Precision

When speaking to either professional horticulturalist or the aspiring gardener, they all praise the level of tactile response you can feel from the gloves when dealing with plants.

The gloves intertwine protection and dexterity exceptionally, they avoid being too tight like surgical gloves whilst avoiding being cumbersome like traditional gardening gloves. They were said to said to ‘fit like a second skin when highlighted as one of the three ‘Which? Best Buys’ in the Which? Gardening magazine, and also being so comfortable most people don’t know they are wearing them.

The structure of the gloves with a close knit fabric means they produce an excellent fit, they are thin enough that fiddly jobs such as dealing with delicate plants, grabbing small weeds and tying string is easily possible whilst handling more bulky items is still possible as the protection is there too!

If you are the kind of gardener who prefers not to wear gloves but likes the protection they offer then these are the perfect solution. 

Protection

These gloves are resistant to the general hazards of gardening whilst also protecting your skin on the inside.

Protective gloves are measured using an EN388 rating. These gloves received a 4 (highest score) for abrasion resistance, however they have a 1 (lowest score) for cut and puncture resistance.

For the vast majority of gardening jobs these will protect you well, evening when dealing with nettles, however, for tougher jobs like very thorny plants you may want to step up the protection to something more bulky.

They are nitrile coated on the fingers and palms which means they are stronger and also water resistant, providing excellent firm grip when using secateurs and loppers. Whilst the back has an open-back fabric design allowing for air and moisture to escape to prevent perspiration inside the glove. The increased breathability of these gloves means they reduce hand fatigue and allow you to garden for much longer.

Durability

This is a very hard-wearing glove and people have often commented that they will usually last up to two seasons of light weight gardening, some gardeners we spoke to have managed to get them to last three years!

These gloves are machine washable so you won’t have replace these very often at all, you can just use, wash and re-use. According to manufacturer guidance when washed at 40°C max, using a neutral detergent performance levels (as per EN 388) will be retained after three washes. Showa has to be careful when suggesting how many washes they can be put through, however, we spoke to a gardener who said her pair just went on and on and on. Her usual rate of glove destruction was a month and she managed to rotated two pairs over 9 months and was amazed

This long lasting nature of this glove with frequent gardening use ensures they are excellent value for money and probably why they are the go to choice for gardeners across the country. 

Check out the full Showa 370 colour range at Mendip Safety Supplies here

(Photo credit: Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash)