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The haul of bags you inevitably end up with when Christmas shopping can leave you fumbling for your credit card while half your purchases end up on the floor.

Now Barclaycard claims it has the answer to such shopping woes. 

The bank is trialling prototype 'tap and pay' gloves that let shoppers pay for items with a swipe of their hand in the same way they would with their contactless cards.

Forget chip and pin: Barclaycard's gloves are embedded with a small contactless chip that can be linked to a credit or debit card. As with contactless cards, they can be used to pay for transactions of up to £20 ($31), without the need to enter a PIN at the till

Prototypes of the gloves are currently being trialled in the UK, with a view to possibly making them available to consumers more widely next year.

This is the latest move towards wearable technology, which people can use to help them deal with their everyday finances.

In November, Nationwide Building Society announced that its customers can now check their balances using a watch on their wrist.

Nationwide said members who have downloaded the mobile banking app for Android will be able to access their balance using their Android Wear smartwatch.

Big spender: Prototypes of the gloves are currently being trialled by Barclaycard in the UK (pictured) with a view to possibly making them available to consumers more widely next year 

Hands on: The gloves (pictured) are the latest move towards wearable technology which people can use to help them deal with their everyday finances

They can also set the smartwatch to give them daily notifications of how much money is in their account.

The Barclaycard gloves are embedded with a small contactless chip that can be linked to a credit or debit card.

As with contactless cards, they can be used to pay for transactions of up to £20 ($31), without the need to enter a PIN at the till.

Contactless technology has become increasingly popular in recent years, with 45 million contactless cards now in circulation and more than 300,000 places where contactless payments can be made across the UK.

Barclaycard said that the contactless readers that currently exist would not have to be specially adapted in order to be compatible with the gloves.

It is also considering making the gloves available to non-Barclaycard customers, but its plans will depend on the feedback it receives from initial trials.

Mike Saunders, managing director of digital consumer payments at Barclaycard, said that if the prototypes prove popular, the gloves 'could be bringing some festive cheer to bag-laden shoppers by Christmas 2015'.

Mr Saunders said wearable technology is seeing huge growth, with consumers generally wanting items that are easy to wear, fashionable and that have added functions.

The technology used within the gloves is adaptable to other items of clothing or accessories and Barclaycard had considered the possibility of creating tap and pay bracelets, handbags, hats or even elbow pads.

But the consumer research it carried out suggested that a warm pair of woolly gloves would prove particularly popular as a payment method.

The gloves are also touchscreen-enabled so shoppers can also wear them when using their phones.

Barclaycard added it is working on 'his and hers' versions of the gloves, with the women's version having a softer and more 'fleecy' appearance than the men's.

His and hers: Barclaycard said it is working on different versions of the gloves, with the women's version having a softer and more 'fleecy' appearance than the men's