Gordini Gore-Tex Down III Women's Review

The Gore-Tex Down III Glove by Gordini is perfectly suited for ladies who want a warm glove at a great price. The down insulation will keep you warm during the coldest days at the resort, while the gloved design offers more dexterity than you'd get with any mitten.

Performance Comparison

Keep your fingers warm and your wallet padded with one of our favorite budget options from Gordini.

Photo: Ross Robinson

Warmth

Of all the gloves tested, the Gordini Gore-Tex Down III Glove (rated to 10F) is the warmest. It's loaded with 600-fill goose down (75% goose down, 25% goose feathers) on the back of the palm, with a less bulky MegaLoft insulation on the palm (providing a little more dexterity). In addition to the insulation, we love the ultra-plush and soft inner liner that is sewn into the construct of the glove. This makes it a wonderful option for sitting on an ice-cold chairlift, or while hunkering down at your favorite ice fishing hole. If you run extra cold, slip in a hand warmer into the pocket to stay roasty toasty.

Beef up this pair's warmth by sticking a hand-warmer in the pocket designed just for this purpose. The Gordini Gore-Tex Down offers a nice little pocket to incorporate a handwarmer.

Photo: Ross Robinson

This glove does a decent job in the breathability metric. The Gore-Tex liner allows water vapor to escape slowly, but the loft and insulation almost do too good a job of keeping heat trapped inside. As a result, we noticed our hands getting clammy during aerobic or warm days. It's a wonderful resort option, but we wouldn't recommend it for skiing in the backcountry.

We put each glove into the freezer for 5 minutes to look at insulative value. In the tests with this super warm glove, we saw a temperature drop, that in comparison to the rest, was quite small. Above shows the temperatures before and after the test.

Photo: Amber King

Water Resistance

In addition to providing a heap of warmth, this glove does an impeccable job of resisting water. The highly durable and water-resistant goatskin palm and reinforced thumb keep moisture out when playing in the snow. The HydroWick Denier lining keeps water out of the glove throughout the day. During blustery wintery days when the snow was wet, we skied the resort for hours, without feeling cold or discomfort. These gloves are water-resistant!

After our water tests, we learn that this durable glove is pretty awesome at repelling water. While the shell and nose wipe material did absorb some water, it wasn't much. This glove has a dry weight of 4.0 ounces.

Photo: Amber King

A use issue that we commonly encountered is associated with the liner. When hands get wet from sweat or damp for another reason, the liner is very 'grabby', bunching up and sticking. Getting a wet hand into this glove can feel near impossible, which lost it some points with us.

The shell is made up of stretch-woven Nylon and leather. Nylon is known to absorb water, which accounts for the little water taken in during this test.

Photo: Jenna Ammerman

During our water dunk tests, we were happy to learn that the Gore-Tex Down III gloves did not leak, just like other gloves with a Gore-Tex insert. It also only absorbed 2.4 oz of water during our tests. We recommend this glove for all types of climates and all weather conditions.

Dexterity

This glove is not as mobile as other thinner options on the market. It does offer more dexterity than a mitt, but because it is loaded with so much insulation throughout its construction, it's harder to use for finer tasks. We do appreciate that most of the insulation is concentrated to the back of the glove, allowing for more mobility in the palm, and that the leather palm is quite buttery, which adds more to the dexterity. It's a fine glove for the basics at the resort — putting on your boots, zipping up jackets, or grasping your ski pole, but for more technical purposes, a thinner, more mobile glove would be a better option.

The Down III has enough dexterity to get the job done, but the insulation-infused craftsmanship limits its uses. Don't expect to use these glove for super fine tasks or technical purposes. It truly does best at the resort.

Photo: Ross Robinson

Features

The Gore-Tex Down III glove has all the features you need for playing in the snow at the resort. An integrated wrist leash is handy when you need to remove your gloves quickly without having to store them in a pocket. No fear of dropping a glove from a chairlift with the leash attached, the gloves just hang off the wrists. The back of the hand has a small pocket that perfectly fits a hand warmer. On extra-frigid mornings, we like the small addition of warmth.

Wrist leashes are all kinds of convenient.

Photo: Ross Robinson

The wrist cinch is simple, and we love the quick cinch and release around the gauntlet. There are also quick clips that hold the gloves together when not in use. The nose wipe on the thumb also kept us happy during snotty days on the mountain.

Simple and effective wrist cinching.

Photo: Ross Robinson

Our wishlist? With technology being such an important part of our lives these days, we wish this glove had touchscreen compatibility as well as a removable leash. A longer gauntlet would be helpful to keep snow out during super deep days in the mountains. We also like that we could use a super-thin glove liner with this glove to provide additional warmth and versatility.

Heat injection.

Photo: Ross Robinson

Durability

We are impressed with the craftsmanship and durability of this glove. Throughout the testing period, the insulation did not pack out or lose warmth, even after washing and our dunk tests. The stitching is very precise, but not seamless.

Also, we love the goatskin leather palm — one of the most durable leathers out there. Even though it only comes with a one-year warranty, we think it will last a few seasons at the least. In general, it was more durable than most contenders.

These Gordinis raise the roof on quality performance and value.

Photo: Ross Robinson

Value

In our humble opinion, we think this glove offers some of the best value of any of the gloves in this review. It's a high scoring ski glove with great warmth and overall performance on the ski hill. It is definitely worth the value, and if you seek an affordable and very warm glove for resort skiing, this is the one to get.

Nothing like an empty resort with warm, dry, and mobile fingers. The Gordini Gore-Tex Down III stands out as one of the warmest gloves you'll find, infused with down insulation.

Photo: Ross Robinson

Conclusion