Wells Lamont

Wells Lamont gloves are work gloves for anyone who works with their hands: leather palms for construction, nitrile-coated grip gloves for mechanics, and insulated and HydraHyde® gloves for wet, cold outdoor work. Each line is built for a different job. HydraHyde leather gets its water resistance during tanning, so it stays soft and dry and never needs wax.

W.O. Wells started The Wells Glove Company in Aberdeen, South Dakota, in 1907 with $500 and five sewing machines, and it has made leather work gloves ever since. The company took the Wells Lamont name when Maurice Lamont joined, and it kept that name after he died six months later. The Pritzker family’s Marmon Group bought the company, and Berkshire Hathaway later acquired Marmon. Wells Lamont is known for its White Mule leather palm glove, which is where the mule on the logo comes from, and it says its work gloves are designed in the USA.

Insulated winter work gloves

Most people start with insulated leather. The choices include insulated cowhide, the White Mule insulated leather glove with a knit wrist, winter work gloves in saddletan leather, and a women’s outdoor winter glove. Choose the insulation based on how hard you’ll be working, not on the coldest reading on the thermometer. Wells Lamont says insulation in the 50 to 70 gram range adds warmth without bulk. That matters because roofers, concrete workers and equipment operators still need finger control at 20 degrees. Foam fleece is the brand’s Warm level. It dries fast and holds heat, which suits active work like framing or splitting wood.

The mistake made most often is buying too much glove. Work hard in heavy insulation and your hands sweat, and they turn wet and cold as soon as you stop moving. Save the heavy gloves for work where you stand still in extreme cold, like plowing, feeding stock or waiting on a load. Wells Lamont’s top picks for that kind of cold have a 150-gram Thinsulate™ lining, waterproofing and long cuffs that tuck into a jacket. A mitten keeps your fingers together for warmth but costs you dexterity, so wear mittens for standing jobs and gloves for any job with a tool. For snow, pick an adjustable or knit wrist and cinch it down before you start shoveling.

HydraHyde leather for wet work

HydraHyde® leather is treated during tanning, so your hands stay dry while air still moves through the glove. The leather stays soft, so your hands stay comfortable longer, and it needs no treatment to stay soft and water-resistant. It comes as a plain work glove with a shirred or slip-on wrist, as a hybrid with an adjustable wrist, and as insulated gloves and mittens with knit or adjustable wrists, some with a ski strap.

Wells Lamont says waterproofing treatments on its regular leather gloves wear off and have to be reapplied. For hands in cold water all day, there’s also an orange insulated PVC glove. If your hands will be in wet snow or slush, choose HydraHyde or a coated glove, and keep plain cowhide and deerskin for dry work.

Leather-palm gloves for dry work

Construction crews use Wells Lamont leather-palm gloves because they last and they grip. Men’s cowhide comes with a shirred or ball-and-tape wrist, and men’s deerskin comes with a shirred wrist. Women’s styles include deerskin with an elasticized wrist, HydraHyde leather with a shirred wrist, and HydraHyde hybrids with an adjustable wrist or an open cuff. Pick the size that fits snug, because a loose glove bunches in your palm and weakens your grip on a handle.

The most common worry is that a pair will wear through in a month. Every Wells Lamont glove is unconditionally guaranteed to be free of manufacturer’s defects. Wear from the job depends on the leather you choose. Wells Lamont says its ComfortHyde® leather feels as supple as deerskin and has 70% better abrasion resistance.

Coated grip, FX3 and industrial gloves

Mechanics use the nitrile-coated gloves because oil doesn’t soak in and the thin coating lets you handle small parts. The FX3® line, in synthetic leather or with a nitrile coating, is built for fit, flex and feel without giving up protection. Latex-coated winter gloves grip an axe handle for chopping wood, and PVC palm patches add grip for shoveling snow. Warehouse crews wear the cut-resistant styles. Chemical-resistant PVC gauntlets and split cowhide welding gloves round out the industrial side.

Wells Lamont lines at a glance

Line	Material and wrist	Built for
HydraHyde®	Leather made water-resistant and breathable during tanning; shirred, slip-on or adjustable wrist	Wet work with no re-treating
Insulated HydraHyde®	Insulated HydraHyde gloves and mittens; knit, slip-on or adjustable wrist, some with ski strap	Snow and below-freezing work
White Mule™ insulated	Insulated leather, knit wrist	Cold, dry work
Cowhide and deerskin	Plain leather; shirred, elasticized or ball-and-tape wrist	Dry construction and yard work
ComfortHyde®	Leather with a deerskin feel	Abrasive handling
FX3®	Synthetic leather with adjustable wrist, or nitrile-coated	High-dexterity work
Nitrile-coated grip	Nitrile coating; also with 13-inch gauntlet cuff	Oily parts and precise handling
Latex-coated winter	Winter lining, knit wrist	Grip in the cold
PVC chemical-resistant	12-inch or 14-inch gauntlet cuff	Chemical handling
Split cowhide welding	Safety cuff	Welding

Frequently Asked Questions

Are Wells Lamont gloves made in the USA?

Wells Lamont says its work gloves are designed in the USA, and the company has made leather work gloves since 1907. The tag sewn inside the glove is a manufacturing-location number, not the style. The style number is only on the ticket attached at purchase, so keep that ticket if you want to buy the same pair again.

Are Wells Lamont gloves any good?

Wells Lamont designs its gloves to balance protection with comfort, on the view that the best safety gear is the gear workers actually keep on. Its industrial gloves are made to the performance standards safety professionals use when they spec protection for a crew. Match the line to the job, like coated grip for oily parts and HydraHyde for wet work, and the glove will hold up the way it’s meant to.

Should you oil or condition Wells Lamont leather work gloves?

On regular Wells Lamont leather, you can use a waterproofing or conditioning product, but Wells Lamont says oils and conditioners won’t necessarily make a glove last longer. Use conditioner to keep stiff, dried-out leather comfortable, not to add wear life. HydraHyde needs none of it.

What should you look for in an insulated leather work glove?

Wells Lamont says a good winter glove keeps warm air close to the skin and still lets you grip tools and run equipment safely. Look for a windproof outer that blocks wind but lets sweat escape, and materials that stay soft in the cold instead of stiffening. Down packs the most warmth into the least space but loses heat when wet, so synthetic fills make more sense for gloves that see snow and sweat.