I wrote about attending the Female Fighters Camp in Kendal which took place over the August Bank Holiday weekend a few months ago. As well as having an awesome time the camp also launched a set of limited edition of clothing including a gi and a rashguard.

As we all know I can never resist new kit especially when it’s in a touching distance so here’s a review for you all (apologies its late but holidays got in the way!).

The Gi
Starting with the gi, these have been custom made for the camp and are available in a full range of sizes and colours (white, black, blue, red and pink). I tested out the A1 gi in royal blue.

The jacket is a pearl weave to help reduce the gi’s weight. It features contrasting white stitching with triple stitching at bottom of the jacket and sleeves with some white taping to support the lapel. Design wise its clean cut with the female fighter logo on both sleeves and the female fighters bee on the front of the left-hand side of the jacket. This design is IBJJF legal and leaves space for any patches you would want to add.

The pants are canvas pants with a white drawstring cord and double belt loops to help keep them secure. The pants are reinforced with contrast white stitching in the all right places. The design is simple with the female fighters butterfly motif on the front of the right hip and at the bottom of the left leg.

Overall the gi comes in at around 1.7kg which means whilst it’s not my first choice for competition but a solid size and weight for training. Out of the bag the pants fitted perfectly whilst the jacket was a little bit large; mainly a little too long on the sleeves. Although I do suspect that this may be resolved after wearing and washing it a few times.

In terms of those all-important measurements:

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

As you can see there was only minimal shrinkage with this gi. The pants still fit well and although the jacket has shrunk a little bit it this has actually help me with the overall fit.

Performance wise this gi really feels like a crossover between a BJJ and Judo gi. It has a fabulously stiff collar which isn’t fully grip-friendly but feels beautifully soft against the skin. I’ll be honest on particularly sweaty sessions I felt like the sleeves stretched a little bit but this combined with the fit and judo feel to it means that this wouldn’t be my first choice as a competition gi. It’s very much a hardwearing daily gi for whatever your grappling needs are.

The rashguard
The long sleeve rashguard features the female fighters logo on the front and a skull design under the arms. It is fully sublimated and has elastic built into the bottom of the rashguard to prevent riding up during rolling. I haven’t worn it as much as I would have liked to as it’s not yet been that cold but it has held up really well during testing. It’s washed well, hasn’t bobbled yet and is suitably long in the body so that it doesn’t ride up (but I’ll be honest I only wear it under a gi). This rashguard is one of the most reasonably priced long sleeve options on the market and is a great choice with winter coming so if you after a sneaky Xmas present or just adding some more warmth to your training wardrobe I’d check it out.

How to get yours…
The gi and rashguard are still available in a range of sizes (including custom sizes for the gi’s on request). The gi currently costs £95 and the rashguard costs £25 both are available from the Sophie Cox Judo Website.