Gi advice

[Wastelander]

Tokaido gi made in Japan are close in price to Shureido gi made in Okinawa, but there are also Tokaido made in China that are lower priced but still good quality.

I know for sure that discountmas.com does ship internationally. I'm not sure whether KI does, but I agree that their Mugen line is nice. Both companies have been around for longer than the 22 years we've been in business, so they're reputable.

John, first off let me apologize for not recommending your store, I completely forgot about it I'm sorry for that.

Secondly you are right, I wasn't even thinking about the Chinese Tokaido line. I have heard that their quality is not very good and lifespan can be under 6 months on one of those, have you had any experience with them?

I'm not John, but I figured I would throw in my two cents on this one. I was given a Tokaido Arashi (a Chinese-made gi line) for Christmas the year I started training. I used it for about 14 hours a week for a year and a half, and it held up perfectly, aside from a little sweat staining. I kept wearing the pants with a judogi top during judo, so I did eventually wear a hole in the right knee that was too big to stitch up, but that was after over 2 years of consistent use. The gi top was doing pretty well, but I had done a poor job of hemming the sleeves, and they started to tear. Around the same time, the upper part of the right sleeve started to tear where I had patches sewn on from my old dojo.

If I had gotten the hemming done professionally, and if I hadn't put the patches on the sleeve, it probably would have lasted quite a while longer than it did. I've known people who have made them last as long as 6 years. As it was, mine made it through about 3.5 years of hard use, which comes out to about $40 per year for the cost (at the time) of the gi. I couldn't really complain--that would have been the cost of replacing torn lightweight uniforms every year!

[MiddleEarthNet]

Thanks for the comparison for how long your gi lasted. Certainly over time it works out very good value for money.

All my gis the jacket ties are the first thing to go followed by the seams (but so far they have all been cheap gis). This time around I'm not waiting for my gi to fall to pieces - I'm just fed up with.

I've been going through the different sides and making a list of the suitable option.

[MiddleEarthNet]

So I've been looking at various options, starting with a normal training gi. I've come across this site:

http://www.kuroobiya.com/shop/

Has anyone got any experience of them? I am impressed by what their site says about being able to make alterations and that they sell separate jacket and trousers. Are they as good as they sound? I've heard of Hirota as a brand and Tokaido has been mentioned on this thread. The decent gis are more expensive than ideal, however if paying a but extra but getting a gi that is guaranteed to be the right fit is worth it in my opinion. The other gis that are a possibility are:

https://www.cimac.net/Clothing/Karate/Giko-Tournament-Karate-Uniform-Japanese-Cut/prod_6864.html

http://www.bcsports.co.uk/shop/clothing/suits/?itemid=007

Both are slightly heavier than I was looking for for training but I feel are better options than the Cimac 10oz one.

What do you think?

Also, how I work out how many oz a gi is when it number a number for the cotton? I know it won't be exact but just so I can compare between the different companies.

[joaolx]

Where do you live MiddleEarthNet? Europe?

Check this one: http://www.kamikazeweb.com

[MiddleEarthNet]

I live in the UK.

I'll take a look through their website. Thanks.

Well I just bought my first heavy weight gi. It's a Budo-Nord kata gi, rather than a training gi but I was at a competition and got the opportunity to try it on. It's a little big so it's got room to shrink but was a really nice gi. I'll wait until I have some more money before buying the others, so I'll save the links that have been suggested.

[JohnASE]

Tokaido gi made in Japan are close in price to Shureido gi made in Okinawa, but there are also Tokaido made in China that are lower priced but still good quality.

I know for sure that discountmas.com does ship internationally. I'm not sure whether KI does, but I agree that their Mugen line is nice. Both companies have been around for longer than the 22 years we've been in business, so they're reputable.

John, first off let me apologize for not recommending your store, I completely forgot about it I'm sorry for that.

Secondly you are right, I wasn't even thinking about the Chinese Tokaido line. I have heard that their quality is not very good and lifespan can be under 6 months on one of those, have you had any experience with them?

Thank you, but we don't ship to the UK, so we wouldn't have been any help to MiddleEarthNet.

Actually, we have A LOT of experience with the China made Tokaido gi, as we were probably the first company in the USA, and maybe the world, to carry them. That was close to 20 years ago. The factory that makes the China Tokaido is very good, but as with any product, no matter how well made, some people have had bad experiences. 6 months is pretty short for a high quality gi though. I'm glad to hear about Wastelander's better experience! We sell both China and Japan made Tokaido gi, and complaints about quality are unusual for both.

MiddleEarthNet, I'm glad you found something from a local company. It's always best when you can try a gi on and have someone nearby to contact if you have any problems.