Fushida Mantis Gi Review
I have owned a total of 8 Gis, and this will be my first review of a gi, so be nice, lol? I have ouano's, Koral's, HCK double (first gi), a Vulkan. And I like pretty much all my gi's for different reasons with exception to the Vulkan honeycomb I have, but thats a different post. First Fushida are a Canadian based company.
The feeling of building something
It has to be the way a professional sports athlete feels when he is tacked by nike to have a custom piece of appearal or gear tailored to them. They bring you in, sit you down and measure everything about you, nothing left to chance. Well this is how Candian based company Fushida make you feel. At first you try to see about ordering a Gi and before you can do that you have to send in this list of different measurements of your body. It feels like these guys are custom built the gi just for you. They call this design, "Tru-Fit". Fushida seem to ensure that all their gi's fit to specific body types, large, lean, regular, long body types.
First a picture of how it looks on me.
Customer Service
You will be dealing with one of the most responsive, most attention to detail persons you will meet online especially when it comes to a vendor of brazilian jiu-jitsu apperal. It is I'm sure hard enough in our humble sport to make a buck but too me it seemed that Christo cared a great deal about his product and his customers and future gi wearers. He could of just sent me any old gi that was close to my meausrements that I had sent to him, but no! Soon after I received an email saying I needed to do better measurements. Now at the time it was 3 in the morning for me and I just wanted to send something out to see what it was all about only to be contacted by Christo saying that there were many flaws in my measurements, again lol. I will be honest and say I measured everything as best I could and guestimated how my Gi measured up. Now anyone could have just sent anything to me not care or lose a single ZzZz in their nights rest. But eventually I got a hold of someone and actually did the measurements, and sent them to Christo while at class at my University! I really wanted to see what this custom fit gi thing was all about. And after all the emails, and there were many, Christo had shipped the gi to me, with free fast shipping! What a guy! So the gi came super fast! maybe 2-3 days later it came to my bjj school right as I was about to teach class no less.
The Gi in my opinion
As I stated previously, the gi had just arrived right as I was about to teach class, and my students and training partners were all there, and I had already put on another gi, when i tore the package open and put it on right then and there! The first thing I noticed about the gi was how rough to the touch it was compared to my other gi's, but also how light it was. I was skeptical at first about the feel or the roughness. It fit me perfectly! I even spoke to my instructor about it, and he said that because it was so light feeling that I should weigh in no problems at CBJJ events, but also that since its rough to the touch to think about how hard I would be to be grabbed or be kept a hold of. And then i really bought into the gi, because The super easy feeling gis, I feel I can hold on to them for a long time, but rougher even double weave Gi's are a tough to hold on to after a while.
How it fit me
The Fushida fit me perfectly as I stated earlier. Before the wash and after the wash it was even better! I lost maybe a half an inch or an inch on the sleeves. I washed it cold and hung dry it. Everything else felt a little more tapered around my chest, arms. The important and scarey thing to me was IBJJF inspections rright before you fight at an event. If your familiar with these inspections at events you will know that you need slack on your sleeves. That is if you hold your arms straight out your sleeve needs to hang about 2-3 inches. If it doesnt you do not pass inspection, and you will not be allowed to compete. I emailed IBJJF and they send me the measurements back and everything was fine. So I felt great in this gi while wearing it seemed almost snug I had never felt a gi that fit me like this, the Koral's and Oauno's were favorites of mine. Actuallly the Ouano was my favorite but it weighed to much. The Ouano weighed about 5.5 lbs..The Fushida a shocking 4 lbs. That means I can eat more before competitions or just feel at ease about weight!
The pants shrunk a little too. At first they were at my ankles then they were a little above my ankles. And just a tad snugger. The Gi is ripstop material and to this point I am not sure if IBJJF allows ripstop gi pants because the pants become slippery when they are wet, I have still yet to confirm these rumors.
Now it was my intention to find the perfect competition gi and I believe I have found it.
Some official stats and information from www.Fushida.ca:
Pre-Shrunk 100% Lighter Weight Pearl Weave Cotton with RipStop Pant fabric
"Fushida F" embroidery on both upper arms and bottom left pant leg, with Fushida "Mantis" chest patch on left lapel
One-piece jacket construction
All reinforcement edges taped for extra strength and durability
Both jacket and pant side vents features full length oversized reinforcements with extra stitching for increased durability
Pre-Shrunk RipStop pant fabric features increase durability and reduce shrinkage (RipStop feature available for a limited time only)
Pant features 3/4 length double lined knee padding
Pant with full gusset design reducing movement restrictions
Four oversized tie loops increasing pant fit, strength and comfort
Fushida are like a breath of fresh air to the BJJ / Judo Gi market. I highly recommend everyone try a gi from them. Not only because of the great quality, or customer service but it is very easy on the pockets as well. The prices range for $100 to $150. You can't beat the lowest price, which is what I paid for my Mantis gi.
The photos don't do the pants justice, I will update this review with more pictures and all body shots, and also after I find out whether or not CBJJ allows ripstop pants.
Here are some more photos! I took them with the camera on my phone, but you guys should 'get the picture' =) I will explain a few things in the pictures. These pictures are of my gi that I have used for the past 3 or 4 weeks, twice sometimes 3 times during those weeks, so you might see some spots of hard training stains lol. (Pictures after the jump)
This review is my collective thoughts on Fushida as a company and a product review, another well written review of a Fushida gi, more specifically the Komodo whereas this review is on the Mantis, is Meerkatsu! http://meerkat69.blogspot.com/2010/08/bjj-gi-review-fushida-komodo-part-two.html#more