Best running gloves of 2024: keep your hands warm and protected

Our favourite running gloves we’ve come across, the La Sportiva Trail Gloves are functional, lightweight and well-fitting. These two-layer gloves have an additional mitten layer attached to the wrist, which wraps neatly round the fingers and provides extra weatherproofing. It can be stowed away easily one-handed into the small pouch set into the glove’s wrist to revert back to a fingered glove.

The form of the glove itself mimics the natural shape of the hand really well, with the thumb panel tucked in more than splayed outwards, like in other gloves. The top of the thumb has a layer of felt which serves well for wiping sweat and your nose (trust us, it’s useful), and there’s a slither of hi-vis on the outer fingers. These slight details really boost the functionality of the gloves.

On the index finger there’s touchscreen compatibility, and it’s the most responsive we’ve come across. Meanwhile a nice and soft felt material is used on the inner palm of the glove for comfort. Despite all this, the glove remains lightweight and breathable, weighing in at 30g each. Best of all, in a world where most gloves are made based on the sizes of male hands, the size S fit this female tester’s hands perfectly (tester hand length and width 17cm).

These Ultimate Performance Reflective Gloves are a nice and breathable pair of running gloves that fit true to size and add a huge boost to your visibility when running at night. The gloves are made from an iridescent multi-colour reflective material, which only becomes bright when caught by the light. Otherwise during the daytime, they appear a subtle black.

The gloves are a good thickness for running and have useful features like a felt panel on the thumb for wiping away sweat and touchscreen compatibility on the index finger. This works well, though it would have been nice to have on the thumb also. Silicone grippers on the palms are handy for grabbing poles, or climbing over stiles, in safety. The size XS fit well for our small female tester’s hands.

The Arc’Teryx Venta Glove is made to be a lightweight glove with wind and rain protection for running, hiking, and skiing. The Venta has a stylish and striking design, with the most prominent feature being Arc-Teryx’s use of Gore-Tex Infinium on the softshell outer fabric which gives the glove a good level of water-resistance when running in the rain.

Inside is a thin, waffle-knit Primaloft insulating fleece which keeps the hands cosy and warm down to around five degrees celsius. There’s TPU detailing on the palm to aid grip and touch-compatibility on the index finger and thumb, which works well on touchscreens.

At the wrist is a softer jersey knit with additional flex to cinch the glove in place, though this could be tighter to better secure the glove while running. In terms of sizing, we’d appreciate smaller sizing options to be available as an XS, though true to size, was still a bit too large for our female tester (hand length and width 17cm).

The Dynafit Upcycled Light Gloves are exactly that, a thin and lightweight pair of gloves for running into the autumn and winter temperatures. These gloves are made to be a snug-fitting second skin, with the thinnest fleece inner and slim overall material that’s super breathable and quick-drying.

The gloves are titled ‘Upcycled’ as Dynafit say they use fabric scraps from production of their other apparel to create them. The palm has diagonal-set silicone grippers to help when holding poles, with Dynafit’s ‘no pain’ ‘no gain’ slogan blazoned across each palm. Fit is good due to the quantity of elastane used, secure wrist-cuffs, and no-faff design. Sizing runs slightly small, but it’s worth bearing in mind that these gloves are also designed to be snug.

We've found these Adidas Terrex gloves are very effective at keeping biting winds at bay and are reasonably water resistant too.

The use of Gore-Tex Infinium is to thank for that. Infinium is Gore-Tex's highly breathable fabric that, while not fully waterproof, is highly water- and wind-resistant.

The fit is quite tight, much like a liner glove, but has plenty of stretch which keeps them comfortable. Yet despite the impressive weather protection, these gloves remain highly breathable.

We liked the palm and index finger grip, and touchscreen compatibility. Both of these features make using a smartphone or smartwatch very easy. But do note the touchscreen compatibility doesn't work well if the phone has a screen protector.

The Montane Trail Gloves are our go-to when we’re after a thin, packabe glove to add a bit of extra protection and warmth to our runs. On first look, they look a lot like neoprene wetsuit gloves with the same simple, single-layer softshell fabric wrapping round the whole hand. This is Montane’s Gore-Tex Windstopper polyester with DWR coating, which makes the gloves more windproof, while remaining thin and breathable.

Inside is a soft, brushed fleece material for comfort, while on the palms are some widely spaced silicone dots designed to aid grip. Both the index finger and thumb have touchscreen compatibility, yet this takes a few tries to work. The gloves aren’t super thick or insulated, which is ideal for running as it means no overheating on the go and they pack down small in our running pack when not in use. Sizing is unisex and true to Monatane’s size chart.

Compressport’s 3D Thermal gloves are a ‘thermoregulating’ pair of sweat-wicking gloves made specifically for running. They’re made to trap air within the 3D knit and insulate the hands, while remaining thin and breathable when the hands warm up.

A waffle knit provides extra reinforcement across the palm and thumb, while a contact yarn has been woven into the fingertips of the thumb and index finger for touchscreen compatibility, which works very well.

The 3D Thermal is made to provide a ‘second skin’ fit, the flexibility of the glove however does mean that even when skintight it remains comfortable and gentle against the skin. Our only issue with the 3D Thermal was the proportions of the glove, with the fingers being made too long. Perhaps this is down to the two size options available trying to cover too wide a range of hand sizes, and thus the gloves only really being optimal for larger hands.