European Style
Size & Fit
Glove Size Calculator for Women
Glove sizing is simpler than most size systems and gets wrong more often, because almost every chart asks for one measurement when the fit depends on two. Your glove size is the circumference of your palm in inches — a seven inch palm is a size 7, and that number is the same in Britain, France and Italy. What the charts leave out is hand length, which decides whether the fingers end where your fingers do. A narrow palm with long fingers is extremely common and it is the reason so many gloves fit across the hand and bunch at the tips. This glove size calculator takes both, and tells you what to do when they disagree.
Short answer: Measure around your palm at the knuckles, excluding the thumb. A 7 inch palm is a size 7, which is an 18 cm measurement and a women's medium. Leather gloves should be bought snug — they stretch to your hand within a few wears.
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Last reviewed September 2026
Glove Size Calculator for Women Conversion Chart
Interactive converter requires JavaScript. You can view the full reference table below.
View Size Chart Below ↓Results are approximate and sizes vary by brand. Check the brand's own chart before buying — see our accuracy note.
This women's glove size chart is unusual among the charts on this site in that there is almost nothing to convert. Glove sizes are French in origin and the number is the palm circumference in inches, so a size 7 is a size 7 in the United States, Britain, France and Italy alike. The only real translation is between the numbered sizes and the letter sizes many brands now use instead, and that mapping is where the variation creeps in. The hand length column is included because a glove size chart women can read in isolation will tell you nothing about finger length, which is half of whether a glove fits.
Hand length figures are typical for each palm size, not fixed. If yours differs by more than half an inch, read the section on two measurements below. Palm circumference: Around the knuckles, excluding the thumb. Hand length: From wrist crease to tip of middle finger.
Short answer:
Wrap a tape around the widest part of your palm at the knuckles, leaving the thumb out. The measurement in inches is your glove size. Then measure from the wrist crease to the tip of your middle finger for hand length.
Open your hand flat, then curl the fingers slightly as though holding a ball. Wrap the tape around the widest part of the palm, just below the knuckles, keeping the thumb outside the tape. Read the figure in inches — that number is your glove size, with no arithmetic at all. A seven inch palm is a size 7.
Measure from the crease at your wrist to the tip of your middle finger, along the back of the hand with the fingers straight. This is the measurement almost no chart asks for, and it is what determines whether the fingertips of a glove end where yours do.
Measure the hand you write with. For most people it is between a quarter and a half size larger than the other, and a glove that fits the larger hand will be acceptable on the smaller one. The reverse is not true.
No tape measure? Wrap a strip of paper around your palm, mark the overlap and lay it flat against a ruler. Paper is better than string, which stretches and will give you a size too small.
Take the smaller size in leather and the larger in anything knitted or lined. Leather moulds to the hand within a few wears; wool, fleece and lined gloves do not, and a lining takes up more room inside the glove than the measurement suggests.
Short answer:
Palm circumference gives you the size. Hand length tells you whether the fingers will fit. A narrow palm with long fingers is common, and it is why a glove can be comfortable across the hand while bunching or pulling at the fingertips.
Every glove size chart asks for palm circumference and stops there, which works for roughly two thirds of people and quietly fails the rest. The palm measurement sets the width of the glove. It says nothing about how long the fingers are, and hands vary in that proportion far more than they vary in width. Two people with identical seven inch palms can have half an inch of difference in hand length, which is an entire glove size worth of finger.
The symptoms are easy to recognise once you know what you are looking at. If gloves fit across the palm but leave empty space at the fingertips, your fingers are short for your palm and you need a size down in length, not in width. If gloves feel correct across the hand but pull at the tips and stop you curling your fingers, the opposite is true. Neither problem is solved by changing size, because changing size changes both dimensions at once.
The practical fix depends on what you are buying. Leather dress gloves from a proper glovemaker are often available in more than one length for the same size, described as short, regular or long fingers — and this is one of the few remaining reasons to buy gloves from a specialist rather than a general retailer. For everything else, size to the palm and accept the finger length, or choose a style where it matters less: knit, fleece and lined gloves forgive a great deal that a fitted leather glove does not.
Long fingers for the palm · gloves pull at the tips
Short fingers for the palm · gloves bunch at the tips
Same glove size. Two different fits.
Short answer:
A new leather glove should be snug enough that you notice it. Leather stretches across the width within a few wears and moulds to your hand permanently. A leather glove that is comfortable in the shop will be loose within a month.
This is the single most useful thing to know before buying leather gloves, and almost nowhere says it. Leather is a skin, and it behaves like one: it gives across the width as it warms, takes the shape of the hand inside it, and keeps that shape. A women's leather glove size chart tells you the size to order (just as any women's glove size chart does); it does not tell you that the correct size will feel uncomfortably close for the first few wearings. People who have not been told this consistently buy half a size up and end up with gloves that slide.
What leather does not do is stretch lengthways. The fingers will not get longer, which is why hand length matters more in leather than in anything else, and why a specialist glovemaker will offer the same size in more than one finger length. If a leather glove is tight across the palm, wear it. If it is short at the fingertips, exchange it.
Lined leather is the exception worth remembering. A cashmere or silk lining takes up real space inside the glove and does not compress much, so lined leather is usually bought at the same size as unlined but will feel roomier for longer. Suede and deerskin stretch more than lambskin or peccary, so where a maker states the leather, that tells you how much give to expect.
Short answer:
Leather dress gloves need to be exact and bought snug. Knit and lined gloves are forgiving and should be bought at your measured size or slightly up. Touchscreen gloves need to be close at the fingertips to work at all.
The table below is what our calculator uses when you select a glove type, and it is the reason the guidance line under your result changes depending on what you are buying.
One-size gloves are usually knitted and sit around a size 7 with stretch either way. If you measure above 7½ or below 6½, check before buying.
Short answer:
Heritage glovemakers run true to the numbered sizes. Fashion and high street brands mostly use S/M/L and vary by up to a full size between them.
Numbered glove sizes are reliable, because the number is the measurement. Letter sizes are not, because each brand decides what a medium means. The table below records which system each maker uses and which direction it drifts, and is reviewed quarterly.
Reviewed quarterly. Last updated September 2026. Where a maker publishes its own chart, use it — this table describes the direction of drift, not a replacement for the brand's own measurements.
Everything you need to know about palm fit, stretch and break-in.
How sizing varies across dress, driving, winter, knit and touchscreen gloves.
Why palm circumference sets width while hand length decides finger fit.
Glove sizing is the most honest size system on this site, and the one most often reduced to a single number it cannot support on its own. Here is what sits behind ours.
The numbered glove size is the palm circumference in inches, measured at the knuckles with the thumb excluded. That convention is French in origin and has survived unchanged across the United States, Britain and Europe, which is why there is no country conversion on this page — a size 7 is a size 7 everywhere. Centimetre equivalents are the same measurement converted at 2.54 centimetres to the inch. The letter column maps numbered sizes to the S/M/L scale most fashion brands now use, given as the common mapping rather than as an authority, because each brand sets its own.
Because palm circumference sets the width of a glove and nothing else. Finger length varies independently of palm width, and a glove that is correct across the hand can still be wrong at the fingertips. Asking for both lets the calculator tell you when your two measurements disagree and what to do about it, which is the situation a single-measurement chart silently gets wrong. The second measurement is optional because most people are close to proportional and do not need it.
Three situations. Brands using letter sizes only, where a medium may cover a different range than the one here and the maker's chart is the only authority. Lined and insulated gloves, where the lining takes up space the measurement cannot account for. And anything knitted, where the size is a stretch range rather than a point. In all three the measurement is still worth having — it just needs to be read against the specific glove.
For the trade's own account of glove sizing, Dents have been making gloves in England since 1777 and publish a sizing guide that explains the numbered convention and finger lengths from the inside. For a plain measuring reference with no commercial interest attached, Alfred University publishes a guide to determining glove size that has become one of the most widely cited online.
FULL CHART
Women's Glove Size Chart: Numbers, Letters, Inches and Centimetres
7 in palm = size 7 = M
18 cm = size 7
Size 7½ = L
HOW TO MEASURE
Measure Your Hand for Glove Size
01
01 Palm circumference
02
02 Hand length
03
03 Use your dominant hand
If you are between sizes
THE PART NOBODY MEASURES
Why One Measurement Is Not Enough
LEATHER
Why Leather Gloves Should Feel Too Tight at First
BY GLOVE TYPE
How Much the Size Matters, by Glove Type
BRAND BY BRAND
Which Glove Brands Run Small, Large or True
How a Glove Should Fit
Choose the Right Size for Your Glove
Two Measurements Matter
METHODOLOGY
How This Calculator Works
What this glove size calculator is built on
Why we ask for hand length as well
Where this calculator is least reliable
Written & researched by Md Zubayer Al Hasan
Last reviewed September 2026
7 years in garment manufacturing · Sizing & grading specialist
QUESTIONS
Glove Size Calculator FAQ
- What glove size am I?
- Your glove size is the circumference of your palm in inches, measured at the knuckles with the thumb excluded. A 7 inch palm is a size 7, which is a women's medium and an 18 centimetre measurement.
- What is a size 7 glove in letters?
- A size 7 is a women's medium. Size 6 is extra small, 6u00bd is small, 7u00bd is large and 8 is extra large. Letter ranges vary between brands, so check the maker's chart where one is published.
- Are UK, US and European glove sizes the same?
- Yes. The numbered glove size is French in origin and is the palm circumference in inches, so a size 7 is a size 7 in all three. Only the letter sizes differ between brands.
- Should leather gloves be tight?
- Snug, yes. New leather should feel close enough that you notice it, because it stretches across the width within a few wears and then holds the shape of your hand. It does not stretch lengthways, so tight fingers should be exchanged rather than worn in.
- How do I measure glove size without a tape measure?
- Wrap a strip of paper around your palm at the knuckles, mark the overlap, and lay it flat against a ruler. Use paper rather than string, which stretches and will give a size too small.
- What if my palm and hand length give different sizes?
- Size to the palm, then choose the glove type accordingly. Long fingers for your palm mean a fitted leather glove will pull at the tips, so look for a maker offering finger lengths, or choose knit or lined styles that forgive it.
- Which hand should I measure?
- Your dominant hand. It is usually a quarter to a half size larger, and a glove that fits it will be acceptable on the other. The reverse is not true.