Q:

What are some substitutes for gloves? 

I sometimes have to grab thorny or other rough objects that tear my hands up.  I usually try to carry work gloves (just a example), but I don't always carry them and those are expensive.  Other things I do is use my sleeves, pants or jacket, but that tears the clothing up.  Is there something that I can carry with me that is cheap, I can somehow attach to several pieces of clothing and won't care if I lose? 
I tried grabbing debris or using my foot but that never works.  Cheap to me would be under $5.00 and something possibly over could be helpful, depending on the times I can use it.  Any substitutes would be helpful.  The task it would have to survive:

Climbing trees.  They have bark and it needs to be gripping.  
Grabbing thorns.  Thorns tear at my hands and some fibres cut into the palms.  I do a lot of gardening tasks. 
I dig and touch dirty things a lot.  So I would grade suggestions on how well they can be cleaned. 
A plus would be anything warm.  Because my hands swell when exposed to cold or even slight trauma. 

The object would have to agree with some if not all of these terms.  I will not discriminate

A:

The cheapest and most durable is the latex coated glove made for gardeners (the average price is $1.75/pair) which can be easily carried. 
If you want some hacks you can make your own from jeans (denim) and paint/tar/silicone/flexible glue like:

In this case you should calculate with the cost of used materials and the time spent! 
Nice LifeHacks in 2015!