Break Point FC Women's Gi Jacket Patches
Break Point FC Women's Gi Jacket Patches

Way back in August I asked you to choose my gi. Several great options were presented by readers and friends of MegJitsu on Facebook and in the end the Break Point FC women’s lightweight gi in black came out on top. This gi turns out to have been a great choice! The cut is just about perfect for my build, the fabric is soft and the black seems fade-resistant. The gi has nice touches in styling, including logo printing on the inside of the jacket and some well done Break Point embroidered logos on jacket and trousers. The Break Point lightweight women’s gi in black retails for $149.95USD (or $129USD for white). This review is of the size F3.(1)

Break Point Features

Break Point Jacket Embroidery
Break Point Jacket Embroidery

The Break Point women’s gi in black is accented with pink and a touch of grey and reflects the more ‘bling’ styling of the men’s ‘Deluxe’ uniform. The inside of the jacket is printed with a pink repeat pattern of the Break Point logo; I love this sort of finishing touch which I first encountered on the OTM Supastar. The Break Point embroidered logo patches are placed on the jacket front, top middle of the jacket back and the bottom of the right trouser leg. The logo, itself, has a fun feminine flourish and curl to the font as well as integration of a ‘star’ which is used elsewhere on the gi. The embroidered patches are implemented with a high level of detail and include some contrasting textures and subtle outlining of the logo elements with pink and charcoal thread. I wish the sophistication of the embroidered patches had been carried through to the star patches on the shoulders and upper thigh of the left trouser leg. These patches are polyester and, to me, they aren’t in keeping with the tone set by the embroidered designs and have the effect of ‘cheapening’ the overall look.

Break Point Jacket Internal Printing
Break Point Jacket Internal Printing

The Break Point is a lightweight gi to the extent that it has a single weave top and lighter weight canvas trousers, but as it comes in at 1.8 kilos on my scale, I’d argue that those very concerned to shave grams off their weight for competition purposes are better off looking at those gi such as the Predadora or Fenom Lotus which come with ripstop trousers, as this really reduces the overall weight of the uniform.

Break Point Shoulder Patch
Break Point Shoulder Patch

While the men’s ‘Deluxe’ Break Point kimono ships with two pairs of trousers – heavier day-to-day training pants and lightweight canvas bottoms for competition or warmer weather – the women’s gi comes with only one pair of lighter weight canvas trousers. Considering that the men’s ‘Deluxe’ retails for just $10 more and seems to have an identical specification to the women’s gi with comparable styling, pre-shrinking and so forth, it seems a bit cheeky to offer only the single pair of trousers with the women’s version of the gi.

Break Point Fit

Break Point Trouser Embroidery
Break Point Trouser Embroidery

The Break Point women’s lightweight gi is has a good overall fit.(2) The jacket works well and the sleeve length ends just below the wrist bone and it isn’t too long or baggy through the shoulders. The trousers could do with a bit length as they end several inches above my ankle bones, though I wear my gi trousers at my waist rather than my hips for a secure fit; the Fuji Victory gi has the best trouser length I’ve worn ending right at the ankles (even when worn ‘like a dork’, but not entirely illogically, at the slimmest part of my bod, i.e. the waist). The seat and thighs of the Break Point trousers are more generous than, for instance, men’s cut Koral A1s, but are not super generous like the OTM and Predator women’s gi. Break Point describes this gi as ‘95% pre-shrunk’ and while there was a little change after the first warm wash, subsequent washes showed no further shrinkage. The trousers seem somewhat less resilient to shrinking and lost around 2cm from each measurement while the jacket lost .5cm from most measurements.

BJJ Gi Diagram

Measurement Prewash (CM) Post-wash (CM)
A 158.5 153.5
B 16.5 16
C 68.5 68
D 51 50.5
E 56 54
F initial measurement lost 29
G 93 89
H 25 22

Break Point Performance

Break Point FC Women's Gi Standing Back View
Break Point FC Women's Gi

The Break Point lightweight women’s gi is very comfortable to wear while training and represents a good candidate for a day-to-day training gi. While this gi is lighter weight, as noted, it is at the heavier end of the lightweight spectrum as the trousers are canvas rather than ripstop. However, canvas trousers are really comfortable for regular training and can be preferable in colder weather or if you bruise easily and want a little more padding between your bony bits and the mats. The jacket’s single weave is quite soft and did not chaff when rolling; note that I wear a sports crop top under my gi, so will notice if the fabric isn’t kind to the skin. The gi is also more resistant to fading than black gi can be. Though not stated on their site, I suspect that the difference in price between the white and black kimono is due to color-fast treatments to the black gi, which seems to hold its colour in the way that those other gi that I’ve worn which have been treated with fade-resisting processes. In the main, the construction of the gi and the quality of the finishing is to a good standard, yet there are loose threads apparent on the trousers and in parts of the embroidery. These represent only minor imperfections and can be trimmed away, but as this is not a budget gi, one might expect something a little closer to perfection.

Conclusions

Break Point FC Women's Gi Standing Front View
Break Point FC Women's Gi

The BreakPoint FC women’s lightweight gi leaves me a little conflicted, but on balance I am really happy with it. From a performance point of view, it is a very comfortable gi, perfect for regular training; it fits really well and is exceedingly soft in the jacket and trousers. From a styling point of view, I am really diggin’ the internal printing on the jacket and the subtle use of charcoal and pink with the embroidered patches; gives a sophisticated look and depth to the design. I do think that the attention to detail applied to other areas of the gi could have been carried over to include embroidered rather than polyester shoulder patches and I can’t help the feeling that the women’s gi is getting a slightly raw deal in comparison with the men’s as the female uniforms ship with only the single pair of trousers. Even in light of these gripes, which are rather trivial – after all many folk may think nothing of the shoulder patches! – I really enjoy training in this gi. Its cut works well for me and the quality of the weave ensures a comfortable session.

Disclaimer

All reviews are based on my independent observations. I have no formal qualifications, I am not sponsored by any company and I do not endorse any one brand. If you chose a gi based on my review, please let the manufacturer know that MegJitsu persuaded you. This will not benefit me financially, but can help me to get more gi to review. As always, thanks for reading.

(1) For reference, I am 163cm/5’4.5″, 60kgs/130lbs and have bust, waist and hip measurements of 86.4cm/34″, 68.6cm/27″ and 91.4cm/36″; this review is of the F3.

(2) No women’s cut gi has been 100% right for me, some are too long in the jacket (Atama), slightly too short in the arms (Fenom), too massive in the behind (OTM, Predator) or too bulky across the shoulders and tight across the hips (Tatami). So far, the Fuji women’s gi has had the best overall fit for me, but the sizing scale used by Fuji excludes smaller women.

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