Giant Gloves

Fabric Tech & Weather Performance

Giant's TransTextura™ fabric does more than wick - it manages the microclimate between your hand and the glove shell, so you're not sitting in damp warmth halfway through a wet Welsh ride. On descents especially, a clammy glove cools fast; the active moisture transfer here keeps things more stable. The TransTextura Plus™ variant adds an anti-microbial treatment, which matters for gloves that spend a lot of time stuffed in a jersey pocket or a damp kit bag.

For winter riding, Giant integrates windproof membranes across the back of the hand on models like the Chill range. That's the surface taking the full brunt of wind chill at 25 mph on an exposed Peak District road, and stopping that convective heat loss is where thermal gloves either earn their keep or don't. The outer shell on these models also carries a DWR coating - it won't make them waterproof in a sustained downpour, but it sheds light rain and spray well enough for most UK winter commutes and sportive days.

The Amara™ synthetic leather palm is one of the more practically useful choices Giant makes. Real leather grips well dry but becomes slick when soaked; Amara maintains consistent bar feel across wet and dry conditions, which is exactly what you need when you're wrestling a gravel bike through a muddy Lincolnshire bridleway. It also cleans up easily, which matters when grime is ground in from repeated use. Compared to some rivals - Endura gloves, for instance, use similar synthetic constructions - Giant's palm shaping tends to be more anatomically contoured around the pad placement, reducing bunching at the grip points.

Understanding the Giant Fit & Range

Road-specific Giant gloves fit close. The back-of-hand panel is cut to lie flat without bunching under a jacket cuff, and the overall profile is narrow enough that you won't lose bar feel through extra material. That snug fit also helps the Wiretap touchscreen-compatible fingertips actually work - conductive threads need firm contact with the screen, and a baggy fingertip defeats the purpose.

MTB and trail models take a different approach. There's a touch more room across the knuckles, reinforced zones at the high-wear points (index finger edge, thumb base), and the padding is tuned for flat bar geometry, where hand position and vibration loads differ from a road drop. If you're running Giant grips on your mountain bike, the glove padding is designed with complementary pressure mapping in mind - worth knowing if you're building a complete contact-point setup. Winter gloves across the range fit slightly fuller to trap a layer of warm air; that's intentional, not a sizing inconsistency.

If you're shopping for fingerless, half-finger mitts for summer road or gravel riding, those aren't covered here. Head over to the Giant Mitts page, where the warm-weather, open-finger options are listed separately so you can compare them properly.

For alternative full-finger options from other brands while you're comparing, Castelli gloves and Giro gloves are worth a look alongside - different fits and padding philosophies that suit different hand shapes.

Layering & Care for UK Riding

Cold hands are often a circulation problem before they're a glove problem. Keeping your core warm with a good base layer keeps blood flowing to the extremities - so pairing Giant's thermal gloves with a solid upper-body layering system makes a real difference on a January morning ride before your hands have had a chance to warm up. It's the combination that works, not the gloves alone.

If you're running Giant bar tape on a road or gravel bike, choosing a padded cork or gel tape reduces the vibration load reaching your palms, which means the Progel™ padding in the glove isn't doing all the work by itself. That matters on longer rides where cumulative pressure builds up.

For washing: machine wash at 30°C, use a mild technical detergent, and skip the fabric softener entirely. Softener leaves a residue that degrades the DWR coating and breaks down the Amara synthetic leather faster than normal use would. Air dry away from radiators - direct heat causes the materials to stiffen and can cause the palm to crack at the seams over time. It's a five-minute job to sort them properly after a ride, and it keeps them performing and fitting correctly for a full season.

Sizing-wise, Giant gloves generally run true - measure your hand circumference against their size chart and you'll land in the right place. If you're planning to wear a thin merino liner glove underneath a winter model, sizing up gives you the room to layer without losing dexterity.