Tatami Fight Wear Gi - product review

Product review - Tatami Fightwear Gi


Tatamifightwear.com is the UK’s newest BJJ brands to hit the scene and was established with the intention to supply high quality, great looking products at the best prices currently available in the UK. The owners of the company were fed up of paying extortionate prices for BJJ kimonos and equipment and decided to set up their company and allow practitioners to access high quality equipment at competitive prices.

The aim of the company is to become one of the UK’s leading suppliers in BJJ products and become a trusted and recognised name within the sport; after only a few months of trading the company have already secured sponsorship with two BJJ black belts, Thiago ‘Monstro’ Borges and Eduardo Ferreira, both instructors at the London Fight Factory. Tatami Fightwear sponsored Thiago on his MMA debut at UWC 9 on March 21st 2009 and the company were sponsors of the Celtic BJJ Open on April 12th 2009. The company are also sponsors of the UMA International Championships 2 day event in Stoke on Trent on May 23rd and 24th, 2009. This commitment to the sport is helping the company establish themselves as one of the leading companies in the UK and is in the process of becoming official suppliers to a number of the UK’s biggest BJJ clubs.

I was sent a brand new black gi to road test and it arrived with a free kimono drawstring bag which was pretty impressive and gave the gi somewhere to stay after being washed aside from the floor at the end of my bed. Now here come all the techy bits:-

• All kimonos are gold weave and are 550 gsm
• All kimonos comes with a free drawstring bag made of 550gsm gi material and heavy canvas cotton
• Jackets are single piece fabric and tripled stitched along the seams for added strength; patches are long the shoulders, jacket lapel and back of jacket, with embroidered badges on the arms and a Brazilian flag on the back, leaving ample space for club badges in the middle.
• Bottoms are made from 12oz canvas cloth and are also triple stitched with heavy cotton and a patch on one leg and embroidery on the other.
• All kimonos are pre shrunk and best washed at 30-40 degrees


The kimono arrived and the first thing I did was wash the gi on a cool wash and then try the gi on when dry; the gi fits well across the back and down the sleeves leaving my wrists exposed but no more even with arms stretched out. It has a snug tight fit when folded across the body and the belt keeps the gi in order and overall is a nice snug fit. The pants had virtually no shrinkage in the them and fit well down the leg stopping at the ankles and don’t have a half mast look about them; when handling the pants they feel sturdy and hardwearing and you know you have a good pair of pants on when you put them on. The company are trialling a new type of drawstring, using a nylon rope material as opposed the traditional canvas one; they make the trousers mid section more comfortable but the end of the drawstring tend to fray slightly at the ends and is only a cosmetic problem and have no bearing on the function whatsoever. The pants stayed up where they are meant to stay and after a good few rounds of hard sparring stood up to the rigours of groundwork with no major complaints.




The kimono overall looks the part upon wearing and is a sleek snug fit in jacket and pants; the kimono has been in the wash on a regular basis and has stayed at the same dimensions as the first wash. It’s a comfortable gi to wear in class and while teaching and when rolling the jacket lapels are easy to open to apply one or two deadly collar chokes should the need arise.

Prices for the kimonos are as follows: -

White competition kimono £48
Blue competition kimono £55
Black competition kimono £55
Red competition kimono £55
White with black collar £60
Red with black collar £60
Black with red collar £60
Blue with black collar £60


The company also stock an extensive range of rash guards, belts and kimono bags and in the next few months will be extending their range to include children’s kimonos, t shirts, hoodies, MMA shorts, kit bags, Judo gi and more.

For more info look up www.tatamifightwear.com