Hemp Dogi

So I was looking through some old ATM magazines and noticed an ad for hemp gi's. Anyway I was wondering if anyone has purchased one or knows one who has one? Or if any body knows of another place to buy hemp gi's? Thanks for any help.

Do you know of any places online? I know my hippie / rasta friends would love to see some of these.

What I'd REALLY like is a silk hakama...

Jeanne

Silk Hak is easy; talk to Peter at Mugendo Budogu http://www.budogu.com/
Brad, the hemp gi is made by Machiko up in rural Lake County. I've met her, and trained w/ her daughter when I've visited Aikido of Ukiah. Her daughter wears the hemp gi; they are beautifully made and the fabric is unbeatable. I don't know of any other source save do-it-yourself.

What are the advantages of a hemp gi?

(In my best Cheech voice

"It's like... all safer for the environment and stuff. People will be all like, "Ah MAN! You got a hemp karate outfit, y0! That's all baaaad, man!"

Then they pass you the bong, Man!"

One fella at my dojo has one, I think he said his wife gave it to him as a birthday present, and that it was pretty expensive as gis go. It's beautifiul looking, and very tough, and he says it's also quite warm.

Somehow I knew I was asking for that, John.

Actually I've been chatting with Machiko via email after contacting her via the address on HempUtopia
I'm going to be ordering a gi soon. She has been very prompt, polite and easy to work with as far as questions, etc, about the gi's.

I'm a fan of hemp as it is much more ecological for growing with respect to depletion of water resources as well as boosting 3rd world economies. If you want to really get into the why's of hemp, check out: hemp facts and related sites.

I've just had fairly cheap gi's up till now, and thought that I'd splurge on what I call my "anti-Adidas" gi.

Cheers,
Jack

Hmm, hemp dogi eh?

Makes you wonder what other intoxicating, smokeable herbs one can use to make gis with. I think I need to give my rasta pals in Jamaica a call and do some experimentation.

Just a thought.
LC

Sorry Asim... but I was busy being funny, and struggling at that.

Getting back to the real thing... $250 bucks??? WTF?

If Hemp is so wonderful, why is it so expensive? Novelty? Rare? Hard to manufacture? I'm all for recyclling and saving the world and stuff, but damn...!

I would like to know why the price is so high. If anyone (Jack?) knows why the price difference, I'm curious to learn more.

Thanks!

PS: Smiles = Cool

Hemp fabric is somewhat expensive, but the main reason for the cost is this is a handcrafted gi, not an assembly line gi. I know what I have to charge for my custom weapons bags, given my labor, and I know how long it takes to make a gi....that is what you are paying for when you order from Machiko.
Re: why hemp? Besides ecological reasons as noted by others, it is an incredibly strong fiber, more resistant to light, water and mineral than cotton and while it gets softer with laundering it does not seem to weaken.

Hmm. I might have to invest in one. I'll do the research. I thought about getting one a long time ago but I too thought it was rather pricey.
Thx.
BTW- great avatar John.

US$250 for a handcrafted hemp dogi sounds like a bargain compared to the 70000-yen "supreme quality" hand-stitched aikido gi jacket from Tozando. Heck, the Mizuno Yawara judogi (which I'd love to try on) costs around US$290-330.

If you're still for recycling and saving the world, but are too much of a cheapskate to buy a hemp dogi(like yours truly), you could always consider training naked...

Thanks to everyone who responded, especially Jack for the link. As for my reasons my best friend is big into hemp products and she has educated me on the benefits of hemp, by the way you can get hemp soap, shampoo and lotion at most health products stores. I needed a new gi that is soft yet extremely strong and hemp is the best way to go. Thanks again, I'll post something about the quality of the gi when I get one.

Asim,
Thanks for mentioning that avatar! I think its cool as heck and I'm excited I was able to figure out how to post it. (computer ignorant here) "Borrowed" it off of someone on another site. Pretty slick, eh?

Brad,
Looking forward to your feedback on it. I'm 2.5 years into aikido and my first pair of pants are about ready for trash. I've considered re-enforcing the knees, but I think I'd rather just invest in a better Gi. This thread has been very educational. Good luck with it and keep us posted!

As JK points out, the Mizuno and Tozando double weaves are as much or more than the hemp gi that is being discussed. As well, Janet makes the excellent point that this a made-to-order item and as such, is hand-crafted and you're paying for the craftperson's skill and time.

I also have a hand-made hakama, done by a very nice lady from Woodstock, NY, and the quality is easily apparent over some other mass produced ones that I've seen. Plus there's the feeling of knowing the person (and training with them in this case), that makes it special.

From everything I've read, hemp will wear much longer than cotton and should prove to be about as indestructible as a gi can be. I have a hemp bag (a "man purse" if you're into Seinfeld) that I've had for going on 10 years and it's still holding up fine. It's pretty amazing actually. I also use a hemp oil hand cream that is wicked good for dry skin in the winter, which I picked up at the Body Shop. Just in case your knuckles need extra attention after prolonged time with the makiwara ;-).

Why is hemp fabric expensive? That's basically due to the fact that it's not mass produced in this country and must be imported to a large extent. It's also due to laws that really shouldn't be there as hemp is not psychoactive, but is "mistakenly" listed as a "drug" in this country. I won't soapbox here, but there's really nothing but benefits that could come from opening hemp trade. For those who want to read more you can check out more hemp info .

Don't get me wrong, while I'm definitely a tree-hugging, whale-saving, birky wearing liberal, I've got plenty of mass produced, conservative skeletons in the closet (and a turbo-charged Audi in the garage ). But my training in aikido is supposed to make me focus on something else, perhaps more natural. For me, trying to help on this small front seems ok.

To each his own, have fun and train hard!

Cheers,
Jack

Jack Simpson wrote: ...but there's really nothing but benefits that could come from opening hemp trade.

Unless you happen to grow cotton for a living

Bronson

well, yeah, there is the whole "putting-the-cotton-industry-out-of-business" thing, but other than that , it's all good.....

Jack

hey, how about a chainmail dogi. y'know, just for ceremonial purposes

tony

Cotton growers don't have to go out of business. They can adapt to other growing techniques and/or pressure the government to re-legalize the growing of hemp domestically. There is some wonderful organically grown cotton coming out of Texas these days plus the foxfire green cottons.

HAH! There we go, it's back to being all good again and no one is going out of business !

I mailed off my order to Machiko today. Full reports upon receipt.

Cheers,
Jack

Let's see.... we've talked about silk, hemp, cotton & chainmail..
Frankly, i wanted my dogi in rubber or leather(black of course)..
Maybe a mauve silk hakima?
Seriously, i have a pair of pants and a shirt made outta hemp, they don't wear out, and my wife is murder on fabrics.
When my current dogi wear out or i loose enough weight to justify the purchase, I'm sending michiko a check and my measurements.
One of the reasons i like what she has to offer is that guys with 29 inch inseams and 38 to 44 inch waist lines are hard to shop for. That and a pronounced beer gut(which is disappearing, slowly)

Rayon...we need to talk about Rayon.

"Frankly Sir, I'm not as big a fan of velour as you are."... (Commander Kiff, Futurama)

Hemp gi - heavy sweating - wil that produce fumes that wil get everyone high ? Could result in a very interesting training-session..... Sorry - I know - It's not that kind of hemp.

However I would love to try out one of those hemp-gi's. Not that I'm a tree-hugger (well okay - I'm kind of a semi-hugger). It's more the tales of long lasting fabric that can take the wear and tear of hard training that catches my interest. Personally I think that growing hemp for industrial use could be a really good thing - mind you we have litlle or none cotton-farmers here in DK.