I'm interested in the 93 Tau gi, which is a 450 gram gold weave in A2. The sleeve length is around 69 inches, which I need to shrink down to about 63 inches. I heard that gold weave is susceptible to shrinkage, but does anyone have experience with this particular gi? Any idea if this will shrink that much? Any help is much appreciated, thanks in advance. Before you ask, I need to buy an A2, because I know I won't fit into the pants of an A1L. Alex
I have this gi and I love it. However, the sleeves did not shrink that much on mine. I did not try to wash it hot and/or dry it on hot. You might be able to get it to shrink that much. Meerkatsu did a review and his shrank a bit in the sleeves. http://meerkat69.blogspot.com/2014/02/review-93-brand-charlie-and-tau.html
What size did you get in the Tau? I checked Meerkatsu's review, it shrank about 3.5 inches in the sleeves for him with air drying. I wonder if I can shrink them by 6 with a few hot washes and drying on high. Does the gi stretch on you, like when you're in spider guard? Thanks.
I got an A3L. I am 6'4" and about 190lbs and it fits great. It is a lighter gold weave so it does stretch a little when really tugged on. However, it isn't really terrible or annoying. I don't really notice it when rolling. I see you are worried about sizing, shrinking, and fit. If you are in the US you can buy it from rollmore.com and return it in 60 days if you don't like the fit. It is a really great gi that I enjoy rolling in and I think you will too.
Hey Alex, George of 93brand here. There are two main contributors to shrinkage with Gis: weave and color. A little tangent for those interested: 1. Gold weave definitely shrinks more than Pearl, etc. 2. White shrinks more than dyed, unbleached shrinks more than white. Essentially, the more of a bleach and/or dye process the fabric undergoes prior to assembly, the less it will shrink post-assembly. 3. I don't know if there's any science behind this one; could just be coincidence. But in my experience, my softer Gis have had a tendency to shrink more than my stiff or rough Gis. In the past 6 years of training and having a mild addiction to kimono collecting, I've owned upwards of 40 Gis (given away or sold most of them by now, of course) and I've noticed a correlation between softness:shrinkage. tl;dr The Tau is soft, it's white, and it's a Gold weave. So you'll experience a decent amount of shrinkage depending on how you go about washing and drying. Here's what I suggest... I always say wash cold and hang drying the first time, since the environment in which you dry it could affect the shrinkage (someone in Arizona in the Summer will experience different hang-dry shrinkage than someone in the Amazon in the Spring). If that doesnt get you the right fit, then wash on warm and then toss it in the dryer for just 5 mins. Try it on (damp Gis are not comfy, I know, but the Tau is so damn soft once you shrink-to-fit that it will be worth it, I promise). Still too long.. dryer for 15 mins. Try it on. Repeat, etc. If you don't like the fit after washing, we'll take it back and send you a size down jacket, no questions asked. Thanks for supporting!!
