Wednesday 26 September 2012

The frustrations of buying a Judo gi

This is how frustrating I am finding buying a new gi that actually fits me. In my last post I mentioned that I had ordered a new gi from Kicksport, a Tagoya Master which was £70 in the sale. I am 6ft 3 and weigh approx 94kg or 207lb (14 stone 11lb), so I ordered a size 6.5/195. The website does mention that this gi will shrink approx 3-5% after washing so I figured after a hot wash the 195 would be a perfect fit on me. The gi arrived yesterday and I was excited about wearing it that evening in training but when I got it home and tried it on it swamped me. The arms were 3-4 inches too long, the skirt was down to my knees and the lapels could have wrapped around me twice.
Out of curiosity I tried on the trousers as well and these weren’t too long but they were so baggy, they would have fit Tom Platz.



 Honestly the trousers would have looked baggy on a clown.

Anyway I will be sending the gi back for a refund as this was the smallest size of this gi that they had in stock.

So why am I so frustrated? Well I own two Black Eagle single weaves that are size 7/200 which have shrunk to a point that they would now be illegal in competition. Although I appreciate the double weaves don’t normally shrink as much as the singles I still assumed that a 6.5/195 would be a good fit.
I also purchased a Blitz Olympian double weave a couple of years ago that was a size 190 and this was even bigger than the Tagoya. I tried on a friend’s Adidas J800 in a size 6/190 and this was too small in the arms, although it was a nice fit in the body. Oh and before I forget, I bought a BJJ gi a couple of years ago that was supposed to shrink after washing, only to find that it didn’t at all, so I had to sell that on eBay at a loss.

Why can’t gi manufacturers make gis that are all pre-shrunk, so you know exactly what you are getting, and not make gis that are not modelled on this guy.

It would also be nice to have some sort of standardised sizing, so that a size 6/190 is the same size for Adidas, Fighting Films, Tagoya, Toraki etc.
So for now, the search for a new gi goes on. If anyone can recommend a gi that would fit someone of my dimensions then please let me know. Until then I will continue to train in my over shrunk, slightly yellow single weave.