Like all our items of everyday clothing have instructions or recommendations as to temperature guidelines, use or not of beach, and tumble drying etc, it is important that we take extra care of our Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Gi, just as we would any item of our favorite clothing.

When caring for our BJJ Gis, it is not sufficient just to put it in the washing machine with our normal clothes wash, especially if our chosen Gi is white in color, we cannot afford to accidentally dye it to another color, or a shade of grey. Our Gi should be washed after each training session, as the sport involved a lot of floor work and ground grappling techniques, and we sweat a lot when practicing the sport. If our chosen Gi is white, any dirt will show very soon, and part of the art of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Gi is the art of order and self discipline, and we must discipline ourselves to take adequate care of out BJJ Gis.

It is not recommended to use bleach when washing our Gi, even though this may give us rapid white results, bleaching can be very damaging to the fabric. A substitute to bleach can be vinegar, which aids in the removal of staining. As the Gi is traditionally made of double weave or thick fabrics, and we sweat a lot when training, it is essential to wash our Gi straight after a training session. The worst thing we can possibly do is leave our Gi in a sports bag where it will harbor the growth of bacteria.

Although there are now light weight version of Gis available, the traditional double weave garment takes some time to dry, and must be line dried, preferably in the sun, which aids in the removal of any lingering bacteria. When we regularly train, we will inevitably need more than one GI, so we always have one clean, ready for our next training session.

It is recommended to machine wash separately our Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Gi, washing a maximum of two Gis in one load, giving the garment much room for movement in the machine. Use a warm, but not hot temperature. We should avoid the temptation to wash our Gi at high temperature in the aim to get rid of stains. Traditional Gi s and Kimonos were always washed by hand, in cold water, but advances in the fabrics now allow them to be machine washed, but on a delicate cycle.

If we notice our BJJ Gi is stained, we can rub some solid soap, or vinegar onto the stain before machine washing. This should be done immediately after removing the garment, so as the stain is not given time to dry in. With these few essential tips, you should always have a Gi in perfect conditions for your next training session or competition, a cool machine wash, and then hung to dry immediately in direct sun light, eliminating bacteria, and giving us the perfect result.