Wearing club logos or clothes on the street?

[tekki]

I have a lot of shirts and jackets that depict karate on them. I have a euro-oval sticker with a guy doing a side thrust kick on my car. None of them give away my rank or are any attempt to brag about how good I am or think I am. However, in some sense, I LOVE to brag about my art itself. I see karate is a wonderful thing to do in your free time and I want to send a message that karate is a legitimate sport activity for civilized people in our society. If basketball or soccer players can have their respective clothing and bumper stickers, why can't karateka have the same and show the world that we have nothing to be ashamed of?

[A. Orstrom]

It really does depend on your attitude, your environment and your own behaviour.

I wear my kyokushinkai T-shirts regularly, and I have only had positive feedback. Another member of my dojo, however, wore his after a concert in town; a night out where he was kicked out of a club because he decided to urinate in the hall and hit the bouncer when he approached him. All the while wearing a shinkyokushin T-shirt... I realise that this is not a normal situation, but I think people that are prone to drinking heavily should leave the shirts at home, just like this particular person should have.

(I am still fuming over this behaviour, even though he apologised when I approached him with it (He didn't remember, of course...))

[NightOwl]

Unless of course you practice drunken kung fu....

I've contemplated getting a t-shirt before. I'd want to get something that isn't too obvious though like 'Sam's karate club'. Maybe just something in kanji.

[IcemanSK]

I've worn MA shirts, jackets, etc. on & off for years. I've never made a big deal of it & neither have most folks. When I was younger, I had folks want to make a big deal of it to see if they get a rise out of me. When I don't get excited, they leave it alone. I figure that, if I wear an MA shirt as if said, "Nick's Pizza" or "Nike" or something else non-threatening, I don't get hassled. If I act like jerk wearing it however, I should expect to treated like a jerk.

[Treebranch]

I'm not sure how feel about that either. I do have pride for my schools, but I don't really want the attention, unless of course it's from hot chicks.

[Throwdown0850]

I have a Kodokan shirt and wear it sometimes.. but nobody really knows what that word means most of the time..

[glockmeister]

I wear my Krav Maga T-Shirt around sometimes. Most people have no idea what it even is. I have a Haganah shirt that says: "Got Blood?" on it that i wear now and then as well. It really depends on where you are going. Obviously you go somewhere, you dress accordingly. I have one shirt that i got at my school with my school logo on the back and "Battlefield Kali" on the front that my JKD instructor put on along with a picture of a guy holding a knife in one hand and a stick in the other.

[gamedweeb]

I've got a hoodie with a small school logo on the front and a blown up version of the patch across the back that I wear when the weather suits. I also wear school t-shirts some days.

I've never had anyone give me crap for wearing them, of course I never wore them to the bar before I quit drinking. Just because I didn't want some drunk guy getting in my face.

The question does bring up an interesting line of thinking though. I suppose by advertising and displaying an alert manner most would be assailants would think twice (awareness is supposed to be one of the keys to avoid confrontations in the first place). But then again should the need arise you'd be giving a key tactical advantage away. The fact that the aggressor wouldn't otherwise know that you study MA/Self Defense. Which would allow you to surprise them by reacting differently than what they expect from a "normal" person.

[Adonis]

No big deal, how ever I do think its funny when I see the Tatooed up, shaved head, gotee, and sporting a TAP OUT shirt probably baught at hot topic pretty comical. Ad affliction shirts to that list of things I find comical also.

[KarateEd]

The question does bring up an interesting line of thinking though. I suppose by advertising and displaying an alert manner most would be assailants would think twice (awareness is supposed to be one of the keys to avoid confrontations in the first place). But then again should the need arise you'd be giving a key tactical advantage away. The fact that the aggressor wouldn't otherwise know that you study MA/Self Defense. Which would allow you to surprise them by reacting differently than what they expect from a "normal" person.

That is an interesting thought. Without any research/proof, outside of anecdotal situations, then it is really a matter of picking your poison, so to speak. It would be interesting to do research to determine if criminals are more likely to avoid people sporting MA clothing items than people that are not. Wow, I might have the beginnings of a dissertation here, or..... maybe not.

Ed