Are you looking for the ways how customisable boxing gloves are made? With the popularity of boxing, rise of mix martial arts and ever increasing number of people taking up striking martial arts there’s been an increasing demand for the boxing gloves that stand out from the crowd.
Catering to this demand are a host of companies that, often embracing online design systems, offer custom boxing gloves. But not all customization is created equal. Pretty much everyone can customise colors for you, but what methods do these companies use to add those additional touches that make your gloves really stand out?
Printed Leather
I guess this technically could come under the color options banner, but printing is a great way to have your gloves customised. Take the Infinitude Fight Raptor Xtremes that we reviewed – the take a design you chose and print it onto your gloves. For the pair we reviewed Infinitude printed a replica of my sak yant tattoo, which is a reasonably complex design, and recreated it in perfect detail on my gloves. You can also get patterns, text and other designs printed directly onto the leather of your gloves.
Embroidery
Most commonly used when it comes to adding text, such as a fighters nickname or initials, embroidery gives, in my opinion at least, a certain class to the glove. The thread can be any colour you want, and provides another element of texture to a pair of gloves. The downside is the limited application to intricate designs.
Painting
This ones more unique. Some brands, namely Grant, actually crack out the paintbrushes and hand paint their designs. Similar to embroidery painting is typically reserved for initials and other detailing, but get someone who’s good at caligraphy and you’ll have a pair of gloves that are very high quality. Unique painting jobs are uncommon but also possible. Though technically not customised Fairtex released a range of gloves called ‘The Painter’ which featured paint splatters that were 100% unique to each pair.
Tattooing
This is definitely thinking outside the box, and I’ve only seen it done once in a recent Yokkao video. The results were questionable, but the possibility of having a highly skilled tattoo artist create you a completely unique pair of gloves is definitely appealing.
Top 10 Best Custom Boxing Glove Brands
If you follow many Professional boxers online you’ll no doubt see countless training videos where the boxer is using a beautifully designed custom pair of boxing gloves, complete with their name or logo. It’s pretty easy to see the appeal – you can make a pair of gloves which reflects your own unique personality and train with something truly unique to you.
Obviously when you’re paying for bespoke boxing gloves you’ll often be paying a slightly higher price than ‘stock’ models of the same quality, so if you’re a beginner then you’ll get better bang for your buck by sticking to regular pairs.
That said, if you’re really into your training or simply don’t mind paying that bit extra for something uniquely designed, then custom made boxing gloves can really take your equipment collection to the next level. In no particular order, here are 10 of our favourite brands who offer custom made boxing gloves.
- SABAS
- iBox Customise
- Topboxer
- Grant
- Winning
- Rival Boxing
- AMMO Boxing
- Adidas
- Unique Luxury
- Beast Coast
SABAS: Customisable boxing gloves
Sabas is a USA based brand selling Mexican style gloves with a strong emphasis on style, while still being well praised for their comfort, padding and price.
With SABAS you can choose from a variety of colours (including velcro), the glove model, velcro or laces, embroidered names and even logos.
iBox Customise
We’ve used iBox Customise’s gloves and can personally say that they deserve a place on this list. What sets iBox apart from many other brands is that as well as contacting them directly, you can also customise your own gloves with their interactive online gear customiser and get an instant visual representation of how your equipment will look.
As well as different leather choices (Including unique animal skin textures) you can also choose from different padding types to change the protection and feel of the gloves.
TopBoxer
TopBoxer, is a small Pakistan company who primarily produce custom boxing equipment. Unlike many Pakistan brands, TopBoxer have really stood out in terms of quality, and the the brand have developed a loyal following for their equipment.
Many of TopBoxer’s gloves use metallic leathers for a premium feel, however in our opinion their custom logo embroidery is second-to none, even pulling off some more complex designs which other brands avoid.
Grant
Grant are one of the ‘Big 3’ alongside Winning and Cleto Reyes in terms of established professional boxing gloves, with plenty of fighters using them as their go-to brand for competition gloves. Grant’s Boutique service isn’t cheap, however they’re one of the most established and trusted on the list.
Winning
Winning sit alongside Grant as one of the ‘Big 3’ in professional boxing, however Winning have a much better reputation as training gloves, with their softer, more protective padding having earned them a reputation as one of the more protective brands of boxing gloves.
Winning’s customisation is a little more limited than most of the brands on this list, focusing more on colours and printed visual, usually in the form of a name printed underneath the Winning logo, however they have been known to produce slightly more unique gloves occasionally.
Custom Winning gloves can be difficult to get hold of, and there’s often a long waiting period involved.
Rival Boxing
These days Rival are just as popular as Winning, Grant and Cleto Reyes, however when Rival do custom gloves they do it properly.
Rival can give you good control over the visuals of the gloves, changing the colours of leather and logos, however if you’re looking for something even more bespoke then they have a brilliant history of absolutely stunning fully printed designs. If you have more of a ‘concept’ in mind rather than just colours and a logo, then Rival may be the best way to truly bring it to life.
AMMO Boxing
AMMO Boxing are a lesser known UK brand delivering a premium quality glove at a lower price. We’ve tested some of their stock gloves, but they’ve also produced some brilliant custom designs.
In our opinions AMMO are best if you’re looking for a softer padded glove, and they specialise in producing clean, sharp visuals.
Adidas
Adidas are a well known sports brand, but not as popular in the boxing world.
Something a lot of people don’t know however is that Adidas have a brilliant boxing glove customiser, allowing you to choose your options and see a live photographic visualisation as you order. The Adidas gloves seem a great choice if you’re looking for metallic colours, and have the option to include your own name or text printed under the logo.
Unique Luxury
Unique luxury are a newer brand based in Azerbaijan who have dedicated themselves to producing custom boxing equipment. There may be a little bit of a waiting period, but their recent equipment looks classy with some great colours to choose from and the option of embroidered text.
Beast coast Unlimited
Beast Coast Unlimited are another brand you may not have heard of, but who have a great offering of custom equipment. Beast Coast, who are based in the USA, have produced an array of great designs, with some powerful colours, and can also incude your own text or logo as well. More importantly though, they can create custom shin guards as well, meaning that if you’re into your Muay Thai, Kickboxing or MMA you can also get a great custom kit.
How to Customize Boxing Gloves
In order to continue creating amazing customs, it’s important to continue learning new techniques and ways to create unique designs.
For this week’s tutorial, Austin (also known as @jarcustoms) was nice enough to stop by the studio to teach you how to create a custom pair of boxing gloves. Customizing a pair of boxing gloves has been on our list for a while now so we’re super excited to have final knock these out.
Just like customizing a pair of sneakers, you’re going to want to start by preparing the leather on your boxing gloves. Otherwise, the paint will not adhere effectively to the surface. Prepping it will help avoid chipping and peeling after you’re done.
To prep the gloves, use a cotton pad to apply an even layer of Leather Preparer and Deglazer to any area that you plan to paint.
After applying the Leather Preparer and Deglazer, you can use masking tape to tape off the bottom section of the gloves.
By using masking tape and paper towels to separate the bottom and the top of the gloves, you can prevent paint from dripping down into unwanted areas.
Once the gloves are prepared, it’s time to start painting.
For this project, Austin started by using an airbrush with a mixture of paint and 2-Thin to paint over the wrist section. Since the wrist section is black, start with a layer of gray paint, then light gray, before finally moving on to white. This will make sure the base is completely covered.
Apply two to three coats of each color, and let each layer completely dry before applying another.
Next, Austin used a mixture of light blue, white, blue, and 2-Thin to create a sky blue base for the wrist section.
Again, be sure to apply multiple light coats and allow each coat to completely dry before applying another.
Next, it’s time to move on from the airbrush and start painting your design.
For this project, Austin painted the wrist section to mimic the classing The Simpsons opening sequence. He also used a custom Everlast stencil to finish off the section.
Of course, if you want to paint a different design, you don’t have to stick with the same theme.
Now, it’s time to transfer your design to the top portion of the glove. To do this, Austin made custom stencils to easily transfer his sketch over to the gloves.
To make a quick custom stencil, place masking tape over a section of your sketch, use a pencil to sketch the outline of your design, then use a detail knife to cut out the stencil.
To use the stencil, simply tape it on to the glove, and use your airbrush to fill it in with a flat white base coat.
Then, use a brush to fill in all of the finer details in the stencil. You can repeat this step as many times as necessary to complete the rest of your design.
Lastly, once you’ve finished painting your design, use an airbrush to apply a final layer of Matte Acrylic Finisher.
This acrylic finisher will act as a clear protective top coat to protect the gloves from minor scuffs and scratches. Once the finisher dries, your gloves are done and ready to go.
