school uniforms

Laurentkd

Master Black Belt
Joined
Jan 2, 2007
Messages
1,376
Reaction score
43
Location
Kansas City
OK, who is required to wear a special type of uniform depending on rank, or rather, what are you NOT allowed to wear until you reach a certain rank?
When I started training at my dojang only black belts wore black collars, all color belts wore white. Also black belts could wear black uniforms, but no one did much. And no one wears any other "weird" colors.
Now, we let anyone wear a black collar (my instructor says, "it makes people happy so what is the big deal?") and black belts only wear black uniforms when they are teaching.
I don't know, I think when I have a school I will go back to having color belts students only wear white collars, but maybe that is a silly thing that makes rank seem too important.

How does it work with you?
 

dancingalone

Grandmaster
Joined
Nov 7, 2007
Messages
5,322
Reaction score
281
Yeah, I know the differing uniforms for ranks are a big deal in TKD, but I always thought the practice was too elitist. Reminds me too much of pajamas boys trying to play "general", you know?

My TKD school that I first trained at required all gup students to wear all white crossover dobaks. When you made black belt you could wear a black uniform or mix and match black and white tops and bottoms.

My karate teacher required everyone to wear a white do-gi, no exceptions. He wore one himself, and black belts were similarly plain or perhaps embroidered with your name and style, but certainly no stripes were worn.

In my school, I frankly don't care what you wear as long as it is clean, odor-free, and can stand up to heavy abuse from partner work. In practice that means most everyone wears a judo uniform year round, but some of my students coming from other styles and schools have been known to wear their old uniforms to get a bit more use from them. It makes no difference to me.
 

IcemanSK

El Conquistador nim!
MT Mentor
MTS Alumni
Joined
Nov 7, 2005
Messages
6,482
Reaction score
181
Location
Los Angeles, CA
When I was a gup student, I trained under a fairly strict Korean instructor. In his class, it was under BB it was white on white doboks. When you became a BB you could wear "what ever you want." I couldn't wait to become a BB. About a week after I received mine I bought a black dobok & proudly wore it to class. The other BB's were shocked. My instructor told me, "notice I don't wear a black dobok. In fact, you can't even buy a black dobok in Korea." (In 1985, that may have been closer to true). Needless to say, I never wore my black dobok to class again.

My policy is white w/ white as a gup. Black pants w/ white w/ black collar for BB's. I ocassionally wear other types of dobok (Canvas cross over, etc.) but not often. I guess when I have BB students, consider the issue more closely.
 

hkfuie

Purple Belt
Joined
Apr 20, 2008
Messages
371
Reaction score
23
Location
USA
We always wore white crossover uniforms. The black belts wore the uniforms with the black trim sometimes. Once you were ~green belt, you were expected to get a heavy weight dobak (white, of course). The other thing with the uniform was that you could only wear the American flag once you were BB. Demo team wore a plain red uniform with a red belt - everyone wore the same thing no matter rank.

Personally, I always wear plain white unless I have been lazy with my laundry, then I have some black ones I wear. When I am with my instructor and he wants me to wear the one with black trim, that's what I wear.

I like plain. :)
 

bluekey88

Senior Master
Joined
Jan 26, 2007
Messages
2,056
Reaction score
89
We have different uniforms to denote different levels of teaching rank within the school (seperate from TKD rank). White dobok for gup ranks and color belt assistant instructors. Black trim can be worn by blackbelts (not mandatory). blue uniform for black belt assistant head instructors (my current state) black uniform for head instructors (2nd dan and above).

It's not necessarily my cup of tea but it's the way things are done here. :)

Peace,
Erik
 

StuartA

Black Belt
Joined
Feb 4, 2008
Messages
634
Reaction score
33
Location
London
We use the Ch'ang Hon system.

White doboks up to BB.
1st to 3rd degree white doboks with black piping round the waist
4th degree +, as above but has black piping down arms and legs.

Stuart
 

Tez3

Sr. Grandmaster
Supporting Member
Joined
Oct 13, 2006
Messages
27,608
Reaction score
4,901
Location
England
The childrens classes are the only ones who wear gis, I chose black for them as they look far smarter and are appreciated by the girls far more than white gi bottoms. the girls can move more confidently in black. I used to train with a group who wore gis but you could have any sort you wanted, of course you bought them from the organisation at what I now know as extortionate prices!

I so appreciate dancingalones comment about odour free training kit!!
 

CDKJudoka

Purple Belt
Joined
Dec 18, 2008
Messages
346
Reaction score
13
Location
Hicksville, NY
All the Gups either wear a white V-neck dobak or a white Y-neck dobak. Yudanja wear either white V-necks with a black collar, or in my case a white heavyweight Y-neck with black collar. Instructors wear Red tops, with V-neck with a black collar with black pants or a red heavyweight Y neck, no black on the collar. Durring testing we all wear our white v-necks.
 

Miles

Senior Master
Joined
Oct 10, 2004
Messages
2,254
Reaction score
56
Location
Metro-Detroit
White vnecks for gueps, black vnecks for yudanja. We don't have a "school uniform" as we are too small to have anything embroidered on the back though we are (thankfully) getting larger and I am contemplating having a design added to the back of the dobok jacket.
 
OP
Laurentkd

Laurentkd

Master Black Belt
Joined
Jan 2, 2007
Messages
1,376
Reaction score
43
Location
Kansas City
White vnecks for gueps, black vnecks for yudanja. We don't have a "school uniform" as we are too small to have anything embroidered on the back though we are (thankfully) getting larger and I am contemplating having a design added to the back of the dobok jacket.

You could look into silkscreening the back, I bet it would be a lot cheaper then embroidery and still looks good.
 

AMP-RYU

Black Belt
Joined
Nov 19, 2008
Messages
577
Reaction score
7
Location
DeSoto, MO
White Gi's for colored belts up to purple belt, Black Gi's for red, brown and black belts.
 

terryl965

<center><font size="2"><B>Martial Talk Ultimate<BR
MTS Alumni
Joined
Apr 9, 2004
Messages
41,259
Reaction score
340
Location
Grand Prairie Texas
White V-necks for gups and Black V-necks for BB only. I also aloow students to waer red, blue or black once they reach green belt. No patches or anything except the name brand. Our competition team can put Stoker or Texas across the back of the uniform on the flap because most of the tournaments we do allow it.
 

Carol

Crazy like a...
MT Mentor
Lifetime Supporting Member
MTS Alumni
Joined
Jan 16, 2006
Messages
20,311
Reaction score
541
Location
NH
OK, who is required to wear a special type of uniform depending on rank, or rather, what are you NOT allowed to wear until you reach a certain rank?
When I started training at my dojang only black belts wore black collars, all color belts wore white. Also black belts could wear black uniforms, but no one did much. And no one wears any other "weird" colors.
Now, we let anyone wear a black collar (my instructor says, "it makes people happy so what is the big deal?") and black belts only wear black uniforms when they are teaching.
I don't know, I think when I have a school I will go back to having color belts students only wear white collars, but maybe that is a silly thing that makes rank seem too important.

How does it work with you?

Personally I like the idea of plain black (my preference :D) or plain white uniforms for students that haven't earned a black belt. Is it a big deal? Not really...but I really don't see anything wrong with giving students something to look forward to (be it a uniform with black trim, or more uniform choices) as they progress towards black belt, and a chance to express that freedom as a reward for their hard work.

I saw something else once that was kind of cool.

In a school that had tye-front uniforms, if a student had a desire to take more of a leadership role in class, and they met a certain baseline of training and temperment, they could ask the teacher about taking on a greater role with assisting, demoing, et cetera. If the teacher agreed to the student's request, the student also earned the option of wearing pullover-type uniforms, should the student choose to do so (they typically did).

While I didn't talk to the head instructor in detail about this method, it appeared to be an option for students that were 5th-4th kyu or so...maybe higher...and showed an overall commitment in the school to helping everyone have a great class. My impression was that this offered a twofold benefit. For the student, it was a chance to earn an extra priveledge in return for their extra responsibility. For the class, it was a way to show (especially to the noobies) which students were particularly approachable.

What I took away from the arrangement was that it was a way of facilitating communication between students that need help, and students that want to help. There are probably many different ways of making this arrangement happen, but I thought the different style uniforms was a cool component :)
 
OP
Laurentkd

Laurentkd

Master Black Belt
Joined
Jan 2, 2007
Messages
1,376
Reaction score
43
Location
Kansas City
Personally I like the idea of plain black (my preference :D) or plain white uniforms for students that haven't earned a black belt. Is it a big deal? Not really...but I really don't see anything wrong with giving students something to look forward to (be it a uniform with black trim, or more uniform choices) as they progress towards black belt, and a chance to express that freedom as a reward for their hard work.

I saw something else once that was kind of cool.

In a school that had tye-front uniforms, if a student had a desire to take more of a leadership role in class, and they met a certain baseline of training and temperment, they could ask the teacher about taking on a greater role with assisting, demoing, et cetera. If the teacher agreed to the student's request, the student also earned the option of wearing pullover-type uniforms, should the student choose to do so (they typically did).

While I didn't talk to the head instructor in detail about this method, it appeared to be an option for students that were 5th-4th kyu or so...maybe higher...and showed an overall commitment in the school to helping everyone have a great class. My impression was that this offered a twofold benefit. For the student, it was a chance to earn an extra priveledge in return for their extra responsibility. For the class, it was a way to show (especially to the noobies) which students were particularly approachable.

What I took away from the arrangement was that it was a way of facilitating communication between students that need help, and students that want to help. There are probably many different ways of making this arrangement happen, but I thought the different style uniforms was a cool component :)

hmmm... I like the idea of communicating to students who need help who are there to help. Sort of like a "leadership" group or something... I don't like the idea of charging more money for a "leadership team" but I like the idea of some sort of system in place to help students. Thanks for sharing this!
 

Kacey

Sr. Grandmaster
MTS Alumni
Joined
Jan 3, 2006
Messages
16,462
Reaction score
227
Location
Denver, CO
We use the Ch'ang Hon system.

White doboks up to BB.
1st to 3rd degree white doboks with black piping round the waist
4th degree +, as above but has black piping down arms and legs.

Stuart

That's ITF - not Ch'ang H'on, as there are people not in the ITF who practice the Ch'ang H'on tuls and techniques - some of ITF origin and some of WTF origin. We came from the ITF, and still practice Ch'ang H'on tuls - but we wear white doboks for all ranks; trim around the bottom of the dobok top and stripes down the legs are not added until IV Dan, and stripes down the sleeve are only for those who passed the Instructor's Course (participation in the course is for any black belt who wants to come, but only IV Dan and above can be certified). Originally, the arm stripes in the ITF meant just that - someone who had passed the International Instructor's Course - but over time people who hadn't passed the course added the arm stripes, and it became part of the IV Dan and above uniform. The stripes on the bottom of the dobok jacket were originally added only after a student had been active as a black belt for at least 6 months following their I Dan test - but that, too, slowly became part of the I Dan uniform, and the 6 month requirement was no longer enforced.
 

jks9199

Administrator
Staff member
Lifetime Supporting Member
Joined
Jul 2, 2006
Messages
23,473
Reaction score
3,794
Location
Northern VA
You could look into silkscreening the back, I bet it would be a lot cheaper then embroidery and still looks good.
Or patches... I bet you could get embroidered patches that could be sewn on front or back a lot cheaper than embroidering a uniform top.
 

YoungMan

2nd Black Belt
Joined
Dec 22, 2007
Messages
779
Reaction score
27
Kukkiwon V-neck uniforms-white for gup, black collar for Dan students.

Anything other than white is strictly forbidden. And yes it does matter.
 

Tez3

Sr. Grandmaster
Supporting Member
Joined
Oct 13, 2006
Messages
27,608
Reaction score
4,901
Location
England
Kukkiwon V-neck uniforms-white for gup, black collar for Dan students.

Anything other than white is strictly forbidden. And yes it does matter.[/quote]

Why does it matter? I'm not arguing, just curious to know why you think it matters?
 

YoungMan

2nd Black Belt
Joined
Dec 22, 2007
Messages
779
Reaction score
27
In the military and plice, to build unity, all members wear the same uniform. You don't have a choice as to what YOU want to wear, because it's not about you. It's about building cohesion.
To me, Taekwondo is the same. If I look at a class and see 10 students wearing 10 different uniforms, to me that means there is no cohesion and unity. I think white uniforms are the standard for TKD because traditionally Taekkyun was practiced in a white hanbok. One of the reasons why the Kukkiwon made the uniform switch. The V-neck is very similar to the hanbok.
Now, if a class uses all of one color, I understand the principle. Again, it's about cohesion and unity. I don't get allowing students to wear whatever they want. It's not their class. Who's in charge?
 

dancingalone

Grandmaster
Joined
Nov 7, 2007
Messages
5,322
Reaction score
281
In the military and plice, to build unity, all members wear the same uniform. You don't have a choice as to what YOU want to wear, because it's not about you. It's about building cohesion.

Makes sense. I simply don't care about uniforms because I am not trying to build cohesion. I'm teaching martial skills, and that could very mean (and frequently does) that the skills manifest themselves very differently from one student to the next.
 

Latest Discussions

Top