Frayed belts...

[IcemanSK]

Um...just to cover my own rear for starting this discussion...

I'd like to clarify that my major objection was those that purposefully shredded their belts...I never intended it to say that frayed belts weren't good, or anything.

Yeah...

Point taken

[Azula]

my Grandmaster's(10th dan) belt is really a red/white honorary belt but he's worn it so much it looks completely white like a white belt...more grey actually.

[legkicker]

I'd like to say I caught someone in the act of "sawing" on their brand new Tokaido belt outside a dojo once. The funny thing about it is that this individual is very good and has legit rank from Teruo Hayashi(his shodan-yondan).

Anyhoo, I think it's kind of cool to have a worn belt but I have a silk kamikaze belt now and have had it for over 4 years and it just barely has a white speckle that probably only I can see in the knot area. The wear is starting to show around the label and that's about it. In all honesty, I'll never buy a silk belt again.

I'd like to say that if you go to Japan or Okinawa seeing very worn belts isn't as common as it is in the more "westernized" countries. In fact if you go witha very worn belt they might kind of tease you and ask you to "wash your smelly obi". Yes, you heard me and this has been discussed on here before..they wash belts in Japan.

I've lived in the USA my whole life so I think it's kind of cool to have a worn belt but to have it to the point of being all white when it was a black belt is kind of going to far but this is just my own two cents.

I highly reccomend reading this article: http://www.24fightingchickens.com/2005/09/09/urban-legends-of-karate-belts/

[alsey]

meh, its a belt. if someone wants to waste their time making it look old, it won't bother me. i guess its a bit like buying faded jeans little more than a fashion statement.

[parkerlineage]

i guess its a bit like buying faded jeans

Interesting perspective - perhaps I'll get my next dan with premade holes, and maybe an embroidered skull...hehe

[Jiffy]

Mine is starting to fray now (I've had it for 8 years). I'm not bothered though. If it does, it does. If it doesn't, it doesn't.

[Zorbasan]

my black belt never frayed, and wore it for about 5 years before i stopped.

however, senseis belt looks like its going to fall apart, and it suits him.

frayed belt comes with age, i rekon a cruddy belt on a 25 yo BB would look silly.

[parkerlineage]

i rekon a cruddy belt on a 25 yo BB would look silly.

Well, I'm 18, and since I wear my belt so much (20+ hours a week), it's fraying quite a bit around the knot, sides, and back - so by the time I'm 25, it may be rather frayed. Of course, I will have been a black belt for 10 years, by then, so I don't think it's that ridiculous, under the right circumstances.

[Jiffy]

Yeah, sensei got his black belt in 1992 I think, so for it to be frayed after 10 years is not all that rediculous.

[Brandon Fisher]

i rekon a cruddy belt on a 25 yo BB would look silly.

Well, I'm 18, and since I wear my belt so much (20+ hours a week), it's fraying quite a bit around the knot, sides, and back - so by the time I'm 25, it may be rather frayed. Of course, I will have been a black belt for 10 years, by then, so I don't think it's that ridiculous, under the right circumstances.

I agree!! One of my black belts belt is very frayed after her having worn it for 4 years training between 15 and 20 hours a week if not more at times. Times it is around 43 hours when we had summer camps 5 weeks out of a summer. This belt is a Eosin panther belt also.