Our Gi

made with passion

The Misogi Dogi uniform is not a simple copy of another keikogi design. We listened to the preferences of the aikido community. We explored the various aspects and functionalities. We tested innovative options. And we are very proud of the result. Have a look:

Design

Our aikidogis are carefully designed with a lot of love for details: the jackets have no back seam, allow for a great freedom to move and feature ribbons inside the jacket to hold it tight. The pants are available with drawstring waistband or with elastic waistband. Double lining from above the knees downwards allow for smooth suwariwaza.

Fabrics

sashiko, hishizashi and waffle fabrics

According to our survey results and our observation on the tatami, most of us like to wear a single layer, light-medium weight judogi style uniform with a jacket made of rice grain (sashiko) and diamond (hishizashi) canvas. These fabrics were not available in organic cotton and have been weaved exclusively for Misogi Dogi’s aikido jackets.

For the prototypes, we used waffle fabric made from organic cotton. Many aikidoist who tried on the prototypes loved this fabric: it is light and strong, a bit elastic and very absorbent: perfect for summer training and for travelling to aikido seminars. Thus, we kept the light jackets in our collection and made many clients happy.

The pants are made of twill. All the fabrics are very robust and at the same time offer the soft touch of cotton.

Misogi Dogi uniforms are made of partially bleached cotton to achieve a beautiful, soft white tone while maintaining a high fiber quality. Because whatever the method used, the more a fabric is bleached, the more the fiber quality diminishes. The soft color adds to the premium look of the gi. If, however, you prefer snow white, rest reassured: the gi will get whiter with every laundry.

Misogi Dogi uniforms are made of GOTS certified organic cotton fabric. GOTS is the world wide leading certification for sustainable textiles: all along the supply chain, from the cotton seed to the finishing mill, only environmental friendly, natural methods are used to grow the cotton and produce the fabric, without genetically modified organisms and without harmful chemicals.

A Misogi Dogi uniform can be washed at 60°C. We recommend not to do it too often to preserve the fabric and the environment. If your training was intense, the best is to wash your uniform immediately at a low temperature. But every now and then and particularly after a few days of seminar without washing opportunity, a laundry at 60°C may be necessary and shall be alright.

Sizes

The aikido community is very diverse: from the athletic girl to her small and round uncle, the super tall and slim guy, the stronger-than-ever auntie and the grandpa in his best shape.

We developed a system of 10 sizes covering not only different body sizes, but also taking into account various body shapes: for each body size (160cm – 170cm – 180cm – 190cm), you can chose between slimmedium and large. (Size chart with measures is featured on our webshop).

You can always select jacket and pants sizes separately, even when ordering a complete gi. This allows for advanced aikidoists to combine their optimal jacket size with shorter pants, such as to keep them hidden under the hakama.

We too hate to see our uniforms shrink in our washing machines. We requested the weaving mills to do their best to avoid any fabric shrinkage after delivery. However, it seems to be inevitable that this kind of cotton fabrics shrink. We have thus adapted the cut to ensure the best fit after washing.

At reception, your gi will be slightly too big, especially the aikido jacket. Wash it at 60°C until it fits better. Then, wash it at a cold temperature once or twice to stop the shrinking process.

Price & Costs

We aim at a fair price. One way to express this is by setting a single price independently of the size you chose: size ‘190cm medium’ costs the same as a ‘160cm slim’. Because, should someone pay more because she or he happened to grow bigger? No. We love you just the way you are.

We also aim at cost transparency. This is how we calculated the price of an aikidogi:

These categories include:

  • fabric: fabrics and labels
  • sewing: sewing
  • logistics and taxes: further production costs such as for shipping the fabric to the workshop, import and export taxes, shipping the gis to the stock in Switzerland etc.
  • development: design development, fabric agent fees, producing prototypes, setting up the communication including the website, coaching fees
  • administration: communication, customer relationship, hosting the website, bank fees, bookkeeping, taxes etc.
  • risk: a small buffer for surprise situations

The price was set low compared to production costs to stay accessible to a majority of aikidoists. It covers mostly external costs and hardly covers any of the work by the core team for Misogi Dogi. All founders are making a living from their further professional activities. This means Misogi Dogi is not economically sustainable as of today, which is not surprising for a start up.

Misogi Dogi is a social business aiming first of all at creating non-monetary value: offer aikido equipment that is in line with the spirit of aikido and raise awareness that there are many ways to take the aikido spirit beyond the tatami mats. If you have any question related to price and costs, don’t hesitate to contact us.

Origin

Misogi Dogi uniforms are mainly made in Europe. A wonderful family business in Bosnia, also producing fashion for small designers, assembles the uniforms. The fabrics are weaved in mills located in Austria, Czech Republic and Turkey. These mills bought the yarn from Germany or Turkey. The organic cotton was grown and hand-picked on fields in Turkey, India and Kirgistan.

We have visited the Turkish producers, the Austrian weaving mill and the Bosnian manufacture. You can read the reports on our blog.

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Interview – Fair uniforms from Bosnia & Herzegowina

What does "made fair-trade in Banja Luka" mean? We asked Emir, the director of the manufacture that produces our gis: Is your company fair-trade certified? The company is not fair-trade certified for various reasons: One is that the certifying…
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International Women’s Day

The International Women's Day was celebrated at our manufacture in Bosnia. This is very touching: so many women in this sector get so little reward for their hard work. We are very proud to contribute to a better practice by working with Sl…

Visiting Production Sites – Turkey Journey Report

The fabrics for our dogis are not readily available on the market. They have never been produced in organic quality. A first piece of organic canvas for aikido pants was ordered in July 2014 from a Turkish weaving mill. We took the chance…
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TJR Part I – White Gold of Aydin

My journey started in Izmir. While most of us will associate Izmir with beach holidays, the region is also famous for its textile industry. Turkey is one of the worldwide largest producers of organic cotton, together with India and China. Syria…
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TJR Part II – Symphony of Threads

Our cotton yarn spinning mill, one of Turkey’s 350 mills, is located in midst of cotton fields. Nur and Sedat welcomed me very warmly and showed me around. On the way to the storage halls, we walked by a group of factory workers, men and women,…
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TJR Part III – Staccato of Thundering Looms

Our yarn was sent to a weaving mill of Turkey’s major textile city Denizli. 65% of the local companies are part of the textile sector. Tourists stop there to shop for clothes on their way to the impressive landscape of Pamukkale, the cotton…
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TJR Part IV – The Finishing Giants

I had hardly ever heard anything about finishing before I started developing MISOGI DOGI. This is surprising, since finishing is the paramount process in defining the quality of fabrics: for example, it’s because of the selected finishing…
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TJR Part V – Organic Cotton in the World

My journey back to Berlin coincided with a workshop on organic cotton organised in the frame of the IFOAM Organic World Congress 2014 in Istanbul. The event came just at the right time to complement the learnings of my journey with further insights…