Recently in the hallowed halls of Tackle Jiujitsu, a new kit has dropped; Baby Blue. Today, we’ll be taking a look at it’s fit and finish.
I’m fond of the initial aesthetics of the kit. The bright blue offers a nice contrast to the white, black and red of the Tackle logo, bringing a spring-like brightness to Tackle’s usual red and black color scheme.
The shorts match the color layout of the rashguard top, which brings a nice, uniformed layout to the kit, as opposed to trying to clash, or counterbalance the colors.
The material of the kit feels lightweight, but not cheaply made per se, just airy and is soft to the touch. The top is a pretty standard fit rashgard (possibly a little bit tight, or maybe the creatine is just doing it’s job…) and has reinforced elastic around the bottom (in the area that would cover the waist) to sort of act as a belly-band, but it is not a true belly band. To be honest, I could take or leave the belly band, so this works for me. Flabbier grapplers may feel differently (and that’s okay!).
Rolling in the kit feels solid! Everything stays pretty well situated and there isn’t too much roam as far as either the top or bottom are concerned. With that said, the material and light color of the shorts lend themselves to…highlighting certain male attributes (or lack there of in my case). So probably wear some decent compression shorts!
The kit has reinforced seams along the sides of the kit to help ensure durability for continued use, which is nice, and so far the kit has held up pretty nicely, ad without any notable deterioration.
Like I said previously, there’s sort of a seam that emulates a belly band on the rashguard, so it contours to the body pretty naturally and sets comfortably for me. To reiterate, prediabetic grapplers may disagree with my findings.
Overall, I like the fit and finish of these kits. The possibly smaller than usual sizes, while off-putting to some, offer a pretty comfortable rolling experience, and I don’t mind the hoochie-daddy shorts at all, and Evan looks stoked about it.
I would give this baby-blue, Tackle branded kit a solid 8 out of 10. Are there a few things that it could do better? Probably…but the same could be said for any of us, and that really resonates with me. Check it out either online in Tackle’s virtual merch shop, or stop in to Middleburg Heights, Ohio and take a look at this, and their other kits for sale! And, as always, thank you for grappling!
