About

Gloving is a hand-and-finger dance subculture centered on gloves with LED lights in the fingertips. Gloving stems from 1990s EDM rave culture and was invented in the late 2000s. It was commonly performed in dark clubs and venues for fellow ravers. Viral videos of gloving first surfaced on YouTube in 2006 and retained relevance in the 2010s and 2020s.

Notably, in late 2025, several memes and short-form comedy skits that mocked the "Gloving Community" surfaced on TikTok, portraying the hobby as cringe and a waste of time. Some of the memes also ironically portrayed gloving as a full-time job, akin to internet jokes about being unemployed. Many of the gloving memes referenced popular TikTok glover Infinite Puppet (@infinite_puppet). The term Degloving was also used in the memes, as it was labeled the ultimate glover punishment.

History

According to the website Glow LEDs,^[3] gloving was inspired by the use of glowsticks and white gloves at rave parties in the 1990s. Glowsticks were often held by ravers to accentuate light trails seen when under the influence of illegal substances. White gloves were worn similarly, as they caught the black lights used at rave venues.

The prevalence of glowsticks and white gloves in the early 1990s was also discussed in a 2016 article by Vice,^[4] titled "The Ten Weirdest 90s Rave Customs According to Slipmatt."

Footage from early 1990s raves on YouTube^[2] and TikTok^[1] also shows ravers wearing white gloves and holding glowsticks.

According to Glow LEDs,^[3] gloving emerged in the late 2000s, when ravers began putting small LED lights in the fingertips of their gloves.

Online Precense

The first known viral gloving video was shared by YouTuber^[5] syxx7wun on April 3rd, 2006, showing glover HermesPaiPai at a Rank 1 show in San Francisco, California.^[6] Over 19 years, the video received over 119,000 views.

On October 18th, 2009, YouTuber^[7] TheTeamTruth shared a video of glover Gummy performing a routine dubbed "The Bunny Show." Over 16 years, the video received over 4.6 million views. The video was shared in promotion of EmazingLights, the first manufacturer of gloving gloves.^[3]

In the following months, the TheTeamTruth YouTube^[8] channel shared several gloving tutorials hosted by glovers Gummy and Ha-Ha.

On October 5th, 2011, the /r/gloving^[9] subreddit was created, and as of early December 2025, it has over 3,200 members.

Gloving videos continued to go viral on YouTube^{[10] [11]} and Twitter / X ^[14] in the 2010s and 2020s.

In 2022, TikToker^[12] @infinite_puppet shared his first gloving video on the app, gaining over 1,100 likes in three years. @infinite_puppet's presence notably brought new attention to gloving in the 2020s, as several of his videos went viral.

For instance, on September 5th, 2024, TikToker^[13] @infinite_puppet shared a gloving video of him teaching another glover how to do a finger roll, gaining over 816,600 likes in a year.

In July 2025, TikTokers Carrington Bornstein, Chase Keith and Troy Zarba created a satirical gloving account on TikTok^[15] called @thelightboyzz, in which they pretended to be gloving enthusiasts.

For instance, on July 21st, @thelightboyzz posted a parody wholesome TikTok^[16] showing Zarba with a text overlay caption, reading, "When he realized gloving was his passion." Over five months, the video received over 34,000 likes.

On October 29th, 2025, TikToker^[17] @soweenie posted a video skit in which she played a Tinder date who "won't stop light gloving." Her character's seen sitting on a bed with gloves on her hands and feet. Over two months, the video gained roughly 82,400 likes.

On December 5th, 2025, TikToker^[18] @drakoarmy posted a parody video in which he played a glover character telling the viewer, "2 facts about the gloving community you might not know." Over four days, his video received roughly 284,300 likes.

On December 8th, TikToker^[19] @phillmccracken3 shared a video caption meme, using a clip of a guy gloving, paired with text overlay, reading, "When my mom says I need to get a j*b but my gloving career is taking off." In a day, the video received over 151,500 likes.

Degloving

In medical terms, "degloving," like in the Degloved Face shock media trend, refers to an injury in which all layers of the skin are torn, revealing the muscle and bone structure below. In late 2025, as memes that mocked gloving surfaced en masse on TikTok, jokes about degloving were introduced. In many of them, degloving was portrayed as a punishment in the gloving community. A photo of streamer IShowSpeed looking terrified with his hands covering his screaming mouth was commonly used in these degloving posts.

Degloving was first posed as the antithesis of gloving by TikToker^[18] @drakoarmy in his viral video shared on December 5th, 2025.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References

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