care for black gi's....

[tarabos]

figured i'd ask this on the kenpo forum...targeting the American Kenpo practitioners in particular since we wear black gi's more than any other art probably.

anyone have any tips or tricks of the trade when it comes to care for them. i've always trashed mine more or less...always washing and drying them relentlessly without any worry about shrinking or fading...

figured it was time to start caring for my gi's a little better. white is easier to maintain i guess but i don't wear white gi's...so i need to keep my black ones looking fresh as long as i can.

EDIT: whoops...kenpo forum indeed...eh, whatever...everyone answer!

 

[pesilat]

Originally posted by tarabos
figured i'd ask this on the kenpo forum...targeting the American Kenpo practitioners in particular since we wear black gi's more than any other art probably.

anyone have any tips or tricks of the trade when it comes to care for them. i've always trashed mine more or less...always washing and drying them relentlessly without any worry about shrinking or fading...

figured it was time to start caring for my gi's a little better. white is easier to maintain i guess but i don't wear white gi's...so i need to keep my black ones looking fresh as long as i can.

EDIT: whoops...kenpo forum indeed...eh, whatever...everyone answer!

I got this tip recently about dark clothes in general (haven't tried it yet). Every so often (like once a month) wash it with a cup of salt. The salt helps prevent fading.

Mike

 

[Chronuss]

how do you figure white is easier to maintain? white stains easier and it shows blood. I wore a white gi ONCE and that was at a bb test, and after the jokes about milk and Good Humor ice cream, that was enough and went promptly back into the drawer. I like my black gi...hehe.

 

[tarabos]

Originally posted by pesilat
I got this tip recently about dark clothes in general (haven't tried it yet). Every so often (like once a month) wash it with a cup of salt. The salt helps prevent fading.

Mike

i'll have to give that a shot...i just have lousy luck with gi's for some reason

 

[tarabos]

Originally posted by Chronuss
how do you figure white is easier to maintain? white stains easier and it shows blood. I wore a white gi ONCE and that was at a bb test, and after the jokes about milk and Good Humor ice cream, that was enough and went promptly back into the drawer. I like my black gi...hehe.

well with white there's lots of stuff you can do and you can wash it as much as you want pretty much...i'm good at removing sweat and blood stains


and what were you thinking wearing a white gi at a bb test...? :rofl:

 

[RCastillo]

Make sure you turn em inside out. That seems to keep from losing the color!

 

[Angus]

Want to keep the full depth of color forever? It's REALLY easy.

When you first get your uniform, soak it in vinegared and salted water in a sink/tub, completely submerged, for a couple hours. The entire room should smell vinegary, and you need probably a half cup to whole cup (half for your standard style, up to whole for judo/jujutsu/jiu-jitsu) of salt. After you're done, wash it in cold water (with gentle cycle preferably), and don't put it in the dryer. Let it hang dry, and you're done.

I have a couple black uniforms that I've had for a while that are still pitch black due to this method. Blue, for some reason, is a little more difficult, but black works perfectly like this. It's the dryer that really kills it.

I do this with all my uniforms, even white. They laster longer this way, color and all.

 

[cali_tkdbruin]

Originally posted by tarabos
well with white there's lots of stuff you can do and you can wash it as much as you want pretty much...i'm good at removing sweat and blood stains


and what were you thinking wearing a white gi at a bb test...? :rofl:

I wear a white dobok, and I can tell you that no matter how hard I try, they're very hard to maintain.

With the continued use, and repeated washings my white doboks get dingy fast. I've even tried using that stuff called "Wite On" I think it is, but, it's hard to get that fresh, clean look back.

I'm really looking forward to switching to the all black dobok now that I've advanced to a rank where I'm allowed to wear it at my dojang. And besides, IMO the all black uniforms look a lot cooler... :ultracool

 

[dearnis.com]

sweats & t-shirts anyone....

Seriously try using cold water and just hang-drying. I have used a Ronin brand black judo/jujitsu top for about 6 years with fairly minimal fading. It is seasoned, but doesn't look like a trashed pair of jeans!

 

[Jill666]

I've never had a problem with mine- I hadn't even tried the salt or vinegar solutions but you may if you have bad luck.

I simply turn mine inside out (I do that for all dark or red colors) to prevent fading. Cold wash, and low heat for three quarters (hmmmm, about 24 minutes) at the laundromat. That gets the gi partly dry. I'll then hang it up to finish drying.

On a funny note, my training partner's wife washes his gi, and they keep shrinking. (I told him to wash his own damn gi or quit b!tching but that's beside the point). In class a couple of weeks ago, a dryer sheet fell out of his gi. Hilarious- we of course gave him a huge ration of $h!t for it.

 

[Nightingale]

vinegar/salt both work well to preserve dark colors...

however if they do fade:

get to the grocery store and look over by where they have sewing needles and shoe polish. There's usually a rack of something called RIT, which is clothing dye. Follow the directions on the package for light and medium weight gis, double the recipe for heavyweight ones.

After you dye it in the wash cycle, set your washer to the "soak" setting and add vinegar. When you want to get rid of the vinegar, just set the washer to "rinse" and it'll rinse all the vinegar and all out of the washer. I'd recommend running one more cycle (no soap) just to make sure the liquid dye is all out of the clothing, and then dry as usual.

To keep the colors bright to begin with, use an expensive color safe detergent. The cheaper ones (tide, all, etc...) have a harsher chemical in them that can irritate skin and harm fabric...



To remove blood from any fabric, soak in hydrogen peroxide. The fresher the blood, the more chance you have of removing it completely. Just put the stained part of the fabric into a basin and pour the peroxide over it... when it stops fizzing, its stopped oxydizing, so you need to pour more. Keep pouring until the stain is gone.

 

[pesilat]

Originally posted by dearnis.com
sweats & t-shirts anyone....

That's all I wear (or shorts). I haven't worn a gi in nearly 10 yers.

Mike

 

[Chronuss]

Originally posted by tarabos
and what were you thinking wearing a white gi at a bb test...? :rofl:

....it was a TKD bb test... :shrug: and THE ONLY time I wore the white gi...it was still starched cause I just took it out the package...bleh. I did NOT like wearing, I did not like standing out. I'm much more comfortable in my black gi.

 

[tarabos]

Originally posted by Angus
Want to keep the full depth of color forever? It's REALLY easy.

When you first get your uniform, soak it in vinegared and salted water in a sink/tub, completely submerged, for a couple hours. The entire room should smell vinegary, and you need probably a half cup to whole cup (half for your standard style, up to whole for judo/jujutsu/jiu-jitsu) of salt. After you're done, wash it in cold water (with gentle cycle preferably), and don't put it in the dryer. Let it hang dry, and you're done.

I have a couple black uniforms that I've had for a while that are still pitch black due to this method. Blue, for some reason, is a little more difficult, but black works perfectly like this. It's the dryer that really kills it.

I do this with all my uniforms, even white. They laster longer this way, color and all.

vinegar and salt huh? sounds like it would work....i have a new shureido coming in a few days, i might try it with that. i'll have to see if it will prevent any further fading on my tokaido as well. i could care less about my other gis.

do i have your guarantee i won't smell like a salad though?

 

[tarabos]

btw...how much vinegar do you use?

 

[Zujitsuka]

Go to www.queenofclean.com to see her recommendations on laundry detergent. It has been my experience that she knows what she's talking about. I've been very pleased with her suggestions.

Peace,

 

[GouRonin]

Originally posted by Jill666
On a funny note, my training partner's wife washes his gi, and they keep shrinking. (I told him to wash his own damn gi or quit b!tching but that's beside the point).

My wife washed my Judo gi once and at first I was worried. Then I realized that the short sleeve length was so short people couldn't grab it and it was illegal for competition. Now all my Jiu-Jitsu gi's are that short in the arm.

But like Mike said, I don't wear Gi's anymore either except when they serve a physical purpose.

 

[cali_tkdbruin]

Originally posted by Zujitsuka
Go to www.queenofclean.com to see her recommendations on laundry detergent. It has been my experience that she knows what she's talking about. I've been very pleased with her suggestions.

Peace,

Hey Zujitsuka, that's a pretty good website. I've bookmarked it for future reference. Thanks for the tip... :asian:

 

[Zujitsuka]

My pleasure cali_tkdbruin.

Peace & blessings,

 

[lonekimono]

You know this is how i know when my gi needs to be clean
When i go to the dojo and i see my gi standing up all by it's self
thats when i can tell,it's not the smell.
Well any way i put it on and walk though a car wash lol.
Now i know some of you people might think that i'm a nut for saying things like that? now you have to know that i don't really walk though a car wash, it's just some of the stuff that i'm reading
i think that it has to be some kind of a joke.
now the person who wanted to know about this, lol i'm sorry but i'm laughing my butt of while typing this if you are new to the martial arts i could understand, look i have to stop i got this really bad pain in my side.

yours in kenpo