My Thumbs are Cold
October 25, 2020 7:33 PM

Which brands make warm mittens for long, narrow hands?

I live in a cold place and commute by bicycle year-round. At least, that's what am trying to do. With my current mittens, I can only make it down to just below freezing before my thumbs get too cold. I have been looking for some more-heavy duty mittens, but I'm having trouble with the fit. I have long, narrow hands, and while I can find mittens that fit me for most activities, I find I need them to be longer for biking, at least in the thumbs. When I grip the handlebars, the mittens are pulled down into the crooks of my thumbs, forcing my thumbs to bend.

If you have hands like mine, have you found the perfect mittens? I typically wear women's sizes but am open to whatever fits. I actually have some wool mittens that fit perfectly, but they aren't warm enough. However, I could use them as liners inside oversized mittens of the needed length. Simply going up in size doesn't generally seem to increase length much, and excessive width might not fit my wrists, which are narrow.

I realize pogies are an option, but I don't really want to spend the money on them when I'm not sure I would be comfortable using them.
posted by Comet Bug to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (3 answers total)
No specific recs, but as a stopgap silk glove liners can easily be worn under your mittens for extra comfort; they're a favorite of cyclists/runners because they add a lot of warmth with very little bulk. Terramar is a decent and widely available brand.
posted by givennamesurname at 7:38 AM on October 26, 2020


I destroy mittens by biking with them probably due to this exact same issue, so I tend to pick them up off the side of the road as singletons and wash before use. I've gotten some really nice workable winter biking mittens this way before. People aren't in the habit of mittens yet, and they lose them, so this is the time of year when they tend to show up.
posted by aniola at 8:25 AM on October 26, 2020


I have hands like yours! Seconding REI. I used to use a pair of overmitts with wool gloves underneath plus glove liners when it was especially cold (in the negative Fahrenheits). More recently I have gotten some nice winter sports gloves that fit very well. I need gloves that let me grip things for winter wear. They are probably men's sizes. I wear women's sizes by width but they are almost never long enough, so I almost always buy men's.

I typically wear women's sizes

Oh wait -- In gloves??? Maybe you don't have such long fingers after all, if you can manage to wear women's sizes in gloves.... But if I can find mittens that fit my long fingers at REI, surely they will have something that won't be too short for you!

I realize pogies are an option

Ok I guess I didn't stop to throughly understand your question before jumping in to try and be helpful... I'm realizing now that I have no idea what pogies are, so if it's really important that people know what option you are referencing to have a good answer for your question, well...
posted by yohko at 11:53 PM on October 26, 2020


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