Factory-side guide to PVC dotted gloves: shell yarn, knit gauge, dot layout, wash limits, grip trade-offs, MOQ, lead time, AQL inspection and honest PPE claims for B2B buyers.
The Short Answer: Dots Are for Dry Grip, Not Liquid Protection
PVC dotted gloves make sense when the job is dry handling and the buyer wants low unit cost, breathable fabric and more grip than a plain string knit glove. The PVC dots bite into cardboard, timber, plastic totes, appliance parts and dry metal edges. They do not seal the palm. The knitted shell is still open, so water, oil, coolant, fish box meltwater and chemical splash pass through the glove. Do not position a dotted glove as an alternative to a nitrile palm coated glove, latex crinkle glove, PU coated assembly glove or EN ISO 374 chemical glove. It is a general handling product. The dot pattern improves friction and local abrasion on contact points; it does not create liquid resistance, cut resistance or thermal protection by itself. A normal factory build is a 7 gauge or 10 gauge cotton polyester shell with PVC plastisol dots printed on the palm, or on both sides for reversible use. Pair weight is usually controlled in grams per pair because the coating is discontinuous. Economy size L gloves often sit around 35 to 45 g per pair. Heavier double-sided versions may be 55 to 70 g per pair, depending on yarn count, cuff length and dot coverage. If a buyer asks one PVC dotted glove to cover warehouse picking, wet gardening, oily maintenance, glass handling and cold work, we split the requirement. Dots are fine for dry cartons; they are the wrong construction for oil, glass cut risk or freezer exposure.
Shell Yarn Choices Decide the Feel and Shrinkage
The lowest-cost shell is normally recycled cotton polyester in 7 gauge, usually natural white, grey melange or mixed shade. It feels bulky, has visible slub, hides dirt better than pure white, and is common for construction clean-up, waste sorting, removals and general packing. It is not a premium retail hand feel, and colour variation between yarn lots should be expected unless the buyer approves a tight shade standard. For a smoother glove, we move to 10 gauge cotton polyester or polyester cotton. The hand feel is neater, the dots sit more evenly, and cuff logo printing is cleaner. A 13 gauge liner can be made, but it changes the product into a lighter liner-style glove; many distributors buying traditional string knit gloves do not want that. For heavier handling, 7 gauge still sells because buyers can feel the weight immediately. Cotton content affects comfort and wash behaviour. More cotton gives a drier, softer hand and better sweat absorption, but it can shrink and twist after laundering. More polyester gives better dimensional stability and a cleaner white shade, but it can feel warmer and less absorbent. For size identification, the practical factory method is coloured overlock stitching: S yellow, M blue, L red, XL black is common. Dyeing the full shell to a Pantone shade is possible, but it usually raises MOQ to 3,000 to 5,000 pairs per colour per size because yarn dyeing or finished glove dye lots must be controlled.
Dot Layout Is a Working Specification
Dot layout is not decoration. It changes grip, bend and service life. Single-sided palm dots are the standard low-cost choice for warehouse and retail multipacks. They keep the back breathable and are easier to pack flat. Double-sided dots cost more but let the worker reverse the glove, useful for rough timber, removals and recycling lines where the palm wears quickly. The trade-off is bulk: both sides have raised PVC, so size feel is less precise. Round dots flex better around broom handles, scanner guns and pallet jack grips. Criss-cross PVC gives a more continuous contact patch on cardboard and timber. Block, diamond or wave patterns can be made, but large solid PVC areas reduce airflow and can crack if the paste is over-cured or the glove is stretched too hard on the board. Production is simple but easy to get wrong. The knitted glove is dressed on a flat former or board, aligned at cuff and fingers, printed with PVC plastisol through a screen or plate, then heated to gel and cure the dots. The factory must control paste viscosity, print pressure, oven temperature, dwell time and glove tension. After cooling, operators should rub the palm, flex the glove 20 to 30 times and check whether dots smear, flake or crack at the base. For private label orders, approve a physical sample with actual dot diameter and spacing. A 2 mm change in dot pitch can make the glove feel different on carton corners.
Standards and Claims: Keep the Label Clean
Most PVC dotted gloves are sold as general handling gloves. For Europe, the basic glove requirement is EN ISO 21420. If the buyer needs CE marked PPE, mechanical performance is tested under EN 388:2016 plus A1:2018. A cotton polyester dotted glove may show useful abrasion and tear results, but the cut number will normally be low unless the shell uses HPPE, glass fibre, steel fibre, basalt, aramid or another cut-resistant yarn. PVC dots alone do not make a glove cut resistant. For the US, some buyers ask for ANSI ISEA 105 ratings for cut, abrasion or puncture. The same rule applies: the base yarn and full construction must support the claim. A 7 gauge cotton polyester dotted glove should not be described as ANSI A3 unless a current test report for that exact construction proves it. Food contact claims need separate caution. PVC plastisol can contain plasticisers, stabilisers, pigments and processing aids. If the glove will touch food, packaging film or food preparation surfaces, the buyer should specify the target rule before sampling, such as EU food contact requirements or FDA-related material testing for the US market. GloveMark can produce PVC dotted work gloves and arrange third-party testing when an order needs it. We do not print CE, food-safe, FDA, cut-resistant or chemical-resistant claims on a standard warehouse glove unless the construction and test documents support the wording.
Cost, MOQ and Lead Time Realities
PVC dotted gloves are price-sensitive, and small details change cost fast. Yarn weight, cotton ratio, dot coverage, one-side versus two-side printing, cuff colour, carton packing and retail presentation all matter. Bulk industrial packing is usually 12 pairs per polybag, then 120 or 240 pairs per export carton. Retail cards, header bags, hang tags, EAN barcodes and pair-by-pair polybags add material cost and slow the packing line. For standard white or grey shells with standard blue, black, red or clear PVC dots, a realistic starting MOQ is 2,000 to 3,000 pairs per style. Custom shell colour, custom dot colour, special size ratio or retail packaging usually pushes the practical MOQ to 5,000 pairs or more. Orders of 500 pairs split across six sizes and four dot colours are sample-shop work, not efficient mass production. Normal lead time is 3 to 5 weeks after sample approval and deposit when yarn and PVC paste are available. A new shell colour, new print screen, special packaging artwork or third-party testing can add 1 to 2 weeks. Screen tooling is not a mould-level expense, but the artwork must be confirmed and a pre-production sample should be printed before bulk work. For a first launch, we normally suggest two or three core sizes, one dot layout, one PVC colour and one carton mark. Expand only after sales data proves the SKU.
Wash Limits and Use-Life Expectations
PVC dotted gloves are often treated as disposable or limited-use gloves, not laundry programme gloves. Light hand washing may be acceptable for some constructions, but repeated machine washing can shrink cotton-rich shells, distort finger length, harden the PVC dots and weaken adhesion. If washable performance matters, the buyer should define a test method before ordering, such as 3 or 5 wash cycles at 40°C followed by dimensional and dot adhesion checks. Dry grip is the strength. Wet grip is inconsistent because water sits between the dots and the object. Oil is worse: oil can lubricate the contact points and soak through the knit. Heat is also limited. PVC softens before many high-temperature glove materials, so dotted gloves should not be sold for hot metal, oven trays or welding. For cold rooms, the open knit gives little insulation unless a terry, acrylic or thermal liner is specified. Use-life depends on surface and shift pattern. Picking cartons in a dry warehouse may wear slowly. Handling rough timber, bricks or scrap can destroy dots and yarn quickly. We prefer to set the claim as improved grip and improved contact-point abrasion versus a plain knit glove, not long-life industrial protection. That wording is safer and closer to what the glove can actually do.
Inspection Points Before Shipment
Inspection should check pair weight, size, yarn shade, dot layout, dot adhesion, cured surface, packaging and carton marks. Many importers use ANSI ASQ Z1.4 with General Inspection Level II, AQL 2.5 for major defects and AQL 4.0 for minor defects, unless their own manual is stricter. Major defects include sticky uncured PVC, large missing dot areas, holes in the knit, broken overlock, wrong size ratio, mixed styles, serious stains, wrong packaging or missing country of origin marking. Minor defects include light yarn slub, small loose ends, minor dot misalignment and shade variation within the approved sample range. Measure real dimensions, not just appearance: total length from cuff to middle fingertip, palm width, cuff length and pair weight. If the approved size L sample is 24 cm long and 43 g per pair, a shipment averaging 22.5 cm and 36 g is a cost-down change unless the buyer approved it. Dot weight should also be watched; reducing PVC coverage is one of the easiest hidden ways to lower cost. Carton control matters for freight. A common export carton may hold 120 or 240 pairs, but the actual CBM depends on glove weight and compression. A 20 ft container may load roughly 500 to 700 cartons if the carton is in the usual glove range, but a taller retail carton or loose packing can cut that number. Before shipment under FOB Ningbo, FOB Shanghai or EXW Yiwu terms, confirm inner quantity, carton dimensions, gross weight, barcode, shipping mark and pallet height if the goods go to a distribution centre. The glove is simple; the expensive mistakes are usually weak curing, uncontrolled pair weight and careless packing.
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.
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