Fushida Icon judogi

[kikoolol]

Fushida is a brand new company over in Delta, British Columbia, Canada, specialising in Judo apparel (meaning, gis and belts). It encompasses for the moment 5 models of Judogi : JV, Club, Tournament, Prestige, and Icon. This review concerns the high-range Icon model.

Simply put, the Icon is a stiff, double-weave, European-cut, thick Judogi with a good amount of confort (brushed cotton, tapered collars, etc). Such gis are usually worn by competitors as stiff gis provide a passive defense against gripfighting. The Icon deserves a chance as a new gi from a new player in the gi market.

Durability

As said before, the gi is a double-weave, as are most competition gi. There is no saying exactly how tough this gi is. The jacket is EXTREMELY stiff and the material is tightly woven. It's reinforced almost everywhere. The pants are at least doubly woven all over, with additional reinforcements at the seam and at the knees. Coming from a Jukado Keiko, which is a flimsy double-weave with paper pants, I was very impressed with the resistance of the gear.

Flexibility/Mobility

While the Icon is a stiff gi, it also fits very well. Fushida's owner, Christo van Rooyen, offers exhaustive fitting charts where you size yourself up and your old gi and where you voice your complaints about your previous gi. From there, he will suggest the best possible sizing for you. Perfect for newbies.

Upon shrinking, the Fushida Icon fits me absolutely like a glove. It is tight, but not TOO tight, and respects IJF regulations all over. The close fit means that your movements are not bothered by miles of loose cloth like most Japanese-cut gi.

However, the Icon is still a stiff gi, and while I personally prefer stiff European gi to softer Japanese ones, it's impossible for it to rate very high in a criteria encompassing flexibility.

Material/Production Quality

Top notch. Not a stitch missing and reinforced all over. A plus to the material quality is that the whole interior is made of brushed cotton. It doesn't seem like much when touched with one finger, but it's very comfortable all over the body. I've never been in a more comfortable gi despite the stiffness of it.

Miscellaneous

Only trouble I had with Fushida is that they don't accept credit cards. I'm aware of PayPal and bank transfers as methods of payment. As I did not have PayPal and didn't know how it worked, I ran into some trouble as I'm used to paying everything by credit card. PayPal haters beware, but everything went smoothly for me once I figured how PayPal worked.

Delivery time was very quick, around a week. I'm a fellow Canadian so your mileage may vary.

Price is extremely affordable. I'm a size 4.5 and cost 147$CAD, tax included. That little money for an extremely good, competition-viable gi is a steal.

Closing comments

The Fushida Icon is an European-style, stiff, thick gi, and an incredibly fantastic one. It rates very highly for quality, matching the greats like the Eurocomp. For Japanese-cut lovers, Fushida has a few options for you.

As an added bonus, the customer service is second to none.

[HappyOldGuy]

I recently picked up one of their "Tournament" intermediate weight gi's, and I have to second the strong recommendation. Good gi, very competitively priced, and extremely good customer service.

[Neildo]

delta, eh? i have friends that live in delta. i wonder if they have a factory outlet store...