What gi/s do you wear?

There were lots of posts in the other forum where people asked for advice on what gi they should or shouldn’t buy so I thought I’d start one here with the gis that I currently own and whether I would recommend them. If others can add their gis it should be a good place where people can find a gi that will suit their body type and pocket.

Anyway I’ll kick it off by saying that my number one gi is a Toraki Premium. This was a special order as I didn’t want the super stiff gold so apparently their older style of premiums were somewhere in between medium and heavyweight, around 750gm, although the pants are the same as the gold.
The size I bought was 4.5Long jacket with with PJ-45L-2320 pants. The fit is pretty good, not too baggy. The arms are the right length and the pants fit perfectly. The skirt isn’t too long either. I paid £120 for this which included postage. I would recommend Toraki, their customer service is excellent.

My number two gi I recently bought second hand from eBay is a Shurrai Lite size 185 jacket. I bought some cheap pants separately from black eagle, size 200, but they shrink a hell of a lot even on a cold wash. This jacket is a snuggish fit and tbh I could probably have done with a 190. However this hasn’t shrunk at all, the arms are not too short and the fit around my chest is perfect. The skirt is slightly longer than the Toraki but still not overly long. This is a medium weight 750gm. I paid £14 off eBay but they retail new for around £65, which I think is good value for money. I would recommend this gi to anyone who is taking their Judo a little more seriously and would like a stiffer gi than the usual Blitz Kokuba that most clubs offer in the UK.

My dimensions are as follows, I’m 6ft 3 and weight around 206lb or 94kg. I have fairly long arms and legs.
Both gis are washed on a 30c quick wash and left to drip dry (not on the radiator).

i'm a 66kg fighter, 5'6"

i've got a blitz competition gi that cost me about £25 through the club 4/170 - love it too bits but have noticed that lately the newer blitz gi's are shrinking at the arms, especially the kids ones, my brother (15) has a lovely short sleve blitz gi =s

that said... this is my favorite jacket by far and have entered all my comps with this gi,

i bought an £80 black label 4/170 - FF gi through my club and it felt stupidly big on the shoulders, the trousers went straight in the bin as they were far too big, but after soaking the jacket in a bath of cold water for a good hour and washing it at 40 (obviously mummy did all this) its now a lovely fit, but i'll stick to competing in my original gi because it obviously brings me luck...

I have a Fighting Films Superstar. I am 1.66 and 73kg
I have the 170 jacket and 160 pants. Fits me like a glove.

Also several Fuji and locally manufactured "Uki" which are quite good.

I had one Pakistani Gi but it was not worth the postage.

I have a few gi that I cycle between.

I have 2 mizuno single weight size 6 that I love. great lightweight gi, good for hot florida afternoons.

I have a mizuno shiai (a white one and a blue one) that I wear occasionally. really sharp looking gi, if you're into that sort of thing, though the jacket is a bit wide for me. it's my gi of choice for demonstrations because it really does look great. the white sees a lot more use than the blue.

I also have a white mizuno eurocomp size 6 (fits me better than the shiai for some reason) that I like to wear to tournaments because it's hard to grip.

I have a single weight blue adidas that's really comfy, but it doesn't see much use because I don't wear blue gi too often

and I have 2 white double weight no name gi that I absolutely love. they're sort of a 'slim-fit' gi, by that I mean they shrank inward and not upward, which is great when you're tall and thin like me. these are my most favorite gi. they're the softest ones by far. and so insanely thick! the collar would not pass a sukoteiki test, which is the main thing keeping me from wearing it in shiai.

I also have a few more but they never see use, and are about to be boxed up to make room for the wife that recently moved in.

My number one gi is a Fushida tournament size 4 that I love. My number 2 gi is a Fuji double weave size 4.5 (I heard Fuji shrank a lot, but this is still a touch too big for me). My number 3 gi is a Mizuno single weave that I break out only if the other 2 are not done drying or if we are doing o-sogi and I don't want to get the other 2 dirty.

My heavy double weaver Adidas gi does me just fine. I don't think it will ever rip in my life time and it will make an excellent cremation garment when the time comes. It should burn for hours.

Happy new year!

My number one is my tagoya master. Extremely tough but only 800gsm.
Cost £70 from blitzsport on sale.

Number two is my shuurai lite. Fantastic quality for the price. ! 750 gsm. Cost £75 brand new. I actually bought this in the new blitz shop as I was passing by. Very nice staff.


My summer gi is my mooto champion 550gsm. Strangely it feels much tougher then the kokuba but is pretty much the same gsm. Cost me £20 from blitzsport in a sale.

I am considering an AVA tournament from avasports as my next gi. £50 for a heavyweight gi. Does anyone have one?

All other gis have been ebayed or donated to the club.

ItchyKomi wrote:Happy new year!

My number one is my tagoya master. Extremely tough but only 800gsm.
Cost £70 from blitzsport on sale.

Number two is my shuurai lite. Fantastic quality for the price. ! 750 gsm. Cost £75 brand new. I actually bought this in the new blitz shop as I was passing by. Very nice staff.


My summer gi is my mooto champion 550gsm. Strangely it feels much tougher then the kokuba but is pretty much the same gsm. Cost me £20 from blitzsport in a sale.

I am considering an AVA tournament from avasports as my next gi. £50 for a heavyweight gi. Does anyone have one?

All other gis have been ebayed or donated to the club.

I've heard good things about the AVA tournament gi but have never seen one. I'll be interested to hear if anyone else has one.

Re the Shuurai lite, good value arent they?

I am 6ft and 90kg

I have 3 gis currently, my favourite is my fighting films black label. Size 4 fits perfectly.

I have a somewhat tattered mizuno shiai (pants have gone through on first layer at the knees) which is also nice and a toraki custom (premium?) Despite all the faffing with sizes I feel my toraki is a little off in the pants being maybe a little bit long, the fit is also not to my personal taste. The mizuno pants also fit a bit dodgy. Both good gis all in all though, just not perfect fitting on me.

JudoMojo wrote:I am 6ft and 90kg

I have 3 gis currently, my favourite is my fighting films black label. Size 4 fits perfectly.

I have a somewhat tattered mizuno shiai (pants have gone through on first layer at the knees) which is also nice and a toraki custom (premium?) Despite all the faffing with sizes I feel my toraki is a little off in the pants being maybe a little bit long, the fit is also not to my personal taste. The mizuno pants also fit a bit dodgy. Both good gis all in all though, just not perfect fitting on me.

I'm the same height, but 5kilos heavier....I need a size 5.5 and the arms are still too short and the gi could have another individual in it as well. Toraki is the only gi that I could get to even to closely fit my long legs and gorilla arm lenght....

afulldeck wrote:

JudoMojo wrote:I am 6ft and 90kg

I have 3 gis currently, my favourite is my fighting films black label. Size 4 fits perfectly.

I have a somewhat tattered mizuno shiai (pants have gone through on first layer at the knees) which is also nice and a toraki custom (premium?) Despite all the faffing with sizes I feel my toraki is a little off in the pants being maybe a little bit long, the fit is also not to my personal taste. The mizuno pants also fit a bit dodgy. Both good gis all in all though, just not perfect fitting on me.

I'm the same height, but 5kilos heavier....I need a size 5.5 and the arms are still too short and the gi could have another individual in it as well. Toraki is the only gi that I could get to even to closely fit my long legs and gorilla arm lenght....

The Shuurai Lite might be ok for you

Take a look at the sizing here http://www.blitzsport.com/Adult-Shuurai-Lite-Judo-Suit

I'm 6ft 3 and 205lb and a 185 fits ok

The sizing for the Shuurai is very similar to the ff/tagoya master.

I wear 185 in both. I am 6'1 and 95 kg.

M

i wear the clean one at the top of the pile

i prefer doubles, even in hot weather - train in what you're going to compete in. some i like more than others - toraki, old Hsu, old Champion. i haven't had a new gi in more than a few years, and i'm happy about this. getting a new gi with all the changes..... ugh! i am tempted to get a Green Hill simply because they came from no where to get IJF and USAJ approval, but the same temptation keeps me from experimenting with their judogi - i'd much rather endorse the people who've been servicing my people for decades, through many iterations.

no, i do not have a pink gi, nor do i have a judo Gary black gi. I have one old champion blue gi, and the rest are white, including my knuckle shredder - a Mizuno double that's meant to make students encounter these types of judogi before going to a shiai and learning the hard way.

one thing's for sure, once you find one you absolutely LOOOOOOVEEEEEE, get a gross of them - they'll be banned within the month or the company will discontinue them and you'll be stuck in the same place the next time you need a new gi. It's like trying to find new favorite jeans or sneakers - by next year, they're impossible to find, so once you know, "this is the one", get a few. You'll be glad you did.

ItchyKomi wrote:Happy new year!

My number one is my tagoya master. Extremely tough but only 800gsm.
Cost £70 from blitzsport on sale.

Likewise, fantastic gi, bought mine last year and was so disappointed that I could not get another.

Have a Mizuno shiai and Adidias as alternate choices.

It doesn't look like kicksport stock them anymore and I don't think tagoya have a UK supplier... Unless ff are their official UK supplier?

ItchyKomi wrote:It doesn't look like kicksport stock them anymore and I don't think tagoya have a UK supplier... Unless ff are their official UK supplier?

AFAIK, the fighting films gis = tagoya gis. Except they cost more from ff.

Your right. I just don't like paying more just for ff on my sleeve

ItchyKomi wrote:Your right. I just don't like paying more just for ff on my sleeve

Lol, agreed.

I bit the bullet on that one though, as I couldn't find tagoya anywhere, except for out of stock kicksport. Really are nice gis either way.

JudoMojo wrote:

ItchyKomi wrote:Your right. I just don't like paying more just for ff on my sleeve

Lol, agreed.

I bit the bullet on that one though, as I couldn't find tagoya anywhere, except for out of stock kicksport. Really are nice gis either way.

I hate paying for a label too, but unless find something better I expect I will be buying a FF later this year. Anyone know if they have any sales coming up?

I bought a Tagoya from Kicksport in the sale, it was a 195 and swamped me everywhere. I assume the FF version also comes up big?

JudoStu wrote:I bought a Tagoya from Kicksport in the sale, it was a 195 and swamped me everywhere. I assume the FF version also comes up big?

I'm 6ft, 90kg- I have a FF Master Gi (re badged Tagoya Master I think?)- got the 185 and it felt absolutely enormous at first. However a couple of hot washes later and it shrank down just fine and now fits like a glove. I wear this most of the time for training as its really tough but lightweight. Its showing its age now so may be on the look out for something different.

I also have a FF Black Label 185- which feels much stiffer than the Master. Had it for years and would totally recommend.

I'm also 90kg and 6ft and went for 180 ff black label. Fits great for me.
I don't remember much significant shrinkage but I could be misremembering.

Mizuno Yusho IJF.

It's an improvement on the Adidas line of Gi's, I've had both Adidas J930 IJF and J800 Gi's although they were both very comfortable they shrunk quite a bit
through multiple washes. At 6ft 4in - 205lbs (92-93kg) I got a size 5.5 and shrunk it down in 30 degree washes hung dry above a radiator, proved quite effective after about 5 washes.

I have two generic gi's bought from a local martial arts equipment shop. £33 each. Does the job, but the sleeves and pants shrink quite a bit.