Getting rid of belts and gi's?

[Struggling_Mudansha]

Has anyone ever had a situation where you don't want to keep all your colored obi's and worn out gi's? What do you do to get rid of them? Surely there must be other options then just throwing them away.

[Nidan Melbourne]

Well for belts irregardless of how old I don't throw them out as they of sentimental value to me. If I was to part ways with one of them it would be to a student who i believed was worthy of receiving it and would treat it well.

So far I have only given my old Brown Belt to my fiancee, as she i felt like was worthy of having it and would do it justice.

As for Uniforms I am able to part ways with it much easier, as they may become to frail to wear or are damaged. So i can't sell to someone else unless i clean it like crazy; even then i wouldn't because in my eyes is still unhygienic.

[Lupin1]

I bought myself a cheap belt display rack on Amazon to hang them on the wall.

I ruined it, however, by giving my orange belt to a little boy who needed one...

Gis I just throw away. I wear them out and they're usually stained and nasty or ripped before I toss them.

[mushybees]

Mine are in the attic. I don't attach any sentiment to them really and don't really want to put them one display. I train, as does my wife and daughter so we'd have belts everywhere!

I've offered to wash and return them to my sensei for other students but he declined. Seems wasteful to throw them away.

[sensei8]

Gi's are a dime a dozen. So, I throw them away if they need to be. Belts, well, that's different. How so? Well, it's, for me, about the blood, sweat, and tears. A belt is a reminder of what it took to earn that particular belt; look down memory lane, a way to jog the fond memories of said belt.

Rank means nothing to me, but the memories of what it took to earn each and everyone are important to me. So, the belts are neatly tucked away in a box with some moth balls. I use to hang them up in the house until one day Dai-Soke came to visit my family and I, and he saw them. He said in front of my family..."Take down, rank not you. Why put trash on wall??" Trash? OUCH!! He later told me that my priorities were askew, at best...so...I took them down and stored them in that box.

[The Pred]

Some belts are under the house stored away. As far as old uniforms, I have given some away.

[Spartacus Maximus]

A good quality cotton canvas dogi lasts quite a long time if properly cleaned and maintained. When no longer decent enough to wear, they can be shredded into strips and used as filler for striking bags and such.

[JR 137]

A good quality cotton canvas dogi lasts quite a long time if properly cleaned and maintained. When no longer decent enough to wear, they can be shredded into strips and used as filler for striking bags and such.

Both dojos I've been a part of cut old gis into strips and dyed them. They were used as flags for kids' flag game (put a strip of cloth in your belt and defend it), and used by adults during point fighting in the back of their belts as the designated red person. We also use them in other drills, such as sparring when each person has to hold one end of it. We had a woman who would wrap one around her hand when she was recovering from wrist surgery; it reminded everyone to not block that wrist.

My former Sensei dyed an old one and wore it with a bunch of pillows under it to allow people in SD classes to hit him with significant force.

My old belts are in a box somewhere in my mother's basement. Never had the heart to throw them out, but never had the desire to keep them out in the open either. The belts I earned in my current dojo are on a shelf out of the way. I'd box them up, but haven't had the motivation. My kids put them on and practice their "hiyas" from time to time.

[Struggling_Mudansha]

Those are some interesting ways of handling old gi's and obi's.

I can't say I have any personal attachment to my belts. After all, no matter what color my obi is, I'm still technically a white belt. And as such, they don't have much meaning to me.

However, I still wouldn't want to just throw them away, nor do I want them to clutter up my home. I wonder if there is a cotton recycling company out there somewhere?

[el-peligroso]

Has anyone ever had a situation where you don't want to keep all your colored obi's and worn out gi's? What do you do to get rid of them? Surely there must be other options then just throwing them away.

I was skinny back in the day so a lot of my old Jujutsu gi's, kickboxing pants and muay thai shorts wouldn't fit me anymore. I have slowly got rid of them as I increased muscle mass.

I still have an old Judo gi that I used in Jujutsu class. I tried wearing it in BJJ class but I kept getting choked out because it was so baggy. I made shorts out of the pants that I wear during no-gi class and I use the gi top for chin ups.