Transition Belts

[skribs113 133]

Something popped up in my Facebook feed: transition belts. Essentially it's a belt where the outer layer of fabric is one belt color, but then the next layer of fabric is the next belt color. So for example you start with a blue belt, but as the outer layer of fabric gets worn down, the purple layer beneath it starts to show through. This is to show where you're heading.

My first thought was better said by one of the comments: "Until my white belt is entire blue, but I've still only got 2 stripes on it."

I get where this idea comes from and it's a cool idea in theory. But what you've got is a few issues:

• This is almost a soft version of a self-promotion.
• If your belt gets worn from white to blue by the time you have 4 stripes, it looks like a 4-stripe white belt.
• It makes it confusing to tell who's what rank in the gym, because if you have a white belt worn down to blue, it will look like a worn out blue belt, which is a significant difference in time.

Seems like a product that would immediately get banned at most gyms.

 

[Stuarto75 16]

Something popped up in my Facebook feed: transition belts. Essentially it's a belt where the outer layer of fabric is one belt color, but then the next layer of fabric is the next belt color. So for example you start with a blue belt, but as the outer layer of fabric gets worn down, the purple layer beneath it starts to show through. This is to show where you're heading.

My first thought was better said by one of the comments: "Until my white belt is entire blue, but I've still only got 2 stripes on it."

I get where this idea comes from and it's a cool idea in theory. But what you've got is a few issues:

• This is almost a soft version of a self-promotion.
• If your belt gets worn from white to blue by the time you have 4 stripes, it looks like a 4-stripe white belt.
• It makes it confusing to tell who's what rank in the gym, because if you have a white belt worn down to blue, it will look like a worn out blue belt, which is a significant difference in time.

Seems like a product that would immediately get banned at most gyms.

Seems a little silly to me, more of just a money grab imo.

 

[skribs113 133]

Seems a little silly to me, more of just a money grab imo.

Isn't every paid product or service a money grab?

 

[JowGaWolf2 1]

Isn't every paid product or service a money grab?

Not really. It's a trade by default equal value unless some one is trying to take advantage of you then it's a money grab.

 

[drop bear114 53]

I don't think the colour change is that significant that you can confuse belts.

 

[punisher73]

Reminds me of people in the 70's and 80's that would drag their blackbelt behind their car and wash it all the time to make it look older and more worn.

Someone's going to try and "speed up the process" to make it look like they have more time in grade than they do.

 

[HighKick]

Something popped up in my Facebook feed: transition belts. Essentially it's a belt where the outer layer of fabric is one belt color, but then the next layer of fabric is the next belt color. So for example you start with a blue belt, but as the outer layer of fabric gets worn down, the purple layer beneath it starts to show through. This is to show where you're heading.

My first thought was better said by one of the comments: "Until my white belt is entire blue, but I've still only got 2 stripes on it."

I get where this idea comes from and it's a cool idea in theory. But what you've got is a few issues:

• This is almost a soft version of a self-promotion.
• If your belt gets worn from white to blue by the time you have 4 stripes, it looks like a 4-stripe white belt.
• It makes it confusing to tell who's what rank in the gym, because if you have a white belt worn down to blue, it will look like a worn out blue belt, which is a significant difference in time.

Seems like a product that would immediately get banned at most gyms.

Rightly so. Makes no sense to me for a Lot of reasons. The first and biggest is the lack of control an instructor would have. What keeps the student from simply rubbing/wearing the belt until it changes color prematurely?

 

[skribs113 133]

Reminds me of people in the 70's and 80's that would drag their blackbelt behind their car and wash it all the time to make it look older and more worn.

Someone's going to try and "speed up the process" to make it look like they have more time in grade than they do.

Or sandpaper it. That's an option too.

 

[JowGaWolf2 1]

I knew belts were serious but I didn't think it was that serious that people would ho to that extent.

 

[Simfers114 21]

The first time I was told about people sandpapering their belts to make them look more worn, by my instructor at the time, I was at a Capital Conquest event, circa 2015, or thereabouts. I laughed so hard, I figured he was making a joke. Couldn't imagine anyone being so lame.

He pointed out three or four people in the crowd with well-worn belts whom he knew for a fact had received them a few short months ago (he had been on the board).

I laughed even harder.

 

[skribs113 133]

The first time I was told about people sandpapering their belts to make them look more worn, by my instructor at the time, I was at a Capital Conquest event, circa 2015, or thereabouts. I laughed so hard, I figured he was making a joke. Couldn't imagine anyone being so lame.

He pointed out three or four people in the crowd with well-worn belts whom he knew for a fact had received them a few short months ago (he had been on the board).

I laughed even harder.

In BJJ, sometimes you get someone's old belt as part of a promotion. One of our brown belts got my Professor's belt (he had to take the stripes off) when he was promoted to black.

We also had a funny one where we had a drop-in 4-stripe brown belt, my Professor asked for his belt and gave it to a purple belt (just for the promotion, we gave it back to the brown belt). So in the promotion photo, the brand-new brown belt has his hand over the stripe bar to hide the stripes.

The drop-in was a good friend of the gym. He dropped in 1-2x per week at that point, his daughter was enrolled in our class. Eventually he joined our gym officially and got his black belt under us. It wasn't just some random guy getting his belt taken.

 

[Simfers114 21]

I love that story, haha!

Yeah, that's a really cool tradition and it could obfuscate the situation, you're right. I've seen it a couple of times even in Can-Ryu JJ, my previous art, but never for black belts, for a simple reason: our name is embroidered on the belt. So those belts were VERY recognizable and VERY new.

 

[drop bear114 53]

Or sandpaper it. That's an option too.

People also cauliflower their ears.

But I think there is a limit to accommodating for stupid people.