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I have been doing Krav for a while now and always wondered this. If you look at the websites of many of the schools that teach, they usually mention in the FAQ section of their site that no uniform is required for Krav. While it is true that no gi type uniform is required, you can’t just come to class in any old pair of training pants/shorts and a t-shirt. Each school has their own version of the uniform, even if it is not the traditional uniform that other martial arts use.
Isn’t this kind of false advertising? The new students join and then are told they must purchase a pair of pants for $40 and a shirt for $20. It would not be so much of an issue if the clothing was on par with the quality of Nike drifit (or the Adidas or even Target equivalent), but it is not. In terms of the gear that I have purchased, the only piece that is comparable in quality to drifit are the shorts.
At my school, (KMLI), the only requirement is a Krav shirt of some kind (or a plain black shirt if your Krav shirts are all in the wash!), and decent shorts or training pants (of any kind, really). Mayhem, 60 dollars worth of a \”uniform\” isn’t much at all compared to virtually any other martial arts school.
That $60 is good for 1 day’s uniform. If you train 3-4 times a week and do laundry about once a week, that is $180-$240 for a uniform even though it is advertised that no uniform is required. Also the quality of the apparel in general is not stellar.
I train 5 times a week and sweat like a pig. And I can get usually 2 or 3 wears out of the shirt. I just hang them out to dry and they are good to go. Of course prior to wearing they get the smell test. 🙂
As for the quality, not sure where you are getting yours from but the items I have are top notch and undergo a tremendous amount of wear and tear.
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quote \”mayhem\:That $60 is good for 1 day’s uniform. If you train 3-4 times a week and do laundry about once a week, that is $180-$240 for a uniform even though it is advertised that no uniform is required. Also the quality of the apparel in general is not stellar.Mayhem:
which school do you attend? I don’t know of any Krav schools that absolutely require you to wear krav branded clothing. Sure, they reccomend the Krav stuff and will surely try and sell it to you: it is a money-maker for the school, for Krav Maga Worldwide, it’s good advertising, and it creates uiformity in a class setting. BUT…everywhere I have ever trained or visited simply wanted you to wear clothing that was approriate to train in when it got down to it: sweat pants or shorts, good running or cross-training shoes, and a black shirt…anything that was comfortable to wear and appropriate to train in. Never have I heard of a place that required you to purchase Krav clothing and required you to wear it.
If you are paying your monthly fees and you show up to train, you should be able to wear any old black shirt and any old pair of shorts or sweat pants.
As far as the Krav clothing is concerned, I love it!! I think the pants, shirts, shorts, hand-wraps, hats, etc are all top-notch. The branded Krav clothing is high quality, durable, very comfortable, and the style is awesome!! I love the logo, the look and feel of the clothing, and have no problem buying a few shirts and pants when I have the money to do so. I don’t ALWAYS wear Krav clothing to training, but usually. OIthers never wear it, while some always wear it.
Our upper level classes require KM top and bottoms. I don’t have an issue with the designs, just the durability and comfort of the gear. The shirts shrink after a couple of washes and fade like crazy. I spent around $25 on a Chute Boxe training shirt that is that drifit material a few years ago, and that shirt is still as good as new. The shirts I wear to the gym are the nike drifit, and they last a long time, and are designed to keep you dry. I used to train in these in college, and they were ideal. I know there is probably a whole lot of stuff dealing with contracts and all that, but KM should look into making shirts out of the drifit material.
when u say drift you talking about the stretching stuff, like the under armour wear? Oh and if it is the same material, then Krav does have one. 🙂
I have been wearing the same two shirts for about 9 months of krav and they did not shrink and look like when I bought them. Maybe ya should learn how to do wash. lol *KIddin*
At the school here in Kansas City they gave my son and I KM shirts when we signed up. They are the \”suggested\” wear, but any solid black or white shirt is acceptable. The instructors usually wear the official KM tops and bottoms, although I have seen them were dark colored Nike shirts.
We have bought some other KM shirts because of the cool logos (I like the one with iconic eagle/sword motif).
There was no recommendation on the pants. I’ve seen various types.
I found some longer loose Nike running pants I wear to the self defense classes. I tried shorts, but I like to have my legs covered for the kicking and ground work type lessons.
For the fitness classes I do where black shorts.
Our school in San Francisco has no requirements about clothes. All you need is a t-shirt, sweats or shorts and some form of shoes that won’t ruin the mat and you are good to go. You do get a t-shirt upon signing up but you are never required to wear it.
I train at KravMD. They gave me a pair of pants and a shirt when I signed up, but I don’t have to wear them. People wear what they wear. I just wear gym shorts and a white t-shirt and I find that it works out perfectly for me. I would be rather offended if someone asked me to put on a uniform–I’m there to train, not to play dress-up.
At my place, a pair of pants and a t-shirt is part of the start-up package we buy (along with the bag gloves, jump rope, and wraps). It’s encouraged that we wear both to class. The shirt shrank after the first wash, and the pants never fit me well. Regardless, I make do with the pants and wear any ol’ shirt to class.
When I signed up at my first school, they gave me a Krav equipment bag, one set of hand wraps, a pair of boxing gloves, a jump rope and a cheapie mouth piece. (When I say \”gave me\” it was actually part of my first months fee.) They didn’t have my size pants and shirt in stock so they ordered them. I don’t remember if I paid extra or if they were part of my first month’s fee. None the less, I was glad to have them and wore them with pride.
However, we were not required to wear to the Krav shirt and pants if we didn’t want too, as long as we wore something comfortable and conducive to training. Personnaly I liked the Krav clothing and always wore them. Some students seldom, if ever, wore the Krav logo items.
The only times I have ever been told I had to have something was when we all had to have shin guards for level 2 and then all the appropriate gear for fight class. I know selling tons of clothes is good for the school financially, but they don’t push stuff on us. People wear whatever they want to class; there’s no rules. If anything I wish there *were* rules — about wearing pants over shinguards and also about washing your clothes regularly. 😉
The only restriction at my school is on a sign posted outside of one of the classrooms, which reads, ìNo street shoes are allowed.î Other than that, you can wear what you want. I am always in my color coordinated Reebok t-shirts and sweatpants. I also wear Reebok high top cross trainers.
Our school requires you to have at least one piece of Krav gear for entering Level 1 and two for Level 2, I think. I’m not 100% sure, but I kind of like how it looks and have several things. The shorts are very well made and I haven’t had any problems with my shirts shrinking or fading. The gym pants are a little thin and loosely stitched. No problems yet, but I suspect they may rip some day. We’ll see.
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