fishface
01-07-2008, 05:31 PM
Black Eagle Gold Weave BJJ gi review from the Fighting Photographer
Many moons ago, when I first started the pyjama game, I spent most of my money on gi’s from abroad or waited until I attended a BJJ seminar with a Brazilian black belt and bought my gis direct and have worn just about every brand you can think of over the last nine years.
However, out of all the gi’s worn back then, not one of them have been from the UK and only now with BJJ gathering momentum in the UK, have the UK martial arts suppliers picked up on this trend and are now starting to produce gi’s themselves and helping support the BJJ community.
Two UK companies are already supplying the UK BJJ scene with quality gi’s and first on my list of reviews is a gi from Black Eagle, a martial arts equipment supplier from Portsmouth, Hampshire. Steve Turner was one of the first to spot a gap in the market and is now supplying UK clubs with gi’s and are sponsoring BJJ players, most notably RGA brown belt Andy Roberts and are also helping support the sport across the board.
Steve kindly supplied me with one of their gi’s to test out, which is something that takes a few months rather than a few days, in order to give the product a thorough testing.
The first thing when testing gi’s is shrinkage and when I first put the gi on, it seemed a little big like most gi’s do when you first put them on. I have a number of gi’s that have been with for a few years and have moulded to my body and feel like a second skin, wearing the new gi felt a little uncomfortable on it’s first outing. That, said the gi wrapped around the body and felt comfortable, as did the pants and I got through the first session comfortably.
Now came the big test, the gi’s first wash!
Washed the gi at 30 degrees C and left the pants to dry naturally and hung the gi up to dry the same way – NEVER put a gi in a tumble dryer, you’re just asking for trouble.
Next session and there was some shrinkage and the gi jacket felt a lot better on the body as did the pants, so far so good. That said, I used the gi in all my training sessions, increasing the sparring sessions in order to give the gi a good going over. The gi felt fine when sparring and not a hindrance and managed a number of lapel chokes with the gi, not once finding it a struggle to free the lapels from the belt. The collar is also nice and chunky, giving opponents a hard time to choke you out, which always helps!
Technical specs:
100% cotton
Gold weave
Reinforced stitching at all joins
Cut specifically for BJJ, tapered body, wide shoulders
Additional stitching and re-inforcements added to all hem and areas of possible weakness. Back of jacket has an additional spine for additional strength.
Jacket is a single piece, gold weave material without the Judo ‘skirt’.
Waist is drawstring
So there you go, a quality gi that stands with the best of the rest; one criticism is the size of the patches on the gi, they look a little out of proportion, a point already taken on board by the guys at Black Eagle, which I’m sure will be addressed in time for the next batch of gi’s.
This was the first gi designed for BJJ by Black Eagle and since then, they have released an ever better quality gi, the Mundials BJJ gi, currently seen on the back and legs of Andy Roberts and if this gi is anything to go by, I am sure the Mundials gi is way ahead of the competition.
Retailing at £64.99, the gi value for money, so get one ordered and see what you think, you’ll be more than impressed!
Check out http://www.black-eagle.co.uk/martial-arts-clothing-brazilian-jitsu-kimonos-c-1_124.html for more details.
http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee33/freshmans1970/BlackEaglegi.jpg
F
Many moons ago, when I first started the pyjama game, I spent most of my money on gi’s from abroad or waited until I attended a BJJ seminar with a Brazilian black belt and bought my gis direct and have worn just about every brand you can think of over the last nine years.
However, out of all the gi’s worn back then, not one of them have been from the UK and only now with BJJ gathering momentum in the UK, have the UK martial arts suppliers picked up on this trend and are now starting to produce gi’s themselves and helping support the BJJ community.
Two UK companies are already supplying the UK BJJ scene with quality gi’s and first on my list of reviews is a gi from Black Eagle, a martial arts equipment supplier from Portsmouth, Hampshire. Steve Turner was one of the first to spot a gap in the market and is now supplying UK clubs with gi’s and are sponsoring BJJ players, most notably RGA brown belt Andy Roberts and are also helping support the sport across the board.
Steve kindly supplied me with one of their gi’s to test out, which is something that takes a few months rather than a few days, in order to give the product a thorough testing.
The first thing when testing gi’s is shrinkage and when I first put the gi on, it seemed a little big like most gi’s do when you first put them on. I have a number of gi’s that have been with for a few years and have moulded to my body and feel like a second skin, wearing the new gi felt a little uncomfortable on it’s first outing. That, said the gi wrapped around the body and felt comfortable, as did the pants and I got through the first session comfortably.
Now came the big test, the gi’s first wash!
Washed the gi at 30 degrees C and left the pants to dry naturally and hung the gi up to dry the same way – NEVER put a gi in a tumble dryer, you’re just asking for trouble.
Next session and there was some shrinkage and the gi jacket felt a lot better on the body as did the pants, so far so good. That said, I used the gi in all my training sessions, increasing the sparring sessions in order to give the gi a good going over. The gi felt fine when sparring and not a hindrance and managed a number of lapel chokes with the gi, not once finding it a struggle to free the lapels from the belt. The collar is also nice and chunky, giving opponents a hard time to choke you out, which always helps!
Technical specs:
100% cotton
Gold weave
Reinforced stitching at all joins
Cut specifically for BJJ, tapered body, wide shoulders
Additional stitching and re-inforcements added to all hem and areas of possible weakness. Back of jacket has an additional spine for additional strength.
Jacket is a single piece, gold weave material without the Judo ‘skirt’.
Waist is drawstring
So there you go, a quality gi that stands with the best of the rest; one criticism is the size of the patches on the gi, they look a little out of proportion, a point already taken on board by the guys at Black Eagle, which I’m sure will be addressed in time for the next batch of gi’s.
This was the first gi designed for BJJ by Black Eagle and since then, they have released an ever better quality gi, the Mundials BJJ gi, currently seen on the back and legs of Andy Roberts and if this gi is anything to go by, I am sure the Mundials gi is way ahead of the competition.
Retailing at £64.99, the gi value for money, so get one ordered and see what you think, you’ll be more than impressed!
Check out http://www.black-eagle.co.uk/martial-arts-clothing-brazilian-jitsu-kimonos-c-1_124.html for more details.
http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee33/freshmans1970/BlackEaglegi.jpg
F