Practical sourcing guide for cash handling gloves used in cash centres, bank vaults and CIT depots, covering dry grip, lint control, coatings, sizing, packing, inspection and OEM order realities.
Banknote rooms need dry grip and low lint before heavy cut protection
Start with the task, not the glove catalogue. In a banknote room, most operators are separating notes, opening tamper-evident bags, feeding note sorters, scanning labels and lifting coin trays for 6 to 10 hours. A bulky cut glove can make thumb-index control worse. For normal note handling, the more useful spec is a thin 15-gauge liner with stable dry grip and low lint. Our usual base for cash handling gloves is 15-gauge filament nylon with 3 to 5 percent spandex, white or light grey, with PU palm or PU fingertip coating. Filament nylon sheds less than cotton-rich spun yarn, and spandex keeps the fingertip close without making the glove hard to don. PU at about 0.20 to 0.35 mm on the palm gives enough grip on banknote corners, barcode labels and plastic seals without a sticky feel. Where the same team handles coin sacks, canvas bags or rough plastic cash-in-transit crates, we normally move to a 13-gauge polyester or nylon liner with micro-foam nitrile palm. It lasts better on abrasive bins and trolley edges, but it is not as precise for counting loose notes. This is why one cash centre may need two glove codes: PU for note rooms and nitrile foam for coin or depot work. We would not make EN 388 cut level C the default. A typical thin PU cash glove may sit around EN 388 3121X or 3131X, depending on the liner and coating. If staff use safety knives on shrink film or deposit sacks, assess that blade risk separately. Overbuilding every pair can reduce output and increase hand fatigue.
Choose the coating by surface, not by catalogue habit
PU palm coating is the cleanest practical choice for dry banknotes, paper bands, paper deposit slips and smooth polymer notes. It gives a flat surface, good fingertip feel and lower visible shedding than sandy nitrile. The weak point is abrasion. If operators drag bags over rough HDPE bins, metal cage edges or coin tray lips, PU can polish smooth after several shifts. Micro-foam nitrile is better for cash-in-transit depots, coin trays, woven polypropylene sacks and dusty cardboard note boxes. A black nitrile foam palm can outlast PU on rough handling, but it adds coating bulk and must be cured properly. For pale worktops, white note bands or clean issuing counters, we run a simple rub check on white paper after oven curing. Poorly cured low-cost black nitrile can leave grey marks. Flat nitrile is usually too stiff for fine note separation unless the coating is very thin. Sandy nitrile gives strong grip, but the grain can feel too aggressive for paper and may trap dust. Latex palm coating is rarely our first choice for banknote work. Natural rubber can grip well, but odour variation and latex sensitivity policies make it a risk in bank and government tenders. If a buyer writes latex-free in the tender, the bill of materials should be clear: nylon, polyester, spandex, PU or nitrile. Do not leave the factory guessing. Also state palm, fingertip or three-quarter coating. A full dip improves liquid splash coverage but makes the glove hotter and less flexible, which is usually wrong for note sorting rooms.
Low lint is a production control issue, not just a material claim
Cash centres do not normally need ISO Class 5 sterile cleanroom gloves, but lint still matters. Banknote counters and sorters pull dust into rollers, belts and optical sensors. Loose fibre at the fingertip can also transfer to security seals and adhesive labels. For this reason, a low-lint cash glove should use filament yarn, stable knitting and clean packing, not just a marketing line on a carton. For a 15-gauge PU style, we prefer filament nylon or filament polyester with spandex. We avoid open-end cotton, fluffy brushed yarn and terry loop structures in note counting areas. Cotton can be comfortable, but it sheds more and absorbs sweat, skin oil and ink. Polyester is acceptable for price-sensitive programmes, but nylon usually gives a softer hand feel and better recovery when blended with spandex. Production controls matter. We check knitting tension, cuff overlock trimming, loose yarn ends, coating edge feathering and fingertip pinholes before pairing. For inspection, buyers can specify ISO 2859-1 sampling with AQL 2.5 for major defects and AQL 4.0 for minor defects. Define the defects in writing: loose thread over 10 mm, exposed fingertip liner, coating pinhole on thumb or index, mixed shade, wrong cuff colour and dirty packing. GloveMark can produce low-lint knitted PU or nitrile coated gloves for cash handling. We do not claim sterile packing or ISO-class cleanroom validation for this product line unless a project is routed through a certified cleanroom partner with washing, ionising air blow-off and double-bag packing. If your site requires that level, say so before sampling because it changes the supplier route and cost structure.
Sizing and colour coding affect loss control and shift compliance
Cash handling gloves need tighter fit than many warehouse gloves. Loose fingertips slow note separation and make barcode scanning clumsy. For 15-gauge nylon-spandex cash handling gloves, XS to XL usually covers most adult operators. S, M and L normally take the volume, but the size curve should come from wearer trials, not a standard industrial split copied from a pallet handling glove. A workable first trial split is XS 10 percent, S 25 percent, M 35 percent, L 20 percent and XL 10 percent. For women-heavy counting teams, we often increase XS and S. For CIT depots with more coin lifting, L and XL may rise. Ask 20 to 30 operators to wear samples for two shifts and record fingertip looseness, sweat build-up, cuff tightness and grip loss. One office trial by a buyer is not enough. Colour coding helps supervisors identify the correct glove quickly. White PU shows dirt, which some banks prefer for hygiene discipline. Grey liner with black PU or black nitrile hides marks and looks cleaner for longer, but it can hide contamination. A coloured cuff overlock is a cheap size marker: for example, yellow XS, red S, green M, blue L and black XL. Cuff yarn colour lasts better than tiny heat-transfer size marks. For loss-control floors, avoid loose retail hang tags, plastic hooks and unnecessary inserts. Bulk packing is cleaner: 12 pairs per inner polybag and 120 or 240 pairs per export carton are common for thin PU styles. If the gloves are issued through PPE vending machines, test the folded pair size and bag thickness before mass production. A 15-gauge glove packed too loosely can jam in vending spirals even if the glove itself is correct.
Branding should stay small because ink and labels can create problems
Private label is possible, but decoration must not interfere with handling. The safest branding is a small back-of-hand heat transfer or screen print away from the fingertips. Large knuckle logos can crack on a stretch liner, and heavy ink can reduce breathability. We avoid glitter, metallic ink, loose flock and raised labels on gloves used near note sorters or optical sensors. On PU and nitrile coated gloves, printing is normally done after dipping and curing. The glove must sit flat on the hand mould or printing board. If the operator stretches the liner unevenly during heat press, size grading can shift and the glove may feel twisted. For a one-colour logo on an available glove body, a realistic MOQ is usually 3,000 to 5,000 pairs per colour and style. Custom yarn colour, special cuff coding, non-standard coating colour or printed retail packaging changes the economics. Plan 5,000 to 10,000 pairs because yarn dyeing, dipping tank cleaning, compound adjustment and carton printing carry fixed setup costs. For small tenders, it is usually cheaper to keep the glove body standard and customise the carton label, polybag label or back-of-hand print. Sampling is not instant if the spec is new. A plain OEM PU cash glove using available yarn and standard compound can usually be sampled in 7 to 12 days. A confirmed production order normally needs 4 to 6 weeks after sample approval and deposit. Add time for third-party EN 388 testing, custom cartons or buyer artwork approval. We do not promise 10-day mass production on a new private label style unless yarn, coating compound and packaging are already in stock.
Test the glove on real cash-room tasks before approving the order
Approve cash handling gloves through task trials, not desk review. The sample set should cover mixed old and new banknotes, polymer notes, paper bands, tamper-evident bags, barcode scanning, coin tray lifting and the actual note sorter or coin counter used on site. Include 5 to 10 kg coin bags if the glove is for a CIT depot. A glove that feels good for five minutes can fail after a sweaty two-hour counting run. We suggest at least 20 to 30 pairs across two shifts before locking the spec. Ask supervisors to record missed note separation, fingertip wear, coating polish, sweat discomfort, odour, cuff roll-down and any marking on white paper or pale worktops. If two glove types are needed, separate the approval: 15-gauge PU for note rooms and 13-gauge nitrile foam for coin or crate handling. Pre-shipment inspection should cover pair weight, palm width, overall length, fingertip coating coverage, cuff overlock colour, logo position, carton mark and packing count. For a 15-gauge PU glove, a few grams of size-to-size variation is normal, but random heavy pairs may indicate over-dipping and poor fingertip feel. Cartons should show item code, size, quantity, gross weight, net weight, carton dimensions and country of origin. Many importers also require EAN or GS1-128 receiving labels. For export planning, carton volume matters more than gross weight. Thin 15-gauge PU gloves often pack 120 or 240 pairs per carton, depending on fold and inner bag. A 40 ft HQ can roughly load 120,000 to 180,000 pairs of thin PU coated gloves; foam nitrile styles load fewer because the palm is bulkier. We normally quote FOB Ningbo or FOB Shanghai. EXW Yiwu is possible, but then the buyer or forwarder must handle pickup, export declaration, local trucking and port cut-off timing. For payment and production control, a common OEM structure is 30 percent deposit and 70 percent balance before shipment or against copy documents, subject to buyer credit review.
Coming to Yiwu or Hangzhou?
We host roughly 40-60 buyer visits a year. Workshop A & B run Mon-Sat; Workshop C (cut-resistant) Mon-Fri. Book a slot two weeks ahead and we can pull random samples from any active production line for you to inspect.
Sourcing is messy work. If this article saved you a 90-minute call with a trader, share it with one other importer who needs to see it.