Taekwondo Tarts

[andyjeffries]

At our club we have a name for the Taekwondoin that like a lot of custom embroidery/fancy uniforms/belts etc. It's not meant derogatory (although "tart" is generally an offensive term, we're a close group and British and say it in a jokey manner so it's fine) and I'm happy enough admitting that I'm one of them.

We're just ordering some club black belts that have all the "bling" on them - names in English/Korean, club name in English/Korean, dan bars, club symbol, WTF logo.

Some of my most favourite uniforms over the past 20 years have been ones with a lot of custom embroidery (my most favourite is a Le CAF uniform with GBR in red on the back, my name embroidered on the chest and Yong-guk in Korean on the arm).

So my question to the forum is - do you like custom embroidered Taekwondo-wear? If so, what do you have embroidered and whereabouts?

 

[ralphmcpherson]

Currently the only thing I have embroided is my black belt with club name in english and my name in korean. I wear a plain uniform but when this one wears out I will get the one with the club name embroided on the back.

 

[Cirdan]

Urgh no, I prefer a plain gi with just the school patch over the heart. I am wearing it when training, not parading.
Some of my friends have high quality silk BBs with name and style embroidered, but this because they last forever and keeping the same belt is kind of a tradition.

 

[dancingalone]

No, I generally dislike 'busy' uniforms with lots of embroidery and patches on them. They are gaudy and seem to go against the spirit of humility present in most tae kwon do dojang hun.

It may be a completely irrational personal feeling, but when I see some person with gold stripes and whatnot all over their belt and gi, I wonder if their skill matches their 'bling'. I'm generally disappointed.

 

[aftab]

Much as I like the idea of a 'tarted up' Taekwondo suit/belt in terms of design & creativity, from my 20+ years in TKD i'd say a simple uniform is the best thing for highlighting a person's skill (because it doesn't distract the eyes and is a sign of maturity)

Taekwondo Tarts hmm would like to see some pictures...

 

[jthomas1600]

Our school strives for uniformity with in the class. The school provides the uniforms. At some point you switch to a better uniform. Not a lot fancier just better quality. I have no need for fancy, but I can't wait to start wearing the better uniforms as the first ones (the very first one is given to the student as part of the first months dues) are pretty cheap and ill fitting to me.

 

[dancingalone]

Our school strives for uniformity with in the class. The school provides the uniforms. At some point you switch to a better uniform. Not a lot fancier just better quality. I have no need for fancy, but I can't wait to start wearing the better uniforms as the first ones (the very first one is given to the student as part of the first months dues) are pretty cheap and ill fitting to me.

Yes. I encourage new students to buy the best uniform they can afford if they intend to stick with the martial art. The cheapo uniforms are too thin and they rip easily when practicing throws. And during hard workouts they quickly become soaked with sweat. Yuck.

 

[Manny]

All my TKD life I have been wearing plain white dobok or Gi's with lapel color of the color of my blet, my last dobok is a Xtera Mooto with the patch of my dojang in the left side and in the back a logo of my dojang don't know if this is a tart.

About my belts, my firsth black belt (1987) is a Korean one with the name of my former kwan (Jido Kwan) my country (Mexico) and the word Tae Kwon Do all in korean, in the other side in spanish Cinta Negra !er Dan (1st degree black belt). My second dan Black Belt is another Korean one fully embroided that my sambonim gave me last july afther my examination, in one side of the belt in korean Mexico Hwarang Tae Kwon Do in the other side my name and the Mexican Flag, cero bars.

My new belt (wife gave it to me, thank you honey) is a Eosin Panther Satin Plane Black Belt. I like this belt a lot, it has cero embroided just a plain black belt, why? very simple I am in a retro mode these days I want a white traditional GI with any patch or logo tied by a plain black belt period, the looks is fantastic.

Manny

 

[IcemanSK]

Our dress doboks have a lot of "bling" on them (bars for years in TKD, patches, black pants with trim, etc.) but I only wear that for "official" ocassions. My dress belt have dan bars on it as well.

When in my own dojang with my students, I wear a relatively plain dobok (black v-neck w/ school patch & my name) with a belt with no dan bars only simple embroidery on it.

I do have a few doboks that are "tarted up" that I wear on ocassion. This one for example: http://moosoolsausa.com/taekwondo-special-dobok.html
The problem I came across is that I found that there are few places outside of my dojang where I could wear it. I can't picture going to a tournament, or visiting Miles or MSUTKD's dojangs wearing it. It's a bit too much for many folks.

 

[Gemini]

Flashy and quality are not the same thing. I'm not a big fan of "flashy", but I do like quality which is how I define embroidery. Our BB uniforms have embroidered logo on back as opposed to the silk screen on the colored uniforms and T shirts, and their name is embroidered on their belt. They're otherwise unadorned.
My coaching shirts are everyday short sleeve with collar shirts but have my school name embroidered on the left chest.

 

[Bob Hubbard]

Seems our local schools all have a "no non-school patches" policy, so at the few TKD events I've been at I can't say I've seen anything outside of uniforms, school patches and the odd embroidered belt.

 

[Archtkd]

No bling for us. Plain old school white US-made Sun (Choi Brothers) uniform with the dojang's logo on the front left. Belt with no dan stripes, and with my name in English and Korean on one end and dojang's name on the other end.

 

[andyjeffries]

This may be something I need to grow out of then ;-)

Personally, I think there's nothing wrong with it - some people like designer clothers, some people are happy with value ranges from supermarkets - I'm not going to judge them based on their clothes and I wouldn't do the same thing with a dobok/belt.

 

[dancingalone]

Personally, I think there's nothing wrong with it - some people like designer clothers, some people are happy with value ranges from supermarkets - I'm not going to judge them based on their clothes and I wouldn't do the same thing with a dobok/belt.

It's nothing personal. Do whatever you want. Lord knows there's plenty of gaudy uniforms in Korean martial arts, especially among leaders of organizations. Some people like to dress flamboyantly to stand out from the crowd. It's only human nature that this would carry through also with martial arts garb.

 

[Balrog]

It's nothing personal. Do whatever you want. Lord knows there's plenty of gaudy uniforms in Korean martial arts, especially among leaders of organizations. Some people like to dress flamboyantly to stand out from the crowd. It's only human nature that this would carry through also with martial arts garb.

Keep in mind that the pictures you posted are of folks wearing ceremonial uniforms. For example, Grandmaster S. H. Lee (the first one) only wears that black uniform for the opening ceremonies and Master inductions for the ATA World Championships. He rarely, if ever, wears it anywhere else. Every other time I see him, he's either in a standard instructor dress blues suit or a standard white dobok. And I hate to see him in the white dobok because that means I'm gonna sweat a whole bunch! :lol:

 

[dancingalone]

Keep in mind that the pictures you posted are of folks wearing ceremonial uniforms.

Yep, I'm aware of that.

I prefer to wear dress clothes when the occasion calls for it, instead of a souped up martial arts uniform, but that's just me. Obviously, plenty of other people feel differently.

 

[bluewaveschool]

currently the only person in my class that wears any patches is my father, who has the Korean flag on his left sleeve and the American flag on his right. Students haven't actually asked me, but I think the flags are all we are going to allow. We don't have a school logo. We don't do tournys, no need to look all fancy.

 

[Miles]

I've been blessed to be able to train with one of the most senior Taekwondoin in the world, GM Park, Hae Man. He wears a simple white dobok and a simple black belt-no bling.

 

[Tez3]

You could always do what MMA fighters do, have sponsors pay to put their name on your clothing! It helps pay for training

Fighters have the companies give them shorts, gloves etc to advertise the make but in TKD, karate etc we pay the companies to wear their kit etc! Hands up who has Adidas or another company written prominantly on jackets etc?

 

[ETinCYQX]

My uniform now is pretty clean, but at one point I had four different dobaks. One we wore for demonstrations, one for competition, and two different colors for regular class. I defenitely prefer the cleaner look, although I do have Woo Young's TaeKwon Do written down my left leg and arm.

That said, I will defenitely have an embroidered black belt. The black belt to me embodies everything I work for in TKD (I know it's only a strip of fabric, but it still means a lot to me) and I would like to have a nice one with my name on it. Hopefully in January!