Hello everyone,
Sorry I have been a ghost. My new day job, while great careerwise is also a real bastard in terms of time commitment when I'm at the end of projects.
In the meantime, however, stuff is still going on in the background - the gear arrived earlier this week and I finally got it all inventoried and up on the site. The order was like 6 weeks delayed partially because I am low priority for the maker compared to the other, bigger brands he manufactures for, and because the earthquake in Pakistan really threw the entire country for a loop.
The stuff is here now, boardshorts and gloves on this run, including size 40 and 42 shorts and the newer 8oz 2-layer gel gloves, which have about a 1" thick pad.
As to to the question of sources, yes, the majority of MA and MMA gear makers source their stuff from India and Pakistan, some from China in extreme cases. Ringside themselves sources the majority of their stuff from production in India and Pakistan, with even some of the leathers that go into their (USA-made... actually just USA assembled) Ultimate series is from India. India and Pakistan are huge when it comes to the manufacture of leather-based sporting goods such as balls, gloves, heavybags, etc.
I price what I think is fair. My overhead is super low. But really, the other guys have a lot more overhead and generally, a lot more markup as well. I have a day job, so I dont need to milk hardcore profit out of my MMA merchandise to live on.
Paul
www.truthfightwear.com