Comparison of Glove Specifications, 3D Hand Scans, and Sizing of Sports Gloves for Athletes

Gloves are used in many sports as a form of protective gear and to enhance performance. Inadequately fit gloves can be detrimental to an athlete's ability to perform. As the population of female athletes grows and diversifies, it is important to ensure glove fit and performance across the plethora of sports. Despite improvements in the availability of anthropometric data, measurements of the hand remain limited. In recent years, 3D scanning has improved to capture complexities of the hand. 3D scan data of the hand offers potential to improve the sizing, fit and design of gloves for sports.

There is a need to better understand anthropometric hand data in relation to female athletes and sports activities to improve future glove fit standards and performance. The purpose of this study was to collect, compare, and analyze 3D hand scans (30 subjects) versus actual glove specifications and sizing of commonly used sports gloves. A close fitting golf glove (FootJoy Women's StaSof) was selected for comparison. Scans were taken of each subject's dominant hand (landmarked in 30 locations for accuracy) with the Occiptial Structure Sensor and iPad, and measured with Anthroscan software. Detailed specifications of the gloves that related to measurements of the hand were recorded and compared to the population measurements to determine how well the selected glove model fit each subject. To better serve diverse users, results suggest that traditional glove sizing is inadequate and more anthropometric data of the hand are needed to inform better glove sizing and fit. Based upon the findings of this study, future studies will be conducted to evaluate various glove brands and activities.