Does your club insist on exclusive equipment?

[JohnASE]

While I understand the commercial aspect you are objecting to, I also understand the guy who is running a commercial business not wishing to see potential profits go out the door.

For me I'm lucky enough to be in a position where I really only care about the martial arts. I do have some rules however about things like weapons. Nobody is going to be swinging around a 440 stainless "samurai sword" and their nunchaku are probably not going to be from AWMA or Century.

We do weapon on weapon contact training and I don't need a half a nunchaku flying through the air and tagging somebody in the head. And to make sure nobody gets a Chinese knockoff I generally prefer to be the provider of high grade weapons.

Requiring everything through the dojo is pretty rare, but some do it. There are safety issues with weapons, as in SteyrAUG's case above, but also with sparring gear. Not all types of gear are appropriate for every use. Some instructors just don't want to deal with the headaches that can come from lower ranks trying to figure out what they need. Some students are clueless. As an instructor, what do you do if a student shows up to a Shotokan dojo in a TKD v-neck uniform, or if you're TKD and require chest guards with target dots, but a student picked up a solid version cheap? How upset might a student be if their new sparring gear wasn't approved for use in the types of tournaments they compete in. How much potential training time would instructors need to devote to educating students on all the requirements and pitfalls of purchasing?

Maybe I'm just overplaying the gear stuff, because I know how difficult it can be selling martial arts supplies to an uninformed customer.

[Joppe]

No. The club where I do my training, doesn't require exclusive gear. Actually the opposite. It recomends that we find gear that fits our personal demands and taste.

I found it frustrating when I started my karatejourney. I had no clue what gear to get. Just buying a gi was an adventure, and I ended up buying a terrible beginners-gi because I had no clue what to look for.

On the other hand I am glad to have that freedom now when I know a little bit more about what suits me. With time my demands and taste will probably change, and not being required to wear specific brands or gear is great.

We are adviced to get gear and equipment that can be used at competitions. Just so we dont need to get new gear if we want to compete. That narrows the choices, but still gives a lot of freedom.

When new students begin, the club is not strict about them getting 'correct' gear right away.

If a student has been training TKD before he started karate, it's fine that he uses his TKD v-neck the first couple of weeks/months. If the student enjoys the karate, he will buy a karategi. No need to stress him. The same with students that never have trained MA before. Gym pants and tshirt is fine until the first grading.

We have a student that trains karate to improve his mma-skills, He uses hybrid mma-gloves (7oz) in the kumite class. No problem there. The weigt of the gloves are about the same as the 'official' heavy karategloves. The big difference is probably that his gloves have a high quality that no karategloves can match.

But when it comes to gradings and competitions, the rules for 'proper' karategear is inforced.