Most dojos sell training gear that is needed for classes, including uniforms. My question is this, where do the dojos get the gear they sell, do they have a contract with a MA store that supplies such stuff? Do they have a contract with the companies that produce the gear and have it delivered to the dojo directly from the company? How do they set it up?
Selling gear in your dojo
- Thread starter PhotonGuy
- Start date
They buy the gear at retail and resell it at cost, or at a markup. They buy it at a discount and sell it at cost, or at a markup. They have it custom made and sell it at cost, or at a markup. They tell students to buy it from XXXXX.
Depends on how big your organisation is. For example, I have friends that order Gis from Pakistan 500 at a time. The get really cheap prices. I buy from a retailer one at a time and get an instructor discount. So I can make a small profit or sell at my cost. Normally I take the profit because I have the time and travel to cover. At other times I will buy some gear at the post Christmas sales.
:asian:
:asian:
Different schools have different approaches. One I know of has a martial arts supply store as a business next door to the training hall. I get wholesale prices from several martial arts equipment companies, and charge my students slightly over cost on occasional orders.
- Thread Starter
- #6
Well I've heard that gear, particularly uniforms can be one of the main money makers for the dojo. Martial arts has a very high turnover rate, especially for children. Lots of children go into the martial arts for something fun and exciting to do. After about a year or so they get their green belt and they put it on the wall, show it to their friends, and move on into the martial arts and go into other stuff. So somebody running a dojo will sell lots of uniforms to children who want to try out the martial arts and so it will bring lots of income.
Most of the dropouts will occur in the first three months. And many schools will include a cheap POS uniform as part of their intro package to get people in the door. But yes, selling uniforms can make you money. And if you want to be really money grubbing about it, you can require that they buy the school gear rather than somewhere else and you can mark up the school gear even higher because then you don't have competition from outside sources.
Or something like that
You're right that must dropouts happen in the first month or so.
Guess we're not money grubbing. We won't let people wear a dobak (or white belt) till they learn kicho il jang. That's a couple months for most people.
Sent from an old fashioned 300 baud acoustic modem by whistling into the handset. Really.
My dojang sells uniforms, and I'd prefer to buy it via them as well purely out of support since they are decent enough. I doubt they sell enough to make a crust out of it though, maybe one or two every three months if that.
- Thread Starter
- #11
So where is your place? And what do students wear before they learn the first form?
It's at the YMCA. They wear whatever workout clothes they choose.
donnaTKD
Master Black Belt
most places round here force you to wear their schools gear 
i want the choice whether i choose to wear RDX, BadBoy, MAR, Maxx or Kicksport gear or their gear with everything about the dojo/gym plastered all over it (i hate that).
don't get me wrong some people like their gear and wear it - to me that's their choice for though i wear RDX not just cos i'm sponsored by them but cos i find their kit really really comfy
so should it not be down to the student to say i wear this cos
(1) i bought it
(2) i feel really comfy in it
(3) it's mine
then it's upto you to tell me why i should buy the gear you're selling and what makes your gear so special that it's the "must have" kit in your dojo.
i want the choice whether i choose to wear RDX, BadBoy, MAR, Maxx or Kicksport gear or their gear with everything about the dojo/gym plastered all over it (i hate that).
don't get me wrong some people like their gear and wear it - to me that's their choice for though i wear RDX not just cos i'm sponsored by them but cos i find their kit really really comfy
so should it not be down to the student to say i wear this cos
(1) i bought it
(2) i feel really comfy in it
(3) it's mine
then it's upto you to tell me why i should buy the gear you're selling and what makes your gear so special that it's the "must have" kit in your dojo.
- Thread Starter
- #14
Im not saying this about your YMCA but most martial arts programs at YMCAs are known for being generally inferior and of lower quality than the training you would get at a dojo that just teaches martial arts. There are exceptions with some YMCAs being known for having really good martial arts programs and your YMCA might be one of them.
And on what do you base this ridiculously sweeping and insulting generalization?
That's utter BS...
The entire martial arts "industry," including so called professional dojos/dojangs/whatever are filled with different levels of quality instruction. Just because someone has a full time dojo doesn't mean they offer a quality product.
There are many instructors who don't want to deal with having the headache of a full time dojo, I am one of those, but there are many others. I know instructors who teach out of athletic centers, Elk/Eagles/FOE/whatever halls, churches, health clubs, and warehouses. Does your sweeping generalization include them as well or are you just talking about the Y?
Here's a hint: we ARE a dojang that just teaches martial arts. We don't teach yoga. We don't teach zoomba. We don't bake cakes. We teach martial arts.
The fact that there may be other people in the building teaching/doing those other things is no more relevant than the services offered at other shops near whatever commercial dojo you have in mind.
The only difference is that we're not a commercial school. The fact that there's no profit motive is neither good nor bad. It just is.
I'm sorry that you think teaching in a program that allows us to do something good for the members of our community is somehow inferior.
Not because there's any truth to it, but because it says something about you. And what it says is not good.
- Thread Starter
- #19
I've seen many YMCAs and the martial arts programs they've got. Like I said, they're exceptions. In case you didn't notice, I wasn't singling out your YMCA.
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