straining across the knuckles. Because thick leather gives so little, buy shearling in your true size rather than the smaller one.

Long gloves: opera, elbow and three-quarter lengths

Long gloves solve a practical problem: the cold gap between your wrist and a three-quarter sleeve, a cape or a wide coat cuff. The rule is overlap. The glove should reach past the sleeve hem by an inch or two, so no skin shows when you lift your arm. With a cape, go for elbow length or longer; our guide to how to wear a cape coat covers the rest of the look.

Glovemakers name lengths after the sleeve each is meant for. Dents, for example, pairs its six women's lengths with sleeves like this (Dents glove length guide):

That is the dress convention. For warmth outdoors, go one length longer than it suggests, so the glove tucks under the sleeve instead of stopping at its hem.

There are two ways to wear long gloves. Khaite designs its Remo gloves to be worn fully extended, smooth up the arm; Toteme's extra-long pair, in fine lambskin lined with a wool and cashmere knit, reaches past the elbow and can be worn pushed down in soft folds. Saint Laurent's long gloves measure about 16.5 inches, a good mid-forearm length for coats, and The Row's Simon, long and plain in black leather, is the pair we would wear with an evening coat.

Cashmere and knit gloves

Knit gloves are lighter and softer than leather, and they are the better choice for dry cold, school runs and dog walks, or under a puffer. Their weaknesses are wind, which passes straight through a knit, and grip. Two designs help. Loewe's pair has leather fingers under a long ribbed-cashmere cuff, so the fingertips, which feel the wind first, are covered in leather and you keep your grip on a phone or a railing. Long knit gloves, like The Row's elbow-length Ivot in pure cashmere, close the gap between glove and coat sleeve.

Check the fiber content as you would for a scarf. Saint Laurent's knit gloves are 100% cashmere, Burberry's Heritage Check gloves 96% cashmere, and Alaïa's pair is a cashmere and silk blend. A chunky knit such as Chloé's Encoeur is warmer but bulkier, so it suits a relaxed coat rather than tailoring.

Touchscreen gloves: what actually works

A phone screen responds to bare skin, which is why ordinary leather, wool and cashmere gloves do not register a tap. Touchscreen gloves solve it with special fingertips: Dents, for example, makes touchscreen hair sheep gloves that let you use your phone with gloves on. None of the designer pairs in this edit claims touchscreen fingertips, and we would rather tell you that than guess.

If you need your phone outdoors, you have four honest options: buy a specialist touchscreen pair as your commuting glove, choose a pair that slips off quickly (short gloves with a slit cuff come off fastest), use voice commands or a stylus, or keep one hand free in a coat pocket. Knit gloves with conductive yarn exist, but we found none from the luxury houses in our catalog.

Shearling gloves and mittens for real cold

For the coldest days, the National Weather Service puts it simply: mittens are better than gloves (National Weather Service). Your fingers share one warm pocket instead of four cold ones. Shearling, which Dents calls ultra-warm, is the lining to choose for real cold; if you are heading to the mountains, pair these with our guide to what to wear in Aspen.

Details make mittens practical. Max Mara's camel teddy mittens and Miu Miu's shearling-trimmed cashmere mittens come on a lanyard or leather strap you can thread through your coat sleeves, so you can pull them off without losing one. Prada's Re-Nylon and shearling gloves have an adjustable buckle strap at the cuff to keep snow out. Gabriela Hearst's Eglantina gloves, made in Italy from shearling with leather trim, keep separate fingers for anyone who needs to hold keys and a coffee.

Evening gloves: lace, velvet, satin and patent

Long gloves are the most formal gloves you can wear, and at a black-tie event they work best with a strapless or sleeveless gown, so the line runs from glove to shoulder. Satin, as in Prada's silk pair, is the classic; velvet, like Alaïa's long gloves, is the winter version. Wrist-length lace gloves, such as Valentino's VLogo pair, suit cocktail dresses and look lighter. Jil Sander's patent shoulder-length gloves are a fashion statement rather than a formal rule.

Two points of manners: take gloves off to eat and drink, and fold them into your bag rather than onto the table. For the rest of the outfit, see our guides to black-tie dressing and what to wear to a winter wedding.

Not sure whether a glove length works with your coat sleeves? Ask our AI stylist to style gloves with a coat you already own.

How to care for leather and cashmere gloves

• Wet leather: never dry it on a radiator, with a heater or tumble dryer, or in direct sunlight, which Dents warns discolors and hardens leather. Lay the gloves flat on a clean towel at room temperature, and put them on a few times as they dry so they keep their shape (Dents care guide).
• Cleaning: wipe light marks with a damp, not wet, cloth; test first on an inside cuff. Never put leather gloves in a washing machine.
• Conditioning: a small dab of leather conditioner, rubbed in, keeps lambskin soft. Check the maker's instructions first.
• Knit gloves: follow the label. Brunello Cucinelli's cashmere gloves are hand washed (or delicately dry cleaned) and dried flat; Saint Laurent's are dry clean only.
• Storage: store gloves flat, in pairs, not balled up in a coat pocket all summer, where cashmere linings attract moths.

How we chose

We selected only houses on Vêtir's luxury list and checked that every pair was in stock for US delivery. We favored gloves whose makers state the leather and lining, looked for numeric sizing where offered, and covered every length and warmth level, from silk-lined lambskin to shearling mittens. Prices run from about $290 for Max Mara's teddy mittens to about $2,600 for Prada's satin evening gloves. Our shop modules refresh automatically, so a sold-out pair is replaced with the closest in-stock alternative; the full range is in our designer gloves shop.

Frequently asked questions

What size gloves do I wear?

Measure around the widest part of your dominant hand, excluding the thumb. The number of inches is your glove size: 7 inches is a size 7. If you fall between sizes in leather, round down.

Should leather gloves be tight?

Snug, not tight. Leather gives with wear, so a new pair should feel close across the palm, but your fingertips should not press against the ends and you should be able to make a fist comfortably.

Are cashmere-lined gloves warm enough for winter?

For most US city winters, yes. Below freezing, or if you are outside for long, switch to shearling-lined gloves or mittens, which are warmer still.

Do leather gloves work on touchscreens?

Ordinary leather gloves do not. You need gloves made with touchscreen fingertips; none of the designer pairs in this guide lists them.

What color leather gloves should I buy first?

Black if your shoes and bags are mostly black, dark brown if they are mostly brown or tan. Burgundy is the most flexible third pair.

How do you dry wet leather gloves?

Slowly. Lay them flat on a clean towel at room temperature, away from radiators, heaters and direct sun, and put them on a few times as they dry so they keep their shape. Fast heat discolors and hardens leather. Once they are dry, a small dab of leather conditioner keeps them soft.

Keep reading

• The best designer scarves
• How to wear a cape coat
• What to wear to a winter wedding
• What to wear in Aspen
• Six winter outfits