Guide

The EN388 Glove Label, Decoded

By the Innovative Gloves & Safety technical team. Published July 2026, last reviewed September 2026.

EN 388 is the European standard for gloves against mechanical risk. Its shield pictogram is followed by a short code, usually four to six characters, that shows up on many imported gloves but that few North American buyers read. The current edition is EN 388:2016+A1:2018; the 2016 revision added two characters to the older four-digit mark.

The code, position by position

Read the characters left to right. Each position is a separate test.

EN 388:2016 marking, in order. The last two characters are optional and appear only when those tests are run.
Position	Property	Scale	A higher score means
1	Abrasion	0-4	More rubbing cycles survived
2	Coupe cut	0-5 or X	More passes of a rotating blade
3	Tear	0-4	More force needed to tear it
4	Puncture	0-4	More force to push a point through
5	Cut (EN ISO 13997)	A-F	The reliable cut measure for high-cut yarns
6	Impact	P	Passed the back-of-hand impact test

What each score means

Abrasion counts the sandpaper cycles the palm survives, from 100 at level 1 up to 8,000 or more at level 4. Tear runs from 10 newtons at level 1 to more than 75 at level 4. Puncture is the force to drive a standard point through, from 20 newtons at level 1 to more than 150 at level 4.

Cut is measured two ways, and this is where most misreadings start. The coupe test in position 2 runs a spinning round blade back and forth until it cuts through, scored 0 to 5. It suits everyday materials. But a high cut-resistant yarn blunts that round blade as it turns, which flatters the score, so EN 388:2016 adds the EN ISO 13997 test in position 5: a TDM machine draws a fresh straight blade once and records the newtons of load needed to cut through, scored A to F.

Why the best cut gloves show an “X”

When a yarn is cut-resistant enough to dull the coupe blade, that test is no longer valid, so the lab marks position 2 with an X and reports the real performance as the letter in position 5. An X in the cut slot is not a hole in the protection. On a true high-cut glove it is the expected mark, and the letter beside it is the number that counts.

That is why a modern code like 4X43F can describe a more cut-resistant glove than an older-style 4543, even though one shows an “X” where the other shows a “5.” The X means the yarn was too cut-resistant for the round coupe blade, so its true cut grade is the F it earned on the tougher ISO 13997 test.

EN ISO 13997 cut letters. EN 388 newtons and ANSI grams are not directly convertible; the crosswalk table further down shows the approximate overlap, but always read a dual-rated glove by its own two markings.
Letter	Cut load
A	2-5 N
B	5-10 N
C	10-15 N
D	15-22 N
E	22-30 N
F	Over 30 N

The last two characters

Position 5 is the ISO 13997 letter above, and it shows only when that test was run. Position 6 is a P when the glove passed the EN 13594 impact test for the back of the hand; with no P, impact was not tested or does not apply. A 0 in any slot means the material scored below the lowest band, and an X means the test was not performed or not applicable.

Decode one yourself

Take 4X43F. That is abrasion 4 (8,000 or more cycles), coupe cut X (too cut-resistant for the round blade), tear 4 (over 75 newtons), puncture 3 (100 to 150 newtons), and cut F (over 30 newtons, the top band). In plain terms, a heavy cut and tear glove built for sharp metal work.

How do EN388 letters map to ANSI cut levels?

US buyers often need to line an EN388 glove up against an ANSI/ISEA 105 spec. There is no exact conversion: the two run similar straight-blade TDM tests but under different procedures and units (EN388 reports newtons under ISO 13997; ANSI reports grams under ASTM F2992), so the bands overlap only approximately. What you can do is line up the force bands approximately. Treat the table below as a rough overlap, not an equivalence, and when a glove is dual-rated, trust its own two markings over any conversion.

Approximate force-band overlap only, not an equivalence. EN388's letter scale ends at F (over 30 newtons), so every glove from roughly ANSI A6 up marks the same F; the EN letter cannot tell an A6 from an A9, only the ANSI grams can. Dual-rated gloves are tested separately under each standard, so read both markings.
EN ISO 13997 letter	Cut force (newtons)	Approx. grams	Closest ANSI/ISEA 105 level
A	2-5 N	~200-500 g	A1
B	5-10 N	~500-1,000 g	A2
C	10-15 N	~1,000-1,500 g	A3
D	15-22 N	~1,500-2,200 g	A4
E	22-30 N	~2,200-3,000 g	A5
F	Over 30 N	3,000 g and up	A6 and above

Frequently asked questions

What does the X in an EN388 code mean?
An X means that test was not performed or does not apply. On high cut gloves an X in the second slot is expected: the yarn dulls the coupe test's rotating blade, so the lab reports the true cut grade as the A to F letter later in the code.

Is EN388 cut level 5 the same as ANSI A5?
No. A 5 in the second position is the top coupe test score. The scale runs 1 to 5, with a 0 marked when a tested glove misses level 1. ANSI A5 is a gram band on a different test. The two are unrelated numbers, and a coupe 5 tells you less about a high cut yarn than the A to F letter does.

What changed between EN388:2003 and EN388:2016?
The 2016 revision added the EN ISO 13997 cut letter, A to F, which becomes the required cut result when the yarn dulls the coupe blade, and an optional P for the back of hand impact test. The abrasion and coupe procedures were also revised, so old and new datasheet scores are not always like for like. A four character code is almost always the old 2003 format. The current edition is EN 388:2016+A1:2018.

What does the P at the end of an EN388 code mean?
P means the glove passed the EN 13594 impact test for the back of the hand. No letter means impact was not tested or does not apply. It is a pass or fail mark, not a scale; for graded impact protection North American buyers use ANSI/ISEA 138 levels 1 to 3.

Is a glove marked 4X43F better than one marked 4543?
Usually yes for cut. 4543 is the old four character format with a coupe 5. 4X43F carries an X in the coupe slot and earned an F, over 30 newtons, on the ISO 13997 test, which is the reliable measure for high cut yarns. Read the letter first on any modern high cut glove.

Do EN388 ratings convert to ANSI cut levels?
Not directly. EN ISO 13997 reports newtons and ANSI/ISEA 105 reports grams on different procedures, so there is no exact conversion. The crosswalk table above shows the approximate force band overlap. A dual rated glove is tested separately under each standard, so read both markings.

Pair the EN 388 code with the ANSI cut level whenever a glove lists both. Tell us the hazard and we will match a line, decode its markings for you, and ship a free sample with the cert documents.