shuriway

After the issues I had with the Seishin Gi (in another post), I thought I would go back to trying a Shureido Gi again. My usual preference was the K10 or FA10 can't remember now. Anyway I contacted Shureido in Okinawa and was advised I should try the New Wave 3, as I sweat heavily. I had to have the pants shortened by them as they seemed excessively long on their size chart. I'm 5ft 10ins and 195lbs. Everything else seemed to be okay according to their chart. I had name embroidery too. I order a new black belt at the same time. Order placed and now the wait. The wait. Oh and did I mention the wait? Gi and belt eventually arrived and now time to try it on. First impressions are that the material is quite stiff and with the usual blue tint to the white. The embroidery on the jacket is nice but the white stitching of the six stitched area goes over the black of the katakana. I don't like that idea very much. The cuffs and pants have eight rows of stitching. On it goes and holy moly the size is crazy. Length of the pants are great as I asked for adjustment. But the width. Damn I look like a circus clown. Really baggy around the legs and butt. Whose legs are they designed for? A body builder I think. I could probably fit two of me in there. The jacket is really long, almost to my knees. I will get used to this I guess. I prefer longer sleeves and they go right to my wrists. Again probably a little too long if I'm honest. The shoulders are wide, which is nice as I have quite broad shoulders and it has what seems like a soft cotton extra inner for sweat absorption around the shoulder area. I need this as I sweat like a pig. So a nice addition. We shall see how this works. The jacket is quite narrow though. I'm not fat by any means but if you have a large stomach this will be quite tight when the cords are done up. I know you can adjust the jacket of course but it still feels narrow compared to the length. The length of the jacket is probably comparable with the Seishin I have, maybe even slightly longer. So not overly impressed so far. Nothing like the previous FA10 or K10 I ordered years ago, which was really soft. I decided to wash it before heading to the dojo. Washed in cold water, no softener and air dried. It came out stiffer than it went in. Like cardboard. Horrible to be honest. Tried it on again and very little shrinkage if any. So I decided to wash it again adding a little softener this time and upped the temperature a little. Air dried in a tumble dryer this time with no heat. Same results. Stiff as a board, little to no shrinkage with minimal creases. Okay. At least one good thing, less ironing. The blue tint has lessened too. But damn is it stiff. Okay, it needs to be worn in the dojo now.

Thanks. You're absolutely right. I should have stuck with Shureido. I lived in the UK until recently and I always used to deal direct with Shureido in Okinawa. Unfortunately lead times seem to have got longer and longer. Hence my reason for trying something different. I also had to adjust the length of my pants on the Shrueido Gi's too, which was a pain. But I did like the Gi overall.

As many of you had suggested I had already contacted Seishin about the shrinkage etc with my Gi. I was told that they had not had an issue with the batch of Gi's that my order was part of. (does that suggest maybe they have issues with other batches?) They agreed to send me another Gi after they had received my Gi back in Sweden. As I teach most days I asked if they could send the replacement Gi prior to mine being received, and they also agreed to this. Unfortunately this went completely wrong. I sent my Gi back but then all contact with Seishin was lost. I sent email after email and got no response. Gave them the tracking number on the Gi I returned, still no response. I had orders for other items with Seishin too, which I had not received and it got to the stage where I had to make a decision to buy a Gi elsewhere. I just couldn't wear the same Gi everyday. To cut a long story short. I am still waiting for a replacement Gi to arrive, I have cancelled the orders for the other items. I did get a very nice reply from Jesse Enkamp who offered apologies and a discount on further items. So at the moment I can't tell you if the replacement Gi has issues like the last one or not. Still waiting.

I bought a Seishin Gi, unfortunately I ordered the correct size for my height and it was way to small. I had to reorder and get 2 inches more. When the Gi arrived I was quite impressed. I have tried so many Gi's in the past and wanted to try something new. The fit was pretty good for a Gi that was meant for someone actually 2 inches taller than me. The Gi jacket is very long which I quite like. The sleeve length a little short to what I prefer but not to bad. The pants have a high waist which I like too and the weight was much lighter than I am used to. Again this was okay too. The problem came after the first wash. I followed the washing instructions to the letter and washed in the coldest wash. No fabric conditioner and I hung dried, and no tumble dryer. Guess what? The Gi has shrunk beyond belief. Of course I understand that cotton shrinks but the pants alone have shrunk at least three inches in length and the crotch feels like I am being strangled. The jacket sleeves have now lost at least 2 inches in length and the whole Gi just feels uncomfortable to wear. The Seishin website states that the Gi doesn't needed ironing and comes out of the wash almost wrinkle free. Really? No. It is a mess of wrinkles. Not a big issue as I can iron it, but they recommend not doing that too. I too have the, made in Pakistan logo written in Japanese. I'm not happy about this, as if I had known this I would not have purchased, as I have had issues with Gi's form there before. In conclusion. I loved the Gi before it was washed. After just one wash, I am hugely disappointed as it feels so uncomfortable to wear, especially as I ordered a larger size too. For the cost I was expecting much more. Very disappointed.