OTM SupaStar
OTM SupaStar
In my gi review of the OTM Supa Star gi, a women’s BJJ kimono I very much enjoy wearing, I noted that the sizing of the trousers was overly generous for my body shape:

The trousers, ‘modeled off the fit of a baggy women’s jean cut’, are very wide across the bottom and legs. On the one hand, for me, if I wear the trousers at the waist I get a huge unfilled balloon effect across the bum, and while this is somewhat reduced when worn more hipster style, they are much bigger through the rear than I would ideally prefer. On the other hand, the generous width of the trousers makes for comfortable and unrestricted wear, accommodates curvier shapes and enhances the A-line design of the gi. While it is great that there are women’s gi more sensitive to women’s proportions, there seems to be an assumption that all women are curvy. While women do have different waist to hip ratios than men, women too, come in a variety of body shapes and it would be optimal if women’s gi could be bought as separates. In this case, while the F3 jacket is perfect for me, I definitely need the F2 and possibly the F1 trousers.[1] This is especially so with the Supa Star as not only is it very generously cut, but, for better or worse, it is extremely resistant to shrinkage.

I now have the photographic evidence of the usefulness of selling women’s gi as separates. Behold, the OTM Supa Star’s back panel does absolutely no justice to my rather junkless trunk!

Meg is no Beyoncé, but she's no Kate Moss either
Meg is no Beyoncé, but she's no Kate Moss either
I ‘swear’ that my bottom is not so flat as these trousers would suggest; the cut doesn’t favour the less ‘A-shaped’ woman. While I couldn’t ask the F3 jacket to fit any better, the trousers are just too massive; I am sure other women would encounter similar issues and might very much like to mix and match jackets and trousers. It is fantastic that BJJ gi manufacturers are seeing the wisdom of designing for women, I hope, too, that they soon recognise the benefits for their customers of selling jackets and trousers as separates.

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

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