Summary
I was given the opportunity to review two different gis from Club Boost, a very active company. The two gis that I reviewed are the Club Boost Comp Gi in white and the Club Boost Samurai Gi in black. This is a review of the Black Samurai Gi; I will cover both a review of the gi as well as some contrast and comparison between it and the Comp gi.
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Introduction
The Club Boost Samurai gi is a VERY solid product. Like its competition counterpart it is made of good materials and is attractive. There are however some features that set it above from the Comp gi as well as some details that the comp gi had in place that would have been nice to see on the Samurai.
Fit
Club Boost sent me an A3 in the Comp Gi and an A2 in the Samurai. My preferred size in all gis is A2L, but I’ve found that some company’s A3 or A2 gis fit fine. I found that the Club Boost Samurai Gi is a bit more “fitted”. The pants are a bit shorter, and everything feels more tapered. I liked that in spite of being a tighter fitting gi I still had full range of motion when rolling in it. Between the two, the A3 is more comfortable, but the A2 would be choice for competition.
A: 6.51
B: 27.5
C: 29
D: 23.5
E: 23
F: 12
G: 8.75
H: 37.5
Design
The Club Boost Samurai Gi is an attractive product.
They chose a black, red and white color scheme for this gi. The contrast stitching and piping is red. The rope is white and the embroidery is red and white.
The primary design motif is a snarling Samurai head in a helmet emblazoned with the Club Boost logo. This motif is present on both arms, and the back of the top as well as one on the front of the right leg.
Like the white Comp gi this gi has the club boost name embroidered on both shoulders in a smooth print.
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The top has a black seam tape with the company’s name and logo on it in red and white. The seam tape at the bottom of the skirt is on the outside, an attractive
Jacket
Like its “Comp Gi” counterpart, the jacket is made of a 550GSM pearl weave, the piping is made of a thick red poly blend (possibly nylon) and the stitching is red.
The key difference between the Samurai gi and the Comp gi (apart from the awesome Samurai logo) is that the comp gi has a thick and stiff collar. Far more “battle ready” than the Comp Gi.
The seam tape on the Samurai is, unfortunately, scratchy, but that was perhaps the only issue I could find with it. The quality was a huge improvement over the Comp Gi.
Trousers
The pants of the Samurai gi are pretty average. No hidden pearl weave, just standard rip stop with the branded seam tape on occasional logo hits.
The one kind of neat difference these pants have is that they have a white stretchy rope. Most other gi pants I’ve seen have a stretchy rope that matches the seam tape, but this gi went a different way with it and I kind of like it!
Like the top, the only real issue on these is the fact that the seam tape is scratchy. Otherwise the pants are fine. Nothing out of the ordinary, but they fit well and are durable.
Rolling Performance
The thicker, stiffer collar makes this gi’s top superior to its counterpart.
If they had paired the Comp Gi’s pant design with the Samurai Gi’s top this would be an absolutely incredible product.
Still, I have no real complaints other than the scratchy tape, which doesn’t really affect the rolling performance; it just makes the gi less comfortable.
Conclusion
Club Boost’s Samurai Gi is a very well done product. The Samurai motif is super attractive. The materials they chose for the top makes it like a suit of armor, and I like that.
The scratchy seam tape and lack of pearl weave in the pants make it comparable to the Comp Gi.
If you are on the market for a new gi and you want to explore an up and coming brand, look no further than Club Boost. Great products, attractive, and good quality.
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Disclosure: This Gi was submitted to me free of charge (by way of gireviews.net) for review. I have never done any work with or for Club Boost.
