About Wells Lamont
Wells Lamont traces back to 1907, when W.O. Wells started the Wells Glove Company in Aberdeen, South Dakota with $500 and five sewing machines. Maurice Lamont joined as a partner in 1914 and the company took the name it carries today. The brand introduced its iconic White Mule leather palm glove in 1928 and has stayed in the leather glove business ever since, later becoming part of the Marmon Group. Wells Lamont's modern lineup runs across construction, farm and ranch, gardening, industrial, welding, and cold-weather work, in leather, synthetic, and coated-knit materials, and the brand holds third-party certifications on recycled-content and social and environmental standards for parts of its product line.
In our own work glove testing on DIYRated, Wells Lamont's HydraHyde leather treatment is the detail that stands out: it solves the classic failure of wet leather gloves, which stiffen like cardboard once they dry, by staying soft and pliable after they get wet. We also found the brand takes fit seriously rather than treating it as an afterthought — its Women's HydraHyde Hybrid is cut on a genuine women's pattern with a narrower palm and shorter fingers, not a downsized men's glove that bunches at the palm and kills grip feedback. Both gloves we reviewed carry over a century of the same leather-glove expertise the company started with in 1907.
Brand website: wellslamont.com
What Wells Lamont makes
Wells Lamont's range runs wider than the products we review. The lines we know best from our own testing are marked with a star:
HydraHyde leather gloves
water-resistant treated cowhide gloves for general work, gardening, and ranch chores — featured on DIYRated — featured on DIYRated
Women's-specific gloves
gloves cut on a women's pattern for a real fit rather than a shrunk-down men's glove — featured on DIYRated — featured on DIYRated
Cut-resistant gloves
FX3 and related lines built for industrial and trade work around blades and sharp material
Cold-weather & insulated gloves
insulated leather and synthetic gloves for winter and cold-weather outdoor work
Welding gloves
heat- and flame-resistant leather gloves for welding and metalwork
Recycled & sustainable line
gloves made with recycled materials, carrying third-party recycled-content and environmental certifications as of 2024
Why we recognized Wells Lamont
The DIYRated Top Brand recognition isn't paid for and can't be applied for. We award it to the brands whose products consistently stand out in our hands-on category reviews. Wells Lamont earned it on the strength of the products below, evaluated the same way every product on this site is: bought, put to work on real jobs, and judged on merit.
Wells Lamont products we rated highly
Wells Lamont HydraHyde Slip-On Leather Work Gloves
HydraHyde-treated cowhide is genuinely water-resistant and, critically, stays soft after it gets wet and dries, instead of turning stiff like untreated leather. The slip-on design with a shirred elastic wrist goes on and off in a second with no strap to fuss with, which matters when you are pulling gloves off and on all day for yard work and gardening. A reinforced palm handles landscaping, ranching, and general outdoor work, and in our testing it covered most outdoor chores without the cost of a premium goatskin glove.
Read the 11 Best Work Gloves of 2026: A Contractor's Picks guide →
Wells Lamont Women's HydraHyde Leather Hybrid Gloves
Cut and sewn on a women's-specific pattern, with a narrower palm and shorter fingers, so it fits instead of bunching like a downsized men's glove. The HydraHyde leather palm brings the same wet-then-soft durability as the men's version, while a stretch-fabric back adds breathability and flex for detail work. In our testing it was the glove we pointed women on our crews and homeowner clients toward, and it carries a 4.7-star rating from more than 1,700 reviewers.
Read the 11 Best Work Gloves of 2026: A Contractor's Picks guide →What earned Wells Lamont the recognition
- Founded in 1907 in Aberdeen, South Dakota by W.O. Wells with $500 and five sewing machines, and making leather work gloves continuously since, through the 1928 White Mule glove to today's lineup.
- The proprietary HydraHyde leather treatment solves the classic failure of wet leather gloves, which stiffen like cardboard once they dry, a distinction we confirmed directly in our own testing.
- A genuine women's-specific glove pattern, narrower palm and shorter fingers, rather than a downsized men's cut, a fit detail most competitors skip.
- A product line spanning construction, farm and ranch, gardening, welding, industrial, and cold-weather gloves, across leather, synthetic, and coated-knit materials.
- Two Wells Lamont gloves earned a place in our work glove roundup on DIYRated, each rated 4.6 stars or higher from real buyers.