Back in the day before smartphones and tablets, leaving the house in the winter meant you could grab any old pair of gloves to keep your hands warm. However, nowadays, if you’re wearing gloves, it can make it tricky to use your devices, whether you’re opening them for the GPS or picking up an incoming phone call.
Touch screen gloves are a game-changer for anyone seeking to stay connected while also keeping their hands warm. Whether you’re a winter runner tracking your mileage, a skier adjusting the tunes on your playlist, or simply someone who wishes to browse social media at the bus stop without incurring frostbite, you’ll appreciate this advancement in glove technology.
In this guide, we’ll dive into why you need touch screen gloves, how they work, how to make your regular gloves work on a touch screen, and how to take care of them to ensure dependable, long-term use. Grab your gloves; this is going to be enlightening!
How Do Touch Screen Gloves Work?
At first glance, touchscreen gloves may seem like a product of sorcery, but once you delve into the science behind them, their functionality becomes beautifully simple.
To really understand how these gloves work, however, you’ve first got to get a feel for how touchscreens work. There are two primary types of touchscreen technology:
- Resistive: recognize touch based on pressure, but they’ve become less common over the years.
- Capacitive: rely on your body’s natural conductivity. When you touch a capacitive screen with your bare finger, the electrical charges in your body create a change in the screen’s electric field, which is immediately detected and converted into precise coordinates for the device to respond accordingly.
Touch screen gloves such as the Olympia 4352 Men’s All Season II Touch Gloves are imbued with capacitive elements to work. In other words, they mimic the natural electrical conductivity of your fingers. In other words, wearing these gloves tricks your phone into thinking it’s being touched by human skin, not a piece of fabric!
What Are Touch Screen Gloves Made Of?
Now that you know that touchscreen gloves such as the Olympia 4104 Men’s WeatherKing Touch II mimic your fingers’ natural electric conductivity, you might be wondering how they actually achieve this.
The gloves are woven with conductive threads, typically in the fingertips, where your phone is most likely to make contact. Now, these threads aren’t your everyday sewing supplies.
They’re laced with materials like silver, copper, or aluminum, which are all highly conductive. Some gloves are even intertwined with conductive copper threads throughout the entire glove. Such a design allows you to use all parts of your hand, not just the fingertips, while interacting with your touch screen device.
Aside from copper, silver can be used. Gloves can be knitted with threads plated with pure silver, allowing a seamless interaction with every touch, swipe, or tap on your smartphone, the same way you would expect with bare fingers.
Can You Make Non-Touch Screen Gloves Work on a Screen?
If you’ve just picked out a beautiful pair of winter gloves only to realize they aren’t equipped with touchscreen capabilities, you might be wondering if you can still use them with a touchscreen.
The good news is that there are actually a few ways to turn regular winter gloves into a snazzy accessory, like the Olympia 730 Men’s Touch Screen Gloves.
Still, just note that the DIY method or using products like AnyGlove may not give you the accuracy you’d find in gloves specifically designed with touchscreen capabilities, such as the Olympia Men’s 100LT LINED ROPER TOUCH. However, they’re usually good enough for general smartphone navigation and can be a real game-changer in cold weather.
DIY Method
One method is to go DIY and sew conductive thread into the fingertips of your gloves. Typically, you’ll want to add this to the thumb and index fingers, which are the most frequently used.
By doing this, you can create a connection between your skin and the screen of your phone. The conductive thread effectively bridges the gap that’s created by your non-conductive gloves, creating a channel for the minute electrical current required by the touchscreen of your phone.
AnyGlove
If you’re not interested in crafting or feel that’s too involved, there are also commercial products out there tailored to provide a solution. One such product is AnyGlove.
AnyGlove is a liquid solution you apply to the fingertips of any gloves, which imbues them with touchscreen compatibility. It’s like magic in a bottle; it’s easy to use and works wonders on your favorite pair of gloves that weren’t originally meant for smartphone usage.
How Do You Maintain and Care for Touch Screen Gloves?
As a glove expert, I can tell you that taking care of your touchscreen gloves like the Olympia 110 LT Lined Women’s Rose “Touch” Gloves is just as important as choosing the right pair. Like all good things, they require a bit of tender loving care to provide you with their best service.
Here’s what to know about maintaining and storing your gloves to help them last a long time.
Maintenance
The way you maintain and clean them depends on the fabrics they’re made of.
For example, if your gloves are made of leather, you should clean them using a special leather cleaner. Remember, excessive water can damage the leather. After cleaning, condition your gloves with a leather conditioner to keep them soft and comfortable.
In the case of knit or wool touchscreen gloves, you can often hand wash them in cold water with a mild detergent. Gently squeeze out any water (don’t wring them, as this can misshape them) and lay them flat on a towel to air dry.
Synthetic gloves require more caution when cleaning. While some may be safe in a washing machine, others need to be hand-washed to avoid damaging the conductive materials. Always check the cleaning instructions provided by the manufacturer just to be sure.
One thing to always remember, no matter what type of gloves you have, is to avoid tumble-drying them. The heat from the dryer could damage the conductive threads, rendering them less effective.
Storage
In terms of storage, keep your gloves in a dry, cool place out of direct sunlight. If you’re not going to use them for a while, make sure they’re clean and dry before storing them away to prevent odor or damage.
Keep Warm With a Pair of Touch Screen Gloves
Touchscreen gloves have truly transformed the glove-wearing experience for many, especially digital natives and professionals who extensively use digital devices.
If you’re in a colder climate, they allow you to continue outdoor activities and use your tech devices at the same time. They’re incredibly practical, combining warmth and screen compatibility, and with some TLC, they’ll serve you well in all your sporty outdoor adventures.
To pick up a pair of touch screen gloves yourself, head over to Olympia Gloves and browse our offerings. Or, sign up for our newsletter to gain access to exclusive discounts and deals as well as receive insider tips to help you select the perfect pair.
