[Foppa21]

I’m currently writing this from Montreal where I am living for a month. Got a bit of down time and I said I would do it so here we go.

First, I can’t say enough about the quality of service I got from RDFC. I made the order and emailed and PM’ed Chris just to confirm sizing issues (I heard that the shorts are sized differently). I also of course tacked in some Cryogel in my order.

Chris also made sure that I got my stuff extra fast. In fact, I think it equaled the record set by NoGi USA a few years ago from when the order was made to the time the package arrived at my door (or in this case arrived on my table at work). So thanks again Chris for that.

The package was well packed and protected. It’s a pair of shorts and t shirt so not much protection was needed. The Cryogel was in a plastic bag and was wrapped up by the shorts and everything was taped up into a nice tight package.

About me, I do primarily BJJ. I have been averaging between 3-5 classes a week as well as around an hour per day of cardio and weights before or after each class. Being the lazy bastard that I am, I wear the same shorts for the whole time. For the purposes of this review and other reviews, I have also taken in a few kickboxing lessons that a friend of mine was nice enough to invite me into.

On to the shorts themselves. As most know in the last few years, these mofos have been very very hard to track down and come by. You would’ve thought that someone in NoGi Brazil would’ve recognised their popularity and flooded the market with them but obviously making money isn’t too high on their list of priorities ;-). When I heard that there were some available at RDFC, I jumped right away and got myself a pair. Again I wasn’t too sure about the size but for the colour at that time there was a abundance of sizes available. I ordered a 32 and left a note and sent an email to Chris to make sure that I got it right. I based my 32 on the fact that I wear 32 on every other pair of shorts I own (NoGi USA, Tapout and Sprawl [NB VT and newer]). Pretty much perfect fit and exactly the same as the above mentioned (I would however recommend that one compares them more to Tapout and NoGi USA due to them not having a elastic waistband as opposed to the newer Sprawls).

Initial thoughts were WOW, these shorts look good. Not much one can do about the stop signs but I just accepted it as adding an extra bit of character. Looks great and of course the gi material on the front around the crotch was the most interesting feature of the shorts.

The gi material is actually sewed tight on to the shorts as a additional layer. I believe as opposed to having multiple pieces of shorts all sewed together. Time will tell if the material will stay tacked on to the shorts through the rigours of grappling but I’m pretty confident that it will.

Love the logos. There’s nothing better in my opinion that logos that are embroidered on to the shorts. Just makes the stuff last so much longer that screen printed logos. Well the only ones that come close are logos are are dyed (I can’t think up of the correct term for it) right into the material like Koral and Hayabusa rashguards (Hayabusa review coming up soon I hope as I just picked up a rashie yesterday). Enough said about that, the logos look good and look like there for a long long time.

Closure system. I LOVE the closure system. I’m not a big fan elastic waistbands. I’m from the school of “If you’re worried about the same pair of shorts not fitting for weigh ins and fight time, buy two pairs of shorts”. These pair of shorts also have my personal favourite when it comes to closures systems. I’m not sure if you guys are aware of it, but it’s the same as the same as the original sprawls. Small negative here however, in that the loop which the lace goes through it’s a slit, I would recommend that possibly a hole would make it easier however you would have to reinforce it with a ****l eyelet and you might have problems with commissions for mma and rules for grappling tourneys with regards to that. But again, it’s an extremely small thing to bitch and moan over. Something like that is definitely going to make or break my decision to buy a product.

Comfort level. The shorts are amazing. My personal method of determining whether a specific pair of shorts are comfy are whether I can sleep in them comfortably. I put them on the night I received them and slept real easy in them. So it gets a tick in that regard.

The length of the shorts are exactly the same as my Tapouts. The slits go up around 5-6 inches… Shows just the right amount of leg in my opinion ;-).

A by product of the gi material is that the shorts stay rigid. The shorts seem to stay vertical and keep their shape no matter what I do in them.

As with the eyelet for the shorts and deal breakers, I’ve never had a “need” for lycra or the like as flex panels in the crotch area for extra give for kicks and guard work etc. I’ve never found a pair of shorts where they were a requirement when they have slits up the side and this pair of shorts is the same. Some of my friends tell me I’ve got big thighs for someone my height and build and in any pair of my shorts I have not had a problem with movement or the lack hereof apart the random pair of original sprawls I bought just because I could (for those that don’t know, those were pretty much the first generation of loose fit fight specific shorts bar random surfing board shorts). Although in saying that, I event find that the Sprawls with no slit but a flex panel are a bit too restrictive and ride up on me a bit (again up to around the XT era after those I never bothered with just plain closed seam). Not a problem at all with these shorts. There hasn’t had any problem at all playing guard at all. Slits are also reinforced with an additional strip of material. This strip goes all the way around the leg opening as opposed to just the slit. Again I’ve found that there is no need for a flex panel or the like.

With the gi panel, I haven’t noticed any problems with regards to their durability at all. I myself try to keep no gi strictly no gi with telling sparring partners that they do not grab my shorts. Not always the case but whatever. Two months in the shorts are still going strong. With regards to the assumed extra grip with armbars etc, I have not felt any difference and to be honest, if I did my shorts would probably be the least of my problems (meaning I have some shocking issues with my technique or lack thereof). While a nifty feature I guess, I personally cannot make an assessment either way with regards to the effectiveness of the gi panels on the shorts.

No one has grabbed a big handful of shorts trying to take me down so I have tried to take it upon myself to try to take a big rip of the shorts tearing it back and forth. The shorts are fine in that regard. I don’t feel any give at all. That’s not saying too much however, I’ve tried it with all my other shorts and have never felt a thing (that could on the other hand mean that all my shorts are solid, never had a pair of shorts rip ever yet).

I wore them for training this afternoon and I didn’t notice any problems at all. I could move fine in the shorts. No issues with butt scooting across the mat and playing guard. I could move my legs freely. The legs didn’t ride into my crotch at all. I wore my Shock Doctor compression shorts with the ****l cup and the shorts still felt fine and still retained their level of baggyness. No one grabbed a handful of shorts… well I was guilty on one occasion for a second but the guy outweighed me by at least 30lbs. That’s my excuse and I’m gonna stick to it!

I’m not going to score the shorts cos I find that it’s a crap way of trying to quantify something where it’s only one person’s opinion. But I like the shorts. Time will tell how well the shorts will hold up. I doubt that the material will fray and break down unless I do a lot of butt scooting on concrete or something. They’re comfortable and work well on the mat. With the slits I wouldn’t recommend wearing up to the beach etc but hey, I’m exactly the kinda guy that would do something like that. But yeah, you’ll probably get away with it for a quick run to the grocery store before and after training without looking like a total idiot.

Pictures forthcoming, again I’m on holiday, I’ll take some more pics and post at a later date when I can find another wireless hotspot.