16 oz competition GI?

[opr1945]

I think I said it before: the best bang for the buck for medium weight gis is a Mugen Orange Label ($70 each, brand new). You can even get your name embroidered in katakana on the jacket lapel and pants, much like your instructors have on their Shureidos. And best of all... with the money you've dropped on gis so far, you could have bought two of these brand new and called it a day.
In retrospect I agree with this. However, I grew up poor than I knew. My mom was always looking for bargins garage sales, clearence sales, etc. I picked up the habit of looking for ways of buying stuff cheap. After kids arrived we had lots of hand me downs garage sales etc. Never pay full price-I coulodn't afford it. But as I retired my disposable income actually went up! Who knew. Now that I am older and can afford to buy what I want new, it's hard to break old habits. Looking forward I looked for deals....now looking back it would actually been cheapeer to just buy the two Mugens as suggested. I would have new, but not the surplus to give to others. to quick old, to late smart. Thanks. I'm enjoying this. LOL.

 

[opr1945]

So, I ended up with the Sun and two other light weight student GI's to rotate for training. I also have a few heavier weight GI's to use later, or perhaps give away.

I started this thread help me decide the future of the 16 oz competition GI top. So one issue is will it soften up some with use and washing? Thread kind of go off and a tangent. I probebly have ADD and I am easily distracted. Been that way my whole life. My wife won't visit Museum with me as I want to read every little sign. See, distracted again. LOL.

So will it soften up some with use and washing?

 

[opr1945]

The other part of the 16 oz GI jacket can be found in a different thread.

strange story.

As you may know I am new to Karate, 5 months now, and have been obsessed with Karate GI's, see threads I have started. Well, I purchased a used Kyokushinkai GI Jacket only in my size #4 off ebay. When I got it I tried it on I noticed that it had no ties on it. I thought that unusual but got my...

www.martialtalk.com

The end of the story is posted there. I will repost last entry from there here as follows:

the Ronin 16oz competition GI is very stiff. My wife's description of cardboard is actually quite accurate in my opinion. I thought it might soften up with use. But, then I remembered that the guy I got it from had been wearing it for some time and it was still quite stiff. She washed it several time with fabric softner and it had no affect. It was still stiff.

Several years ago I purchased a Carhartt canvas work shop apron. It was stiff like the GI. I rolled up the apron wrapped a towel around it to keep it clean and tied it and then put it on the driveway and drove over it several times. Open it up, rerolled in a different direction and drove over it some more. I did this several times and when I was done it was significantly softer. So it occured to me that perhaps the same treatment would soften up the16oz GI. I probably ran over it 100-150 times. Interestingly, to me, it did not get any softer. It is still as stiff as when I got it and I find it uncomfortable to wear when moving. So it still hangs in the closet.

If anyone has any suggestions for softening it up I would be interested. Thanks.

Thanks.

 

[opr1945]

Here is the complete post:

the Ronin 16oz competition GI is very stiff. My wife's description of cardboard is actually quite accurate in my opinion. I thought it might soften up with use. But, then I remembered that the guy I got it from had been wearing it for some time and it was still quite stiff. She washed it several time with fabric softner and it had no affect. It was still stiff.

Several years ago I purchased a Carhartt canvas work shop apron. It was stiff like the GI. I rolled up the apron wrapped a towel around it to keep it clean and tied it and then put it on the driveway and drove over it several times. Open ir up rerolled in a different direction and drove over it some more. I did this several times and when I was done it was significantly softer. So it occured to me that perhaps the same treatment would soften up the GI. I probably ran over it 100-150 times. Interestingly, to me, it did not get any softer. It is still as stiff as when I got it and I find it uncomfortable to wear when moving. So it still hangs in the closet.

If anyone has any suggestions for softening it up I would be interested. Thanks.

Thanks again.