A few things that are always forgotten;

[SaxonCamel]

While it is true that the price of only a few hand armor is not worth it, that does not make it any less useful. 4 body armor is actually quite a lot, in my opinion. Of course I am not saying that the price of hand armor is worth it, I am saying that the few extra armor points will take you somewhere.

Some of the upgrades between armours only yield a change of +2 or +4 armour, hence the cost-benefit is disproportionate when compared to a few thousand that could be spent on wisby/ornate gauntlets.

You see a lot of people with decent craftable armour  but no gloves.