Elite Sports has become a more common brand of martial-arts gear, providing quality construction and design for a reasonable price. This edition of CP Gear Review will cover the company’s Core Men’s BJJ Jiu-Jitsu Gi with preshrunk fabric.
We opted for the black color with red trim, which is a very deep black with rich red highlights. This was a size A4. The gi itself had most of the standard accoutrements — pearl weave jacket, ripstop pants, and reinforced seams around the edges of the jacket. The pants were a nice, comfortable fit, but the rope tie for the waist on the pants was pretty short, but that could be a one-off issue. The fabric was very soft and lightweight.
Despite the claim that it was preshrunk, we expected significant shrinkage after the first wash, because the fabric was so soft. After the first cold-water wash, we let it dry just a little longer than usual in on low heat in the dryer before hanging up. It hardly shrank, if it all. The fit was nearly identical to when it arrived.
It was time to give it a roll on the mat.
The first thing we noticed was the comfort. It never felt bunched up, and it allowed for a great deal of mobility. A training partner tried to rough it up several times throughout training with no damage. It’s hard to gauge how the gi will hold up through dozens of rolls, but the last Elite Sports gi we tested several years ago, a different model, did not start showing wear-and-tear for almost eight years.
For the current low sale price of $49.99, this is a great lightweight gi for most levels of grapplers. The only drawback would be the shorter rope tie around the waist, but that may not matter, depending on the body type. As a lightweight training gi, we would have no problem purchasing this gi in the future, and, as lightweight as it is, we would have no problem using it in competition either.
This gi and other Elite Sports products can be ordered at www.elitesports.com.
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