FIVE, the brand
Welcome to FIVE, the glove specialist.
FIVE: Our name sounds obvious, since our vocation is to protect the hand (and the FIVE fingers that go with it...) during activities requiring the wearing of a high-performance technical glove, such as riding a two-wheelermotorcycle, scooter, bike). For the past 20 years, we've been helping to increase riding pleasure while protecting the hand from the risk of injury in the event of a fall, by equipping millions of motorcyclists and cyclists around the world. The glove is not only an element of safety, but also of comfort.
Our promise can be summed up in three words:
Protection / Fitting / Design.
PROTECTION
Because your hands are precious. Imagine having to go even one day without being able to use one of your hands because of an injury, however minor. Any activity would be all the more difficult, and the discomfort all the more painful. Protecting your hands is essential.
We don't always think about it, but by reflex, we tend to put our hands forward in the event of a fall. They are therefore particularly exposed. Our ambition is to reduce the risk of specific injuries associated with riding, by offering gloves that protect against possible falls (but also against rain, wind, cold, etc.).
FITTING
Because the glove is the link between you and your two-wheeler. To enjoy the pleasure of riding a two-wheeler, this link must be able to disappear into the background. At the same time, every decision you make on the handlebars - whether to accelerate, brake or modify your trajectory - must be perfectly reproduced. A good feel for the controls (and, by extension, the motorcycle or bike) is essential. It's even an additional guarantee of safety. And it has to be done in comfort. Our aim is clearly to contribute to the pleasure of riding, by offering motorcycle and bike gloves that are comfortable because they fit perfectly.
DESIGN
Because we attach great importance to functional aesthetics. In our opinion, the shape of each of the parts that make up a glove results from the role assigned to it (protection, comfort, ventilation, abrasion resistance...). That's why we design each component specifically, without ever using standard parts, so that a FIVE motorcycle or bike glove is exclusive and distinctive. Our designs are often copied, but never equalled! So go for the original, FIVE, THE motorcycle and bike glove specialist.
We specialize in motorcycle and bike gloves.
The complexity of the hand lies in the fact that it is an extremely sensitive limb (to cold, heat and impact), highly exposed in the event of a fall, and endowed with numerous small, fully articulated elements (bones, tendons, muscles, blood vessels). Above all, it is through the hand that one of our five senses is transmitted: touch.
In other words, any part of the glove that turns out to be poorly designed or badly placed is immediately felt to be awkward. A glove that doesn't fit properly or isn't adapted to your morphology or riding style can considerably diminish your riding pleasure, or even spoil what should have been a great motorcycle or bike outing. Your attention will be focused on the discomfort rather than on the beauty of the landscape you're riding through. That's why the glove has to fit perfectly over the grips and levers of your hand, and allow every joint to move freely.
That's why our gloves are pre-formed, and why we make sure that the protective elements, as well as those promoting joint mobility, are perfectly positioned. As you can see, we don't design a pair of gloves the same way we design a piece of clothing. The glove is not simply an extension of the jacket or jersey, contrary to what generalist brands might lead you to believe. When it comes to gloves, the approach has to be even more technical, due to the miniaturization of the parts assembled, their number and the freedom of movement of the hand, which is complex to achieve yet essential. For, by definition, superimposing layers of fabric and protective elements can quickly prove to be a hindrance to the hand's mobility, if the know-how isn't there.
That's why we've chosen to be THE Glove Specialist. Because we believe in the virtues of specialization and expertise. It's hard to imagine how complex it can be to design an effective, high-performance glove. Designing an "aesthetically beautiful" glove, as many brands do, is relatively easy. Creating a glove that is functional, elegant, comfortable and protective - whatever the size, and in mass production - is a completely different challenge. That's what we do. We are neither smarter nor more intelligent than the general equipment manufacturers. We claim to offer above-average gloves because that's all we do. We devote all our work, hour after hour, day after day, month after month, year after year, to a single product: the glove! And that's how we continue to develop our expertise and constantly improve the quality of our products.
A FIVE glove often offers more.
Even beyond the notions of comfort and perfect fit, a FIVE glove often offers more than a competitor's glove, if you look at it in detail.
This may not be obvious at the time of purchase, but it makes a huge difference in use. In comfort, protection and durability. If you compare the materials used in FIVE gloves with those used in the rest of the range, you'll find that for "supposedly equivalent" products (in price, for example), FIVE often offers more. Genuine full-grain leather when competitors offer synthetic leather. Genuine carbon when some brands are content with simple carbon-look plastic. Kevlar® lining when competitors don't offer reinforcement. External seams, more comfortable but more difficult to achieve, versus standard seams, etc. Our leitmotiv: to offer the best possible product at the best possible price.
The qualities of a FIVE glove are best appreciated in use, even more so than in the store.
Adopting the best components and materials:
FIVE's trademark.
We integrate the very best technologies into our products. This leads us to select renowned technical partners, such as GORE-TEX® (waterproof membrane), Primaloft®, Dupont de Nemours® (Kevlar®), Gütermann® (for threads that are tough but not sharp) and D3O®, and to adopt their innovations on our most advanced products. For example, we were the first to integrate Nanofront®, an absorbent, non-slip material from Japan, into the palm of our top-of-the-range motocross glove, for unrivalled grip.
We don't just design our products. We manufacture them in our own partner factories.
Our technicians and staff ensure that every glove leaving our production lines complies with the initial specifications drawn up by our R&D department in France and our technical laboratory in Italy, which has generations of glove expertise and ensures that our patterns (and gloves) work perfectly... from the smallest to the largest size!
The glove is intended to dress the hand, but it is also made "by hand", by expert workers and seamstresses. The number of manual operations required to produce a glove is considerable, from making the protective parts to cutting, decorating, assembling and sewing the components. They manipulate fabrics, rigid parts and assemble them, using a "simple" sewing machine, with a dexterity you'd hardly believe. An essential aspect of the comfort and fit of a motorcycle or bike glove is the attention paid to its assembly.
At FIVE, for example, we demand twice the industry standard in the precision of the finger assembly seams. This lower tolerance in terms of deviation in seam alignment is an additional constraint for our workers, and requires them to pay particular attention. But it is essential to perfect fitting, and is one of the keys to FIVE's expertise.
Producing in our partner factories enables us to maintain complete control over our production, including quality control.
Precisely because our motorcycle and bike gloves are assembled by human beings, and not by robots (which would be incapable of reproducing the gesture of a seamstress), it sometimes happens that a slight discrepancy at the moment of assembly results in a seam that eventually falls apart over time. This remains exceptional, and concerns less than 1% of our production (0.6% to be exact). This is well below the industry norm. We take pride in this low rate (zero defects simply don't exist) and back it up, to our customers' advantage, with Premium after-sales service, through our international network, to bring total satisfaction to FIVE glove users.
The development of FIVE gloves is based on feedback.
By collaborating with top riders and athletes, and by listening to the needs and feedback of thousands of users around the world, we develop ever more comfortable and protective motorcycle and bike gloves.
We test our gloves in the extreme conditions of top-level competition, before bringing them to market. And the innovations we adopt for racing benefit the consumer products in our range.
Our official motorcycle racers compete in the MotoGP, Moto3, Superbike, Supersport, Endurance, Supermoto, Motocross and Enduro world championships... and our cycling athletes compete in cross-country (XC) and downhill (DH) world championships. They wear FIVE gloves on every track and terrain on the planet, and actively contribute to the evolution of our products.
So, when Michele PIRRO crashed at over 300km/h at Mugello in 2018 and got up without the slightest hand injury, we were happy and proud to have equipped him. In spite of himself, he helps us to study the behavior of our gloves in real-life situations. Far beyond laboratory tests.
Similarly, when Peter HICKMAN wins the Isle of Man Tourist Trophy (the world's fastest and arguably most dangerous road race) - setting the average speed record at 219 km/h, when Dominique AEGERTER becomes double Supersport World Champion in 2021 and 2022, when the YART team becomes Endurance World Champion in 2023 and 2025, that Thomas CHAREYRE becomes an eight-time World Supermoto Champion or Steve HOLCOMBE wins nine World Enduro Championship titles, that Tom Pidcock and Pauline FERRAND-PREVOT become consecutive World and Olympic Cross-Country Mountain Bike Champions in 2023 and 2024, each equipped with FIVE gloves, we can't help thinking that our products do indeed meet the expectations of the most demanding riders and athletes.
If riders are at the heart of our product development strategy, it's also out of passion. Because everyone at FIVE shares a love affair with motorcycle and bike sport. In fact, our teams include a number of ex-pilots and professional athletes, and we are fortunate to share a bond of friendship with many champions who have worn or are wearing our gloves. We're always proud to see our official riders brandishing their trophies and breaking out the champagne on the podium, wearing FIVE gloves, a sign that they've fulfilled their role to the full during the race 😉
But above all, we design and manufacture our gloves for our customers. For those of you who drive or ride on a daily basis, or simply for pleasure. That's why we always listen carefully to your feedback on our products. So that we can learn from your experience and pass it on to future generations of gloves.
Thanks to all of you who choose to ride with FIVE gloves 😉