blood, sweat and ripstop pants

[ratchetkoala]

I joined an MMA gym last fall and have acquired a collection of clothing with completely new rules and requirements. It's been really interesting to recognize the influence that my normal shopping/fashion strategies and knowledge has had on the process thus far (tracking down deals, buying the nice items I want up-front instead of settling for multiples that I am less happy with, learning about tournament rules that have details about types of stitches your pants require, etc).

In terms of brazilian jiu jitsu, I've discovered it has it's own fashion subculture ranging from brand hype trains to people bickering online about b/s/t groups and the differences in silhouette or needs depending on gender. Oh and a lot of special snowflake body syndrome. The belt ranking system is another interesting element that has parallels with different parts of the normal fashion world in terms of a status symbol (but not one you can buy).

I don't have any notable fit pics of me right now, so I thought I would just start this thread in order to get the conversation going. I plan on writing some posts introducing the different 'outfits'/uniforms for different combat sports (traditional and modern), their construction elements, brands in that universe, and mini inspo albums. Feel free to contribute if you are in this world as well (or not!).

The 2 main types of brazilian jiu jitsu are divided by the uniforms. Gi and No-Gi. The uniform has a dramatic impact on not only the grappling style, but also the speed of the sparring. When it comes to the traditional gi style of BJJ, you are allowed to use the opponent's (or your own, if you're talented) gi to control them or choke them (with their own collar!), and has a huge emphasis on grip style and grip training. In No-Gi, there are no clothing grips allowed and one has to reconfigure where and how they hold onto their partner, e.g. grabbing their wrist instead of their cuff, and a heavy emphasis of using their own limbs as under/overhooks.

Traditional Combat Hugging: Gi

It is typically composed of a heavy cotton jacket and reinforced trousers. A cloth belt is worn over the gi, both to keep the jacket closed, and as a signifier of the skill/rank of the practitioner. The term kimono is sometimes used to describe the whole outfit, or occasionally just the jacket.

Submission Wrestling: No-Gi

The term "submission wrestling" usually refers only to the form of competition and training that does not use a gi, or "combat kimono", of the sort often worn with belts that establish rank by color, though some may use the loose trousers of such a uniform, without the jacket.

More on Combat Hugging Fashun soon

[ratchetkoala]

Sometimes there are beautiful illustrations hidden in the gi lining

[bels]

The top two toughest care taggers and both have combat hugging experience I think?

[teck]

has much more than me. he and i train at the same academy. we could have a Care Tags Combat Cuddles (tm) Championship and Meet-up.

I talked about this very briefly at .

I used to do lots of different martial arts growing up, and combat cuddles definitely has it's own flavor. A lot of martial arts are traditionally-minded, so the uniforms adhere to this very strict form (which is fine, nothing wrong with that). BJJ and MMA, perhaps because it's newer, or because it got so popular in America, allows for a lot of branding and design in the uniforms, giving it a very conteporary, almost Hood By Air-esque feel. There's times when I legit think that a certain Gi maker would go great with other designers.

Shoyoroll X Supreme
Tatami X Hood By Air
Meerkatsu X Comme Des Garcons Shirt

Some people, like me, will wear BOTH gi and nogi clothes AT THE SAME TIME (i.e. wearing tight compression clothing under their gi, ostensibly as a performance enhancer). I fully admit i wear compression stuff under my gi just because i think it makes me look like Tony Stark in iron man, and i like wearing clothes so much ill take any chance to layer, even in combat cuddles.

Here are some of my favorite spats (which is the term for tights in fight culture, for some reason. maybe a portmanteau of "pants" and "spandex"?). I used to own these but lost them at my academy :(

[thomaspaine]

Somehow my fashion and fighting hobbies have never crossed over. I just wear basic ass vulkan and atama gis with no patches. This is a combination of me not knowing how to sew well and not having the patience to pay attention to gi drops and F5 my computer in the middle of the day. I wanted a seventh son shoyroll gi but mainly because they did most of my tattoos and I like those guys.



Random fighting x fashion thoughts:

Nogi > gi fashion, because I dunno, no matter what you still look like a guy in pajamas.

Shorts over spats are so normal to me now that I don't realize a lot of people find this to be a weird/horrible look on a guy.

The Reebok UFC uniforms are so lame. Clean lines and minimalism have their place but fighting is one of the few times you can wear horribly ostentatious stuff that screams how tough and special you are and it totally makes sense that yes, that's what you should be wearing.

I just realized the other day that VHTS = Very Hard to Submit and this whole time I thought it was something about vegetables.

[thomaspaine]

Shoutout to cause it's just really weird.

[Vaeltaja]

Lol, didn't get that shirt for her boyf?

Do spats just help prevent mat burn? Not that I ever trained in a very intense manner, but I rarely wore more than compression shorts under board shorts and a short sleeve compression-style shirt.

Man, I miss BJJ.

[thomaspaine]

I don't really wear them unless it's cold, but yeah I suppose they probably keep the hair from ripping out of your knees. I think the main functional benefit is added friction when it's sweaty.

[ratchetkoala]

[ratchetkoala]

[Vaeltaja]

[ratchetkoala]

[teck]

[jujumaster]

I prefer to beat people up whilst completely naked.

[Vaeltaja]

[teck]

recs for next gi? was thinking shoyoroll (the latest batch of competition gis didn't sell out as quick, although they're not on the site right now).was thinking a tatami estilo next.

anyone manage to cop a shoyoroll X Transformers?