BJJ Gi Almanac

Jump straight to the desired topic:

• BJJ Gi For Lanky Body Type
• BJJ Gi For Stocky Body Type
• BJJ Gi For Standard Body Type
• BJJ Gi For Competition (lighter)
• BJJ Gi For Women
• BJJ Gi For Children

The Jiu Jitsu Gi Almanac

The Jiu Jitsu kimono (Gi) culture has come a long way from the days when the Gracie family owned their own kimonos, held them and washed them for their students as part of their Gracie Jiu Jitsu package deal. The industry started wide-spreading in the early 1990’s with BJJ Gi brands approaching high profile fighters to sponsor, thus associating the fighter’s image to their brands. The biggest examples at the time were possibly the more traditional standards of say M Kimonos supporting more reserved fighters such as Royler Gracie or Shaolin Ribeiro opposing the Bad Boy brand which chose to subsidize wilder characters such as Walid Ismail and Tererê. Today the BJJ Gi has become not only a valuable weapon in combat, but also a way for practitioners to show off their flamboyance.

As the sport grew and expanded through the world, these countries to which BJJ expanded to opened up their culture and added their own flavour to the Jiu Jitsu Gi, this is seen in brands like Bull Terrier and Reversal (Japan) and also in Break Point and Gameness (US). The variety of brands out there is astonishing, and in this article we try to decipher which BJJ Gi is best for your body type or your needs, BJJ Heroes does not pass judgement on to the design of the gis, I have my own ideas of what a BJJ Kimono should look like and they don’t always match what is out there, what is shown here are some common conceptions that may help you get a Jiu Jitsu Gi that is more suitable for yourself, meaning what you should expect from certain brands and certain models. This is not a BJJ Gi review page, though there are links here to websites that dedicate more of their time to this particular aspect of Jiu Jitsu, I also recommend you have a look at them before making your final decision.

Best BJJ Gi For Lanky/Tall & Skinny Body Type

They say Jiu Jitsu was created with the purpose of the smaller/weaker person defeating the heavier/stronger opponent, and indeed the slim and long legged body type has been highly successful in Jiu Jitsu, e.g. Roleta, Braulio Estima, Marcio Cruz. With that in mind, a few brands started focussing their Kimonos cuts on this taller and leaner frame. Here are a few of the common choices for the taller grappler.

Best BJJ Gi For Stocky Body Type

Another common body type in Jiu Jitsu with great competitive success, the heavyset grappler is also has its own cut in BJJ Gis. Again, due to the success of many thicker grapplers such as Walid Ismail, Garth Taylor, Leo Leite and many others out there, certain brands have designed their Kimonos in such a way to facilitate the broader athlete. Here are a few of the styles out there.

Best BJJ Gi For Standard Body Type

This section is set for the standard grappler out there, the average guy, not stocky and not the tallest, slimmest either.

* Please note this is relating to the Koral Classic Gi, not to mistake with the New Koral Classic which is of much inferior quality and is not recommended by BJJ Heroes.

Best BJJ Gi For Competition (Lighter Kimonos)

Many of you struggle with getting your weight right and live on the border between one weight class and the next when competing. This is a list of the lighter BJJ Gi’s out there that may help you chose your next competition kimono.

BJJ Gi For Women

Although I am a bit clueless about BJJ Gi’s for women, this section you will find a few brands that have dedicated lines to the female body shape.

BJJ Gi For Children

As mentioned in the women’s section, I cannot assess the quality of the kids BJJ Kimonos, but here are a few brands and the models they have dedicated to the future Brazilian Jiu Jitsu world champs.