They are used for protective wear in aprons and gloves for chefs, military use, the construction industry, forest use in trimming trees, etc[1] Cut resistance has many dimensions such as force, direction, sharpness of the blade, length of the cut and flexibility of object.
[2] Metal mesh gloves are a form of chainmail, and are made of rings of stainless steel.
The cut protection is provided by high performance materials such as para-aramid (Twaron, Kevlar), high performance polyethylene (HPPE) (Dyneema, Spectra), special polyvinyl acetate (PVA) yarns (SupraBlock) or steel wire and fiberglass yarns.
One method of evaluating cut resistance is the EN 388:2016 standard, or "coup" test.
The numbers of cut cycles are recorded and compared to a cotton control fabric.