Ironclad make ten gloves that we stock, and on a product grid they look like variations on a theme. They are not. Three of them carry certified impact protection and seven do not. One is hi-viz orange and armoured across every finger and the back of the hand. One grips better in oil than it does dry. Two leave three fingertips bare on purpose. One is a leather glove you can put through a washing machine.
This guide sorts them out. It starts with the EN 388 code, because once you can read that four-character string you can tell more about a glove in five seconds than any amount of product copy will give you.
How to read an EN 388 rating
Every safety glove sold in the UK carries an EN 388 code. It looks like 2121AP and each position means something specific.
| Position | What it measures | Scale |
|---|---|---|
| 1st digit | Abrasion resistance | 1 to 4 |
| 2nd digit | Blade cut resistance | 1 to 5 |
| 3rd digit | Tear resistance | 1 to 4 |
| 4th digit | Puncture resistance | 1 to 4 |
| Letter A to F | Cut resistance, ISO 13997 method | A lowest, F highest |
| P | Impact protection | Pass or fail, no levels |
Higher numbers are better. A 0 means the glove was tested and did not reach level 1. An X means that test was not performed at all, which is not the same as failing but tells you nothing either way.
The last character is the one most people miss. If there is no P, the glove has no certified impact protection, however much rubber is moulded across the knuckles. Plenty of gloves are sold with knuckle guards that have never been tested to the standard. That does not make them useless, but it does mean nobody has measured what they do.
The ten gloves at a glance
| Glove | Palm | EN 388 | Grip dry / wet / oily | Stands out for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tactical Impact | Synthetic suede | 2121AP | 4 / 4 / 4 | Certified impact, even grip |
| Tactical Trigger Impact | Synthetic suede | 2121AP | 4 / 4 / 4 | Certified impact, three fingers open |
| Tactical Grip | Silicone-infused suede | 3121A | 5 / 2.5 / 1.5 | Highest dry grip in the range |
| Tactical Pro | Synthetic suede | 2111 | 4 / 3 / 4 | Lightest, camo or black |
| Caliber Vented | Sheepskin leather | 2100 | 4.5 / 4 / 2 | Full mesh upper for heat |
| General Utility | Reinforced suede | 2132X | 4 / 3.5 / 4.5 | Best oily grip, three-finger touchscreen |
| Command Pro Leather | Goatskin leather | 2121 | 4.5 / 4 / 2 | Washable leather, touchscreen index |
| Ranchworx | Goatskin leather | 3112 | 3.5 / 3 / 3 | Kevlar thumb, TPR on every finger |
| KONG Original | Double-layer synthetic leather | 4242AP | 4 / 4 / 3 | Certified impact, hi-viz, heaviest armour |
| Framer | Duraclad synthetic | 2131 | 3 / 3 / 3 | Three fingers open for nails and fixings |
The tactical four
These share a family look and a hook and loop cuff, and they split by what you need most.
Tactical Impact is the one to pick if you want certified knuckle protection in a tactical-weight glove. It is one of only two gloves here rated 2121AP, and it is the full-finger option. Grip is 4/5 in all three conditions, which is unusual. Most gloves fall away as soon as things get greasy and this one does not.
Tactical Trigger Impact is the same certified armour with the thumb, index and middle fingertips left open. That is the trade: full trigger feel and no touchscreen layer needed, in exchange for three digits with no cut, abrasion or puncture protection at all. If you shoot regularly it is the obvious choice. If you handle rough material as often as you shoot, take the full-finger version.
Tactical Grip has a raised silicone lattice printed into the palm and rates 5/5 dry, the highest figure in the range. Read the other two numbers before you buy: 2.5/5 wet and 1.5/5 oily. It is a specialist, and outside dry conditions it is the weakest palm here.
Tactical Pro is the lightweight one, with a flat neoprene knuckle panel rather than moulded armour. Its EN 388 rating is 2111 with no P, so treat the knuckle cover as padding. It comes in camo and in plain black, which makes it the pick for duty wear where camo is not appropriate.
The work five
General Utility is the glove Ironclad built their name on, and its grip figures are the interesting part: 4/5 dry, 3.5/5 wet and 4.5/5 oily. It grips better in grease than it does dry, which almost nothing else does. If your hands spend time in engine bays or around hydraulics, start here. It also has touchscreen coverage on three digits rather than one, and it is machine washable.
Command Pro Leather is a goatskin palm on a knit back. Goatskin is soft, strong for its thickness and keeps its feel as it breaks in rather than going board-stiff. The useful part is that it is machine washable, which most leather work gloves are not, so a filthy pair gets cleaned rather than replaced.
Ranchworx is the heaviest of the leather gloves. Goatskin palm, Bullwhip leather finger sidewalls, Rolltop fingertips and a thumb saddle reinforced with Kevlar, which is the point where a heavy work glove usually gives out first. Moulded TPR runs along every finger as well as the knuckles, so the digits that catch a gate latch are covered. It carries no P mark, so treat that armour as uncertified.
Framer solves the problem every framer and carpenter has with gloves: you cannot pick up a nail wearing one. The thumb, index and middle finger are open. The rest of the hand keeps a Duraclad synthetic leather palm, TPR knuckle guards and a quick release cuff. Same trade as the Trigger Impact, aimed at a building site instead of a range.
The heavy-duty one: KONG Original
KONG Original is the newest glove here and the most heavily protected. It was designed for oil and gas work, where hands spend the day around pipe, tongs, chains and heavy steel, and it is the third glove in the range to carry the P mark. Its full code is 4242AP, and level 4 abrasion and level 4 tear are the highest figures of any glove in this guide.
The TPR armour goes further than anything else here, covering the fingers, thumb, knuckles and the metacarpal across the back of the hand. On top of the EN 388 P it holds an ANSI/ISEA 138 impact rating of level 2, a graded US standard rather than a simple pass. The whole shell is hi-viz orange, so a gloved hand shows up against steel, mud and machinery. The palm is a dotted double layer of synthetic leather that grips 4/5 dry, 4/5 wet and 3/5 oily, the cuff is an extended neoprene slip-on with no strap to fasten, and a write-on ID tag keeps a pair with its owner on a shared site. Like the General Utility and the Command Pro, it is machine washable.
The trade is feel. Armour on every finger costs fingertip sensitivity, there are no touchscreen fingertips, and blade cut resistance is only level 2 with an ISO letter of A, so it is a glove for heavy handling rather than sheet metal or anything with a sharp edge. It is not a heat glove either: its EN 407 rating covers contact heat at level 1 only.
Picking by the job
- Knuckles take hits. KONG Original for heavy handling, Tactical Impact for a lighter glove, or Tactical Trigger Impact if you need bare fingertips. They are the only three with certified protection.
- Rigging, lifting, oil and gas. KONG Original. It is also the one to wear where you need to be seen.
- Hands are oily. General Utility at 4.5/5, or Tactical Pro and Tactical Impact at 4/5. Avoid Tactical Grip and the two leather-palmed gloves, all rated 2/5 or lower in oil.
- Hands are wet. Tactical Impact, Tactical Trigger Impact, KONG Original, Caliber Vented and Command Pro Leather all rate 4/5.
- Dry grip above everything. Tactical Grip, and read the caveat above.
- Fingertips need to be bare. Framer for trades, Tactical Trigger Impact for shooting.
- Hot weather. Caliber Vented, then Tactical Pro.
- Heavy outdoor and stock work. Ranchworx.
- One pair for everything. General Utility.
Two things that apply to all ten
Sizing runs by hand measurement, not by what you usually wear. Measure around the palm at the widest point, excluding the thumb, and check that against the size guide on the product page before ordering. Glove sizing is the single most common thing people get wrong, and it is easily avoided.
Every Ironclad glove is covered for twelve months against faults in materials and workmanship, where ninety days is the norm across the category. That is worth knowing when you are comparing against a cheaper pair, because a glove that fails in month four is only cheap once.
If you are still unsure which pair suits the work, tell us what you are doing with them and we will point you at the right one. We would rather sell you the glove that lasts than the one with the biggest number on the palm.