Wash them less than you think
Two things are true about washing heated gloves, and almost every guide on the subject skips both.
The manufacturers disagree with each other. ORORO tells you not to soak the glove and to wash one side at a time. Gerbing tells you to fill a basin, swirl the garment for a minute or two and rinse it until the suds are gone. SealSkinz says a damp cloth and nothing more. Those are three different instructions for what looks like the same job, and following the wrong one voids your warranty at best.
Washing is the risk, not the dirt. Every full wash is an opportunity to shift a heating element, soak a connector or crack a leather palm on a radiator. The Heat Company advises against washing leather gloves often at all. Gerbing suggests wearing a silk liner and laundering that instead. The best maintenance routine for heated gloves is mostly a routine for not having to wash them.
So: check your own manual first, spot clean whenever spot cleaning will do, and save the full wash for when the glove genuinely needs it.
Remove the battery, then close the pocket
Every manufacturer agrees on this and it is the one step you cannot skip. Disconnect the battery, take it out of the pocket entirely, and put it somewhere dry.
Then do the part people miss. Push the power connector back inside the battery pocket and zip it shut. ORORO’s manuals specify this, and Gerbing says the same in different words. The reason is that the connector is a set of exposed metal terminals, and leaving it dangling in a basin of soapy water is how you corrode the contacts on an otherwise healthy glove. Zipping it into the pocket keeps it dry and stops it snagging.
While the battery is out, look at the cable where it runs into the cuff. ORORO recommends checking the connection cable and connectors regularly for signs of fatigue, and this is the natural moment to do it, since the cuff is where the wiring flexes most and where it usually fails first.
Your brand’s instructions are not the universal ones
Here is what four manufacturers actually publish. Read the row that matches your gloves rather than an article that averages them.
| Brand | Immersion | Method | Drying |
|---|---|---|---|
| ORORO | Not fully | Hand wash cold, one side at a time | Line, hang or flat |
| Gerbing | Yes | Basin, mild detergent, swirl and rinse | Flat between towels |
| SealSkinz | No | Damp cloth, circular motions | Drip dry away from heat |
| The Heat Company | Sparingly | Brush dry dirt first, then hand wash | Upright, room temperature |
Taken from each manufacturer’s published care documentation. Instructions vary by model within a brand as well as between brands, so the label in your own gloves outranks this table.
Where they all agree is the list of things never to do, and that list is worth memorising because it covers the ways people actually destroy these gloves: no machine washing, no tumble drying, no dry cleaning, no ironing, no bleach, no wringing or twisting, and no hair dryer or heat gun to speed things up.
Washing a fabric-shelled glove
This is the conservative version, which works whether or not your manual allows full immersion. If yours does allow it, you can be less careful than this. If it does not, do not exceed it.
1. Get the dry dirt off first
Let mud dry completely, then take it off with your fingers or a soft brush. The Heat Company makes this the first step and it matters, because rubbing wet dirt into a fabric shell drives it into the weave rather than removing it.
2. Work with cold or lukewarm water and a little mild detergent
A few drops is enough. Gerbing names a wool-safe detergent, and the principle behind that is what matters: no bleach, no biological powder, and no fabric softener, which coats fibres and ruins whatever water repellency the shell has left.
3. Clean one side at a time
Work the cloth over the outside, then turn your attention to the lining where sweat and skin oils collect, which is what actually makes gloves smell. Keep the water out of the cuff and away from the battery pocket.
4. Rinse until no soap is left
Detergent residue attracts dirt and irritates skin. Rinse longer than feels necessary.
5. Press, never wring
Squeeze water out between your palms, or lay the glove flat between two towels and press. Wringing is the single most damaging thing you can do to a heated glove, because the heating wire runs the length of each finger and twisting is exactly the load it is not built for. Every manufacturer here prohibits it explicitly.
Drying kills more gloves than washing
The temptation after washing is to speed the drying up, and everything you might reach for to do that is banned by every manufacturer on this page. No tumble dryer, no hair dryer, no heat gun, no radiator, no direct sunlight.
Heat does two separate kinds of damage. It degrades the insulation on the heating wire and the adhesive holding elements in place, and on a leather palm it drives out the natural oils and leaves the leather stiff and prone to cracking. The Heat Company puts it plainly enough: never put leather gloves on a radiator.
Air dry at room temperature and be patient, because a thick glove takes a day or more. The Heat Company suggests gloves dry best upright rather than flat, which lets water run out of the fingers instead of sitting in them. If your glove has a liner, do not turn it inside out to speed things up, since that stresses the wiring at the finger seams.
Do not wear them until they are completely dry. ORORO’s manuals are explicit that a heated garment should not be used when wet, including from heavy sweat, because water entering it raises the risk of electric shock. This is the one instruction on the page that is about you rather than the glove.
Leather needs conditioning more than it needs washing
Most of the gloves we cover have leather somewhere, whether that is a full sheep leather palm or a patch on the index fingertip, and leather is the part of the glove that responds worst to washing and best to maintenance.
Gerbing recommends treating gloves with a leather conditioner and waterproofer, and says regular treatment can double a glove’s working life. That is a large claim for a cheap product, and it is more useful than any washing tip here.
They also explain something worth understanding about waterproof heated gloves. Their waterproof membrane sits underneath the outer leather, which means the leather itself still soaks up water even though the glove keeps your hand dry. A saturated leather shell is heavy, slow to dry and cold, so treating the outside is not redundant just because there is a membrane inside. The same logic applies to the goatskin and membrane construction on the ski gloves in our skiing guide.
The routine is simple. Wipe leather with a damp lint-free cloth rather than washing it. If it has had a full wash, let it dry completely at room temperature, then work in a conditioner to replace the oils the water pulled out. Do this once at the start of the season and once in the middle, and the leather will outlast the electronics.
How to wash them less often
Gloves rarely need washing because the outside is dirty. They need washing because the inside smells, and that is a problem you can prevent rather than solve.
Wear a thin liner
Gerbing recommends a silk liner for exactly this reason: it takes the sweat and skin oils, and you launder the liner instead of the glove. A pair costs a few dollars, adds warmth, and removes most of the reason you would ever wash the glove itself. If you are already wearing heated liners inside a shell, you have this covered already.
Air them after every use
Open the cuffs and leave them somewhere with moving air rather than stuffing them in a bag or a pocket. Most glove odour is bacteria in a damp lining, and drying the lining out promptly is what stops it establishing.
Spot clean rather than committing
A damp cloth on the dirty area, a soft brush on dried mud, and nothing else. This is SealSkinz’s entire recommended method, and for most of the year it is enough for any brand.
Take the batteries out at the end of the season
Not for cleanliness, but because a battery left in a glove over summer is the most common way these packs die. That is covered properly in our guide to how long heated glove batteries last.
Do and do not
Always
- Remove the battery before any water goes near the glove
- Put the connector back in the pocket and zip it shut
- Read your own care label before following any guide, including this one
- Brush off dry dirt before introducing water
- Air dry at room temperature, however long it takes
- Condition leather once the glove is fully dry
Never
- Machine wash, tumble dry or dry clean
- Wring or twist, which is what breaks the wiring
- Use a radiator, hair dryer or heat gun to speed up drying
- Use bleach, biological detergent or fabric softener
- Iron them, for any reason
- Wear or power them while any part is still damp
Common questions
Can heated gloves go in the washing machine?
No. Every manufacturer we have checked prohibits it, and the reason is mechanical rather than electrical. The agitation shifts the heating elements inside the fingers, which produces cold spots or an outright break in the wire. Hand washing is the most any of them permit, and several permit less than that.
Do I really have to take the battery out?
Yes, and put the connector back in the pocket afterwards. Removing the battery stops the glove powering on accidentally while wet. Zipping the connector away stops the exposed metal terminals sitting in soapy water and corroding, which is the failure people do not anticipate because the glove looks fine when it goes in.
Can I soak heated gloves in water?
It depends entirely on the brand, which is the most useful thing on this page. ORORO says not to soak them fully and to wash one side at a time. Gerbing describes filling a basin and swirling the garment. SealSkinz says a damp cloth only. Check your own manual, because following another brand’s instruction is how people void warranties.
How do I get the smell out of heated gloves?
The smell is bacteria in a damp lining, so treat the cause. Air the gloves open after every use rather than leaving them in a bag, and wear a thin liner that you can launder instead of the glove. If they already smell, clean the lining specifically with a little mild detergent on a cloth, rinse well and dry completely before wearing.
How do I dry heated gloves quickly?
You do not. Every acceleration method available to you is prohibited: tumble dryer, hair dryer, heat gun, radiator, direct sun. Heat damages both the wiring insulation and any leather. Air dry at room temperature, upright so water runs out of the fingers, and plan on a day or more for a thick glove. If you need gloves sooner than that, you need a second pair.
Do heated gloves need waterproofing treatment?
Leather ones benefit from it more than most people realise. Gerbing says regular treatment with a leather conditioner and waterproofer can double a glove’s life, and points out that on their gloves the waterproof membrane sits under the leather, so the outer skin still soaks up water unless it is treated. A saturated leather shell is heavy, slow to dry and cold, membrane or not.
The whole routine, in order
Take the battery out, put the connector back and zip the pocket. Brush off dry dirt. Clean with cold water and a few drops of mild detergent, following your own manual on whether the glove may go in the water at all. Rinse thoroughly, press the water out without twisting, and air dry at room temperature for as long as it takes. Condition any leather once it is completely dry.
Then do the more valuable thing, which is arranging not to need that routine often. A cheap liner takes the sweat, airing them out after every use stops the smell starting, and a damp cloth handles most dirt. Heated gloves are not fragile, but they are the kind of product that gets destroyed during maintenance rather than during use.