Care Guide: Gloves

In combat sports that involve striking, you will almost always have one piece of equipment: gloves. Whether you train in Muay Thai, mma, boxing, or kickboxing, this staple piece of equipment is important to protect your hands from damage, while you hit hard.

No matter if you have the bigger boxing gloves for striking-only disciplines (Muay Thai, boxing, kickboxing) or if you have the smaller gloves for hybrid combat sports (mma, sambo), you will need to take care of your gear.

Like any piece of equipment or apparel, your combat sports gloves need to be cleaned after they are worn to help prevent bacterial infections and bad odor.

Unlike clothes, YOUR GLOVES CAN NOT AND SHOULD NOT BE PUT IN THE WASHING MACHINE/LAUNDRY.

For gear that is not apparel, liquids and moisture are the enemy when it comes to storage.

Let’s say you sweat a lot when you strike and do not clean your gloves after training sessions. The sweat and moisture will be absorbed by the interior of the boxing gloves and slowly destroy the padding and inner lining. It will also cause your gloves to develop a terrible, terrible smell that is nearly impossible to get rid of, meaning you will have to buy new gloves.

So how can you clean your gloves?


Disinfectant spray
The quickest and easiest way to clean your gloves would be to spray them down with a disinfectant spray.

First, dry off any liquids/moisture on your gloves with a paper towel. Then, spray the interior and exterior of the gloves (or anywhere that has come into contact with the glove). Spraying your gloves with a disinfectant spray will keep the growth, spread, and development (into viruses) of bacteria at bay. The drying off + disinfectant spray method is extremely quick and convenient to do

Disinfectant wipes
Wiping your gloves by hand will take a little bit more time, but it will ensure a more thorough cleaning and allow you to sanitize parts of the glove that a spray would have missed (ex. fingertips of a boxing glove).

First, dry off any liquids/moisture on your gloves with a paper towel. Next, take a disinfectant wipe (you will need more than one, especially if you have other gear like shin guards that you have to clean) and wipe down the entire interior of your glove. After wiping the interior, move to the exterior and wipe the entirety of the glove.

Tip: Avoid the scratchy part of the velcro straps, as the wipe will be torn apart by and get stuck in this velcro.

When the wipe you are using dries out and no longer has the liquid feel to it, responsibly dispose of the wipe and get a new one. When your wipe no longer leaves the shiny cleaning fluid on the gloves after wiping, this is a sign to get a new one. We said earlier that liquid/moisture are the enemy and that is still true. This fluid will dry up quickly, but if you would like to dry it off with a wipe afterwards as well, feel free to. This also applies to the spray method

Washing Machine + Dryer
DO NOT PUT YOUR GLOVES IN HERE. Please and thank you


Drying
Air drying your gloves is the easiest and most effective method. Open the straps so that they are at the loosest setting (if you were to wear them), which can be done by putting the end of the scratchy velcro (only) onto the softer velcro. This will create the largest possible opening into the inside of your gloves, which is what you want: more room for air to cycle in and out of.

Air them out until it’s time to pack them for your next training session. If you train multiple times a day, try to air them out for at least 8-12 hours to ensure they are dry before using again (you may also want to look into alternating between different pairs of gloves, if you can afford it).

Make sure that the gloves are left to air dry in an open area that does not restrict air flow. Do not leave them in your zipped up bag.

Tips that other people have found to help:
Putting their gloves on a boot dryer - helps speed up the drying process (air drying your hair vs using a blow dryer)
Using glove deodorizers (linked below) - to help prevent any odor
Blowing a fan into your gloves - also helps speed up the drying process

Make sure that the shin guards are left to air dry in an open area that does not restrict air flow. Do not leave them in your zipped up bag.

Sanabul glove deodorizers


Thank you for reading - we hope this care guide for gloves was helpful!