Kart gloves are all sold in letters, and the letters do not mean the same thing at each brand. An Alpinestars M and a Sparco XS fit the same hand. One measurement sorts it out.
Measure your palm
1Around the knucklesAcross the widest part of the palm, at the base of the fingers. Leave the thumb out.
2Loose fistClosed just enough that the hand is in a driving shape.
3Dominant handUsually the slightly bigger one, and gloves come as a pair in one size.
Your size in each brand
Sparco and OMP put their letter row two steps up the numeric ladder, so their XS is a numeric 8. Alpinestars map letters straight onto it, so their M is that same numeric 8. That is why the Alpinestars column sits two letters higher all the way down.
Full charts
SparcoXXS to XXL. The widest kart glove range we carry.▼
OMPXXS to XL. Within half a centimetre of Sparco throughout.▼
AlpinestarsS to XXL. Their bands are exactly 8, 8ยฝ, 9, 9ยฝ and 10 inches.▼
The Tech 1-KX V4 is also sold in XS. Alpinestars publish measurements for S to XXL only, so ring us with your palm measurement for the XS rather than working it out from the S row.
Small hands and junior driversSparco and OMP go down to XXS, which is a 19 to 20.7 cm palm, and that is the smallest kart glove on the site. Alpinestars stop at S. If you are buying for a child measure first, because below about 19 cm none of these will fit properly and we would rather tell you that before you order.
How a kart glove should fit
Tight, with no slack in the palm
Any spare material rolls up under your hand on the rim and you lose feel through the wheel, which is the whole point of wearing them. Slightly tight when new is usually right. Leather and suede give a little over the first few sessions; a knitted or stretch fabric glove does not, so buy that one to fit on day one.
Wet weather gloves go over nothing
The Sparco K-Tide, OMP Rain-K and Alpinestars Tempest are wet gloves worn on their own, not over a dry pair. Size them the same as your normal gloves rather than going up.
Standards
FIA 8877-2022 is the current kart clothing standard. Gloves marked Non-CIK or Non-FIA are practice, wet weather or arrive-and-drive gloves. Both appear in this category, so check the approval on the product if you are running in a championship.
Sparco from sparco-official.com. OMP from the size chart on their Tecnica glove page. Alpinestars from the size guide on their Tech-1 Race V4 page. All checked 2 August 2026.