Ironclad Gloves: Dexterity, Protection and Performance

For 20 years, Ironclad Performance Wear has been innovating and field-testing its gloves for workers who need equal parts dexterity and protection. It set de facto standards decades before the standards bodies caught up to its knowledge and research of materials and how they work in the real world. 

It all started with a kitchen and bathroom renovation back in 1997.

Ed Jaeger, founder of Ironclad Performance Wear, was helping his friend with the demolition work for a renovation job and needed a pair of gloves. His friend handed him a pair of old work gloves.

After a few hours of using them, Jaeger’s hands were blistered, and he couldn’t get a good grip on his sledgehammer because his hands were sweaty.

Jaeger improvised.

As an avid motorcyclist and dirt bike rider, Jaeger had a pair of well-fitting motocross gloves in his truck. So he changed into those. He was able to get a better grip, and the glove material wicked the sweat from his hands.

Unfortunately, by the end of the day, his motocross gloves were worn out and unusable. Jaeger turned to his friend and suggested they needed gloves with the material and gripping ability of motocross gloves, but with even more protection and wear.

“Good luck with that,” his friend replied. “They don’t exist.”

Impact Gloves Born Out of Extreme Sports

Fast forward 20 years.

Ironclad Performance Wear has become a highly innovative glove company—bridging leading-edge, patented sports technology with industrial-strength hand impact protection.

“My brother literally called me that day and said, ‘I’ve got this, this idea. You’ve got to tell me what you think because I think there’s a market here for it,’” says Eric Jaeger, general manager of Ironclad.

A little research proved that there was nothing comparable being produced for the contractor world and that people were willing to spend money on a quality product if it would help them get their jobs done efficiently and safely.

“That’s how Ed started the company. He was the first one to create this market of high-performance, high-dexterity work gloves that are based on the fit, form and function of sport gloves,” Eric says.

In 1999, the company began selling performance gloves to local pipe-fitting stores, drywall houses and lumber yards. It started with one style. But each year, it added more styles for more specific job types, such as roofing and masonry work.

In year two, it offered four glove styles. In year three, it progressed to eight styles—and in 2006, the company expanded into the industrial safety market.

Pushing Innovation in Glove Impact Resistance

In 2008, leaders of the oil and gas industry (including ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips, Halliburton and others) commissioned the company to conduct R&D into gloves that could reduce and prevent hand impact injuries. The companies wanted to reduce back-of-hand injuries, such as fractures, bruises and avulsions, that were prevalent in the drilling industry.

At the time, hand injuries represented more than 70 percent of all oil and gas jobsite injuries, which not only caused serious harm to workers but also cost companies significant amounts of money and resulted in lost productivity.

As part of its research, Ironclad performed first-of-its-kind, landmark studies with the University of Wisconsin on hand impact forces and impact protection levels. That research showed that Ironclad’s KONG— King of Oil and Gas—line of gloves could reduce the hand-impact force by up to 90 percent.

The company developed impact testing methods and ratings as early as 2010, nine years before ANSI issued its impact testing standard. The company has continually expanded the range and options for impact gloves, including models with cut protection, weather protection, chemical protection, enhanced grip, enhanced visibility and more.

“There are a lot of impact gloves on the market now, but that wasn’t the case 10 years ago,” says Eric, who has a degree in biomechanical engineering. “We created this market through our work with oil and gas leaders. The biggest injuries they were seeing were from blows to the back of the hand. We spent nine months on product iterations and field-tested our designs with 20 people in the first round.”

Ironclad used questionnaires spread across three companies. From that feedback, Ironclad tested its second design with 60 people—where it discovered the impact protection worked well but the grip needed more refinement, Eric explains. The company asked its factories for a grip solution. None existed, so Ironclad designers continued to develop one.

“We’re the very first company to come out with a glove that has full impact protection on the back of the hand and fingers, knuckles, metacarpal bones, thumbs, and every joint and every bone on your hand,” Eric says.

“We can actually measure the impact protection and let you know the level of additive protection you’re getting versus not wearing a glove,” Eric explains. “We can even tell you at what force you’re going to break a finger or break a knuckle when you’re not wearing a glove and at what force you’re going to break that finger or knuckle when you’re wearing a KONG glove.”

After 14 months of development, field trials and redesigns, including an even-larger third trial, the drilling companies that were testing the glove reported 80,000 incident-free hours of use for the KONG gloves.

A Measurement System That Emphasizes Precision in Safety Glove Fit

Ironclad produces a wide range of impact glove styles and has 27 U.S. and international patents for glove technology. With 95 trademarks for the Ironclad and KONG brands worldwide, Eric says the company takes pride in its ability to match fit and protection by focusing on what matters: producing gloves that have protected more than 6 million hands from impact damage.

“What makes us unique is we have a proprietary 16-point measurement system,” Eric says. “Nobody else does that. Others will have the factory use their hand fit system and they might measure one or two specifications on the glove, and then let the factory grade it up and down. We don’t do that. Every single size on every one of our gloves is precisely measured.”

Here’s why that matters: The differences in the materials for the wide range of gloves and their use cases make for uniquely different sizes and fits, he says.

Two gloves might both be a large in size and meant to be worn by one person, but the materials—knit versus leather or a synthetic; having impact pieces or insulation—will mean each fits differently.

“Every single measurement on them will actually be different—every one,” says Eric.

An insulated glove is going to be much bigger on the outside. A glove with impact is not going to flex as much as a glove with a big stretchy back on it. The measurement for the fabrics themselves will be unique. Therefore, a more precise level of measurement is needed to get the fit that best suits the worker, he says.

“Every single one of our gloves has a different measurement spec, and then each size has a different measurement spec—and we determine that. We don’t ever let the factory determine it,” Eric explains. “People have an experience with our product that’s very unique and very different. We feel we’ve set the bar pretty high. People put on our gloves and they react, ‘Oh, yeah, yeah, that’s mine.’”

The Value of Real-World Glove PPE Testing in the Field

Beyond its extensive measurement approach, Ironclad also takes iterative product design and testing seriously.

Field-testing is paramount. It tests within many companies and with individual testers across a spectrum of industries and use cases.

The company even goes so far as to find owner-operators who can field-test for uncommon environments, such as metal fabricators who are also innovative artists.

One such tester is Rene Pacheco, an artist and fabricator who owns Blunt Steel, a small shop in San Diego. An avid skateboarder, Pacheco has a penchant for making everything from backyard fences and skateboard tabletops to steel signs and logos for local coffee shops. He’s also created intricate sculpted trophies for extreme sporting events for Red Bull, Mountain Dew and Thrasher magazine.

“My father is a retired diesel mechanic and welding engineer, so I’ve been around this pretty much my whole life, and it was always a hobby,” Pacheco says. “I turned it into a business about five years ago.”

Using his hands to create his work is essential, but so is protecting them. Burns are common in fabrication because there is some welding.

“I have used different types of gloves over the years and the gloves have always been really big and hard to work with because they’re primarily just for welding,” Pacheco says. “Time is of the essence when I’m fabricating and on a creative path. You’re trying to move quickly.”

Pacheco would often have to take off the gloves to use a screw or tack weld. Since field-testing with Ironclad, things have changed.

“I’ve been able to use Ironclad gloves that hold up really well and keep my hands from burning and protect them from sharp edges,” Pacheco says. “It’s important to have a glove that fits right and can be used for what you need.”

Pacheco primarily uses Ironclad’s latest Command Series gloves, which have the protection and agility he needs—and are designed for use with touchscreens. It is the first glove line to use embedded nanoparticle technology in the glove palm, allowing users to take full advantage of touchscreen input devices without having to remove their gloves.

Workers no longer have to sacrifice safety and efficiency for the gains in productivity, communication and convenience that touchscreen devices bring to the work environment.

“It’s really easy to put on, and in today’s day and age, being able to access

my phone or iPad is really important to me. I handle my own social media, so during certain builds I’ll pull out my phone and take pictures during the process,” Pacheco says.

In 2019, Ironclad won Pro Tool Innovation Awards in two categories for the Ironclad Command Impact Hi-Viz Touchscreen Glove and the Ironclad Command Knit A4 Foam Nitrile Touchscreen Glove.

From Field-Tester to the Creator of ‘Handzilla’

Pacheco has become a unique field-testing representative. And Ironclad has become an admirer and patron of Pacheco’s art. In fact, the company commissioned Pacheco to design and build a large-scale glove sculpture that Ironclad uses at events and trade shows.

Known as “Handzilla,” the fingers of this larger-than-life glove sculpture are adjustable. The company uses it as a booth exhibit for event attendees to take pictures and post on Instagram. It’s quite the draw at trade shows, Jaeger says.

Pacheco not only tested Ironclad’s current Command Series touchscreen gloves but also gloves in earlier prototyping and materials trials, says Markham Nacion, a senior industrial designer at Ironclad.

“We’ve gone from natural material like leather into man-made materials like aerogel and silicone-treated fabrics that give him the dexterity that he demands but also give him the protection that is essential for him to do his work,” Nacion says. “It’s important for him to have a glove that has a very thin, lightweight feeling, but at the same time works as heat protection.”

When working with a flame, you have to have the material thickness to allow for that level of protection.

To view Ironclad gloves on MSCdirect.com, click here