The Jiu-Jitsu community currently experiences a boom of new gi brands which spring up just in the blink of an eye.
I recently received a new gi from Canada, an sister company of the canadian online Martial Arts supplier Fighters Market, called KINGZ Kimonos. Since you never know when you get a gi of the first batch of a new gi I were pretty curious and clinical.
First impression
Like I said above I was really awaiting nothing because I knew how many years of knowledge well known manufactures such as KORAL had to gain to make solid and durable gis. Nevertheless I was really impressed when I unpacked this gi. You could see at first glance that the gi was produced carefully and was well thought-out.
Construction
This is KINGZ’ 420 light version this means the jacket weighs only 420 gram made out of pearl weave and comes with a pair of rip-stop pants which are very light as well. There is triple reinforced stitching across all stress points and the gi is pre-shrunk more on this under “Fit & Performance“.
What I noticed straight away was a very stiff and apparently almost elastic collar. However the thickness of the collar is the same like the collar of the KORAL MKM gi (see picture below). So far so good, but when rolling in the gi I got into a collar choke and tried to defend the submission by pulling my collar when I suddenly noticed that the collar stretched. I was like sh**.
Please don’t think the collar would stretch just like a rubber band. It is a very short length. However that was enough that I couldn’t defend the choke properly. I have spoken with the guys from KINGZ Kimonos and they told me that the have never experienced this “issue”. Might be just my sample’s collar which was a bit too stretchy.
KINGZ patch on the leg.
I already had several problems with ripping pants in the crotch and I never actually knew if it was just me a ruthless-pants-ripping-klling-machine or just the low quality of the specific pants. It actually doesn’t matter because these pants have an elastic crotch just like grappling shorts. It felt awesome training with pants that really stretch when there are wider movements.
The pants are completely out of rip-stop material. Thin but still seemed to be very durable. If you knew the legendary ATAMA rip-stop pants you could compare them to the KINGZ’.
There are six loops for the drawstring. I have already heard that some people complained about the lack of loops on their pants. If you are one of the guys this might be the perfect pair of pants for you. Additionally also the loops seem to have triple reinforced stitching.
The KINGZ 420 Light gi has got a very nice and clean design. There is plenty of this KINGZ taping where you would expect it like on the skirt, in the sleeves and on the pants. There are two patches with the KINGZ logo on the shoulders (see pictures below) and two patches of those KINGZ circle patches on the pants and on the skirt of the jacket.
Fit & Performance
This gi is very light and comfortable yet durable. It felt great rolling in it however like I have mentioned above I had some problems with the collar which I was not really happy about. The cut of the gi is quite nice. I would say that it is almost fitted. Additionally the skirt felt a little bit longer than the skirts of other brands.
Another big pro for this gi is the elastic crotch. The benefit of an elastic crotch is clear – unrestricted movements. I wished there were more brands doing this.
I have got around 188lbs and I am 5’9” athletic build I wear an A2. However I would recommend if you have the same measurements like me to get one in A3 because the gi has slipped a little bit during training and was like directly underneath my armpits which was a little bit annoying.
Official size chart:
Height — Weight LBS — Size
5’0”-5’4” – 95-120 – A-0
5’4-5’8” – 125-155 – A-1
5’8”-6’0” – 155-190 – A-2
5’11”-6’2”- 190-230 – A-3
6’2”-6’4” – 230-270 – A-4
6’3”-6’7” – 270-310 – A-5
There was hardly no shrinkage since the gi was already pre-shrunk. There were only shrinkage rates about 1 cm. Check out the Pre- and Post-wash measurements below.
Conclusion
There are so many gi brands on the market at the moment you can barely count them but KINGZ is one of them you really need to keep an eye on. They already provide more quality with their first batch than some other brands that regularly disappoint their customers.
This gi is almost perfect in my opinion. It is light yet durable as far as I can tell. The only thing that comes to mind is the collar that stretches too much for my taste if KINGZ can fix this this gi would be even better.
I hope there is going to be a European distributor as well. There will be probably some guys from Europe that would be interested in these gis, too.
I am very impressed by this gi. It has got a great fit, it is durable and got a great design. I will definitely keep an eye on this company.
Pros:
+ Light
+ Durability
+ Nice fit
+ Elastic crotch
Cons:
- Elastic collar
Check them out:
