The Kingz Lightweight 4.0 gi was incredibly popular on the mats at the World Masters this year and the stall supplying it sold out during the event. So I was intrigued to see how good this gi actually is and I’ve been on the search for a new competition gi for a while. So when I was offered a significant discount from Old Munki’s Grappling Emporium in return for giving a female perspective of this gi. It was an offer I couldn’t refuse. 

The Kingz Lightweight 4.0 is the latest competition gi from Kingz gi’s. Its fully IBJFF competition legal and features a cotton jacket and ripstop pants to make it as light as possible. For me it came in at around 1.5kg making it comparable to my previous competition gi and definitely worth further testing.

In terms of unique selling points the gi claims to be preshrunk to ensure a better fit. Its also been fitted with their No-Grip technology, gripping the sleeves of this gi is allegedly a challenging task for your future opponents. It also claims to have Coolmax® Lining on the inside shoulder and side vents for extreme comfort and a build featuring one piece fabric and a high stitch count so that it can take even the toughest competition matches.

I found the jacket to be a little baggy straight out of the bag. Not excessively long but generally just feeling a little large both in terms of sleeve length and width. This isn’t unusual with men cut gis and it certainly wasn’t so big that I couldn’t roll in it straight away but it did mean that the shrinkage was going to be key.

Out of the bag the pants fit very nicely. There are long enough with just a little bit of wiggle room for shrinkage. They are quite tailored (slim fitting) which suits me but may not be everyone’s cup of tea. So onto the measurements part:

Gi Vital Statistics

*3 Washes = cold wash, tumble spin and air drying. For Gi Map click here.

This gi sells itself as being pre-shrunk and the measurement evidence backs this up so when ordering don’t plan or rely on too much shrinkage. The width of the jacket seemed to improve slightly (despite the lack of shrinkage) so I can only put it down to mind over matter and the slightly improved sleeve length and width. Although the sleeves are still fractionally longer than I would have liked (or feel that way). I have no idea if my opponent found my gi harder to grip or my partners suddenly avoiding sleeve grips as no comments were made and I didn’t notice anything.  So maybe it was just marketing spin but either way it certainly added to the comfort and luxury feel of this gi. This is a very comfortable and kept its shape well as it didn’t stretch as it got sweaty.

Overall I’d say that this is a great choice of competition gi if the sizes suit you. For taller larger grapplers this is definitely a gi to check out, but due to its slightly taller sizing then it might not be the best option for the smaller or lighter female grappler. However, it is now one of my competition gis and definitely worth considering if you’re after a lightweight or competition gi. For information and prices visit Old Munki’s Grappling Emporium