Gi’s: A Taste of What’s Out There

This post is just going to be quick and dirty, because we got home late from training and I want some extra sleep.

I want to talk about gis. You know, the outfit everyone will call your Karate uniform which you will then have to explain are too thin and yours is more suited for wrestling. Or, you just smile and nod.

But really, where’s the fun in that?

There will be a lot of hits and misses when it comes to trying out different brands, and eventually you will find one or two brands that you prefer over the others, whether it be due to fit, fabric, etc.

Here is a list of what I have experienced so far:

Machado: cut well for broader shouldered, or more ‘endowed’ ::ahem::. The only problem I had with Machado was that I used Oxyclean to clean it, which acts a lot like bleach to a gi: it destroys the cotton fibers. The next thing you know someone’s gripping your collar and suddenly you both hear a loud ripping sound. The Machado I had was actually given to me, but just the jacket so I can’t really say anything about the pants.

Atama: I like the fabric, and can even deal with the cloth drawstring, but one of the seams on the jacket bothered me. I think I bruised a part of my back from where the middle seam met with the skirt seam. This it outweighed however by the fact that it looks like they actually asked a female what she would like a gi to look like, and maybe even ::gasp:: measured one, because they have women’s sizes, leading to a more comfortable fit.

Koral: I used to feel like I was training in a quilt-not anymore, but I have a short torso, and the A1 covers my butt. Defnitely not a bad thing, but it makes it a little awkward when trying to close. I feel like I’m either hiking up the bottom to properly wrap around, or I have trouble closing the lapels if I pull the bottom over my butt.

Vulcan: VERY light but rough texture on the inside. Not the gi to buy if your instructor is a fan of having you pull your body across the mat with only your arms. I had ENORMOUS, bleeding gi burns on both of my elbows after one session. And then we put New Skin on them. YOWZA! It’s like pouring rubbing alcohol on your wounds. Take it from someone who knows.

Gis I have not worn, but would be interested in trying out:

Dragao: They seem pretty standard, but sometimes it’s better to not mess with the classics.

Lucky Gi: They don’t look like gi’s that are suited for serious training, but would be interesting to take a roll in.

Krugan: The name sounds cool. That’s really my only reason for wanting to try it.

And finally, when I get my black belt…someone’s really going to have to talk me out of wearing this color gi on the mat:

Man oh man that is yellow!