So I shrink-washed my two new Gis yesterday, and although I thought that my gis would change with the wash, I didn't imagine that one shrink washing would make such as huge difference.
The sleeves shrunk to the perfect fit with just one washing and between the shrinkage and airing out of the fabric the fabric expanded to a considerable heft - it now feels a lot more like my Double-weave Toraki Silver in terms of thickness. Of course, as has happened in the past, my skirts are just an inch or two too long. I will wear them for a couple of weeks and/or possibly shrink them again (although I am a little worried about the sleeves) before I take them to the tailor. Even if the tailor only charges me $10 bucks to shorten the gi, it would kill some of the value. Still $38 bucks for a double-weight Gi is an awesome price!! (Besides, if I like these gi and get mileage out of them, I might save the $10 for some emboridery :) ) Of course, the skirt is made of a lighter material than the jacket, which definitely affects it's shrinkage - the denser the fabric the more it shrinks it seems (which is why many people do not wear the same size gi in a double weave as the single.
The pants are a bit on the flimsy side, but to be fair, I usually drip-dry my pants so they normally seem stiffer.
As for the blue color, it faded in the first wash to a lighter shade of blue, and now the color in-line with what I'd expected. To be more precise, the pants and top half of the jacket faded, but a lot more than the skirt. The gi now has a two-tone look to it that I have seen in many other Blue gis.
I will hopefully get to use them for the first time next week, so I will let you know how it goes.
As an aside, the woman I bought them from on e-Bay, is no longer selling them. Simply put, she found that selling gis and shipping them from taiwan, in addition to dealing with customer service and long lag times, makes selling gis less profitable, and she has decided to concentrate her efforts on Judo DVD's. She'll soon be opening a website to do just that at www.judo-bjj-dvd.com. I am sure that if you write to her, she will be more than willing to get you the same gis (but probably not at the 'bargain' price that I paid for them :)).
The sleeves shrunk to the perfect fit with just one washing and between the shrinkage and airing out of the fabric the fabric expanded to a considerable heft - it now feels a lot more like my Double-weave Toraki Silver in terms of thickness. Of course, as has happened in the past, my skirts are just an inch or two too long. I will wear them for a couple of weeks and/or possibly shrink them again (although I am a little worried about the sleeves) before I take them to the tailor. Even if the tailor only charges me $10 bucks to shorten the gi, it would kill some of the value. Still $38 bucks for a double-weight Gi is an awesome price!! (Besides, if I like these gi and get mileage out of them, I might save the $10 for some emboridery :) ) Of course, the skirt is made of a lighter material than the jacket, which definitely affects it's shrinkage - the denser the fabric the more it shrinks it seems (which is why many people do not wear the same size gi in a double weave as the single.
The pants are a bit on the flimsy side, but to be fair, I usually drip-dry my pants so they normally seem stiffer.
As for the blue color, it faded in the first wash to a lighter shade of blue, and now the color in-line with what I'd expected. To be more precise, the pants and top half of the jacket faded, but a lot more than the skirt. The gi now has a two-tone look to it that I have seen in many other Blue gis.
I will hopefully get to use them for the first time next week, so I will let you know how it goes.
As an aside, the woman I bought them from on e-Bay, is no longer selling them. Simply put, she found that selling gis and shipping them from taiwan, in addition to dealing with customer service and long lag times, makes selling gis less profitable, and she has decided to concentrate her efforts on Judo DVD's. She'll soon be opening a website to do just that at www.judo-bjj-dvd.com. I am sure that if you write to her, she will be more than willing to get you the same gis (but probably not at the 'bargain' price that I paid for them :)).
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