A factory-side guide to specifying scaffolding and formwork gloves with practical choices on liner gauge, coating, EN 388 targets, cuff design, impact options, MOQ, sampling, AQL inspection and export packing.
Start with the abuse points, not the catalogue picture
Scaffolding gloves fail first at the thumb crotch, fingertips and palm coating edge. Tube and right-angle couplers rub the thumb-index web. Wire tying, nail heads and splintered shuttering boards cut fingertips. Wet plywood, rusted steel and concrete slurry grind the palm surface. A clean 13 gauge polyester liner with smooth PU palm is usually too light for this abuse, even if the sample photo looks neat. For real scaffold and formwork use, start from 13 gauge polyester or nylon with sandy nitrile, 13 gauge HPPE blend with sandy nitrile for cut risk, or 10 gauge poly-cotton with latex crinkle for mostly dry steel and masonry handling. Do not let a catalogue name hide the job mix. Scaffold erection needs grip on galvanised tube, couplers, ledgers and base jacks. Formwork needs abrasion resistance against phenolic plywood, nail heads and steel props. Rebar tying needs dexterity and cut resistance around EN ISO 13997 level C or D. General site labour wants a low replacement cost because gloves are lost, soaked or thrown away. We can build a balanced site glove, but we do not tell buyers that one cheap SKU will have 15 gauge assembly dexterity, level D cut protection, winter warmth and leather-rigger life at the same FOB price.
Choose the liner before arguing about the palm coating
The liner decides thickness, stretch, cut level and how much coating the glove can carry. For price-sensitive scaffolding gloves, 13 gauge polyester is common because it knits cleanly, dries faster than cotton and accepts nitrile or latex dipping. A stronger budget version is 13 gauge nylon-polyester, often in grey or black to hide site dirt. For heavier abrasion, 10 gauge poly-cotton gives more body, but the glove feels bulkier around M12 and M16 bolts. For cut exposure from rebar, banding, sharp metal decking or cut timber, specify HPPE blended yarn, often HPPE-polyester-glass fibre or HPPE-steel-polyester depending on the target and comfort tolerance. Write the yarn package, not only the marketing claim. Cut resistant yarn is not a production spec. A useful OEM line reads 13 gauge grey HPPE polyester glass fibre liner, sandy nitrile palm, EN 388:2016+A1:2018 target 4X43C. If level D is needed, the yarn content and coating weight normally rise. Level E or F is possible, but it costs more, can feel stiffer and may reduce worker acceptance. A 15 gauge shell feels attractive in a meeting room, but scaffolders often burn through fingertips faster when tightening couplers or dragging boards. A 10 gauge or dense 13 gauge shell gives the coating more support and usually survives longer in site trials.
Match coating to wet steel, concrete dust and site temperature
Sandy nitrile is the safest starting point for wet tube, oily fittings, scaffold clips and rough plywood. It gives better oil resistance than latex and better wet grip than smooth nitrile. Foam nitrile is more breathable and good for dry handling, but cement dust can pack into the foam cells and reduce grip. Latex crinkle grips dry steel, masonry block and timber well and is often cheaper, but natural rubber latex is a concern for some buyers and it can swell or lose grip around oils. Smooth PU is normally not our recommendation for scaffold erection because abrasion and wet grip are weak points. Double dipping is worth paying for on harsh sites. A flat nitrile first dip seals the palm and fingers, then a sandy nitrile second dip adds grip. The trade-off is less breathability and a slightly stiffer hand. If the buyer asks for waterproof, be precise: a palm-dipped glove is not waterproof through the back of hand or cuff. Full dip or three-quarter dip improves liquid barrier but increases sweating and carton weight. For winter use, do not just add brushed acrylic and keep the same price. A 7 gauge terry acrylic or 10 gauge brushed acrylic liner changes sizing, dexterity, coating pick-up and carton volume. Winter scaffold gloves should be resampled in every size, not approved from a summer glove pattern.
Set realistic EN 388 and impact claims
For scaffolding gloves, the main claim is EN 388:2016+A1:2018. A realistic mid-range coated glove may target 4X43C, depending on liner, coating and test lab result. The X in the second position is common when the coupe blade test is not used because of blade dulling; the TDM cut result under EN ISO 13997 is then the meaningful cut letter from A to F. Do not accept vague wording such as CE cut 5 without the full marking, test method and current report. EN 388:2003 level 5 is not the same buying language as EN 388:2016+A1:2018 level C, D or E. Impact protection must be treated separately. Thermoplastic rubber, usually TPR, on the back of hand can help against knocks from ledgers, props and couplers, but EN 388 impact marking P only applies if the glove passes the impact test on the claimed protective area. Decorative TPR ribs are not automatically an impact certification. Custom TPR also adds mould cost, bonding or sewing control, and more size grading work. For a plain dipped glove, practical OEM MOQ can start around 1,200 to 3,000 pairs per colour depending on yarn and packaging. For custom TPR back-of-hand tooling, expect higher MOQ, commonly 3,000 to 5,000 pairs across the size run, and confirm mould charges before the quotation is treated as firm.
Do not ignore cuff, sizing and site loss rate
Most coated scaffolding gloves use elastic knit wrist with an overlocked edge. It keeps dust out better than an open safety cuff and runs well on automatic knitting and dipping lines. The weakness is that it can hold moisture, cement grit and sweat if workers wear the glove all day. If fast removal is more important, a rubberised safety cuff or gauntlet cuff is possible, but that moves the product toward sewn synthetic leather or leather-rigger construction. We can support seamless knitted dipped gloves and sewn synthetic or leather styles, but they use different patterns, cutting, stitching inspection and production scheduling. Do not compare them only by palm colour and unit price. Size mix should follow workforce data, not retail symmetry. For European and Middle East construction orders, a practical industrial split may be M 10 percent, L 35 percent, XL 40 percent and XXL 15 percent. Add S only when there is a real workforce need, because dead sizes sit in distributor stock. Packaging also changes cost. Bulk packing at 12 pairs per inner bundle and 120 pairs per export carton is cheaper than one pair per printed polybag with barcode and hang tag. On construction gloves, individual retail packing can add several cents per pair in labour, film, label and carton space. For a 20,000 pair tender, those cents are visible in the FOB calculation.
Sample, test and inspect like a worksite product
A proper development sequence is written spec, yarn and coating confirmation, proto sample, size-set or pre-production sample, then site wear trial. Test with real tube, couplers, tie wire, phenolic plywood, wet timber and concrete residue, not only with office cartons. For custom colour, allow time for yarn shade and coating shade approval. Pantone matching on nitrile or latex is approximate because coating thickness, curing temperature and liner colour affect the final shade. If common yarns are in stock, sample lead time is often 10 to 18 days. Bulk production is commonly 4 to 7 weeks after sample approval and deposit, longer if HPPE blend yarn, TPR moulds or printed retail packaging must be newly prepared. Inspection must focus on failures workers notice. Check coating voids in the thumb crotch, thin fingertips, pinholes in full-dip areas, liner holes, poor cuff overlock, wrong size labels, mixed left-right pairing and weak adhesion after flexing. A normal export inspection can use ANSI/ASQ Z1.4 or ISO 2859-1 sampling with AQL 2.5 for major defects and AQL 4.0 for minor defects, but the defect list must be agreed before production. Exposed liner on the palm dip, open seams on a sewn reinforcement or missing TPR pieces are major defects, not cosmetic issues. For freight planning, confirm carton data before quoting. Coated construction gloves often pack 100 to 120 pairs per carton, but double-dip, winter liner or TPR styles may drop below that and raise CBM per pair. A common carton might be around 60 x 28 x 35 cm, but the actual dimension must come from the approved packing method. Quote Incoterms clearly, such as EXW Yiwu, FOB Ningbo or FOB Shanghai. We do not include CE certification, special retail packaging, third-party inspection or destination duty unless they are listed in the quotation.
Need Physical Samples?
For verified B2B buyers we ship 1-2 reference samples free (you cover the courier - ~USD 35 to most countries). Custom mock-ups with your logo run USD 60-120 depending on decoration, refunded against your first PO.
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