An Extensive Guide on Making Your Gi Company GiCritic 12:26 PM

Introduction

There are a growing number of BJJ enthusiasts who also hope to have their own brand one day. Unfortunately, not every brand is going to reach commercial success. There are brands that will most likely just fade into obscurity.

You may have read my previous articles, simplifying the process on how to make your own gi company. Yes, I’ve been able to help academies and different brands start their own brand. Now, given the complex nature of the market, starting your very own gi company is now more complicated than ever!

Though not a single brand would admit that they are losing money, but in reality, things are a bit different. This is why you often times see small brands run dry on their inventory or even call it quits.

My goal for this e-book is to educate entrepreneurs who believe that they have what it takes to become a brand owner.

By the time that you are done reading this ebook, you’ll be able to understand the following about the gi industry:

Chapter 1: Do you have what it takes?  We’ll break down the most common reasons why people love making their own shit. Yes, once and for all, what makes the gi business so attractive even to those who don’t have any background in textile?

Chapter 2: Branding. Finding the identity of your brand can be challenging. How exactly do you separate your brand from the rest of the gi companies that have established themselves in the niche?

Chapter 3: Eye in Design. Gis and rashguards are no longer just martial arts uniforms that you purchase. There’s the fashion aspect which makes the landscape of the entire industry a bit tricky. We’ll also discuss what are the possible considerations when it comes to designing your gis.

Chapter 4: Sampling and Finding the Right OEM. Before you could even announce your very first gi, you want to find a reliable company that you can depend on. In this chapter, you’ll learn how to check samples, and discriminate the good from the bad OEM factories.

Chapter 5: Online Marketing Tricks and selling your gear. How do you plan on using the World Wide Web to sell your products? In this chapter, we’ll discuss tricks that have been proven to convert customers into buyers, followers and even fanboys.

Chapter 1

Do you have what it takes to start your own company?

Why do people build their brand? Since 2012, we’ve seen a great number of start-up brands offering Brazilian Jiu Jitsu gear. In fact, Aesopian.com in the past made a list of top gis that they’ve stumbled upon. With over 100 brands that made it to their list, it was clear just how saturated the market is.

Figure 1. Aesopian.com Top 20 Gi Companies in 2011

Brand owners start their own company for several reasons. Unfortunately, not everyone will be like Bear Quitugua of Shoyoroll. So why still bother? Given the fact that there is simply a much higher chance of failure, why bother investing in this kind of business?

Here are reasons why people invest in the gi industry:

• Extra money

A lot of brand owners rely primarily on their day jobs. Some are even possibly working more than a 60 hour work week in order to handle their BJJ brand. Most people are doing it for extra money. A gi company could provide additional income for someone who did the right job marketing his or her brand.

• Full-time job

There are few brand owners who relied only on their gi company. Shoyoroll is a great example of this. With new designs, size charts and innovations that create noise for them, you have brand owners who made a lot of money in the industry.

• Additional training/competition funds

Just how much does it cost to train Brazilian Jiu Jitsu? Depending on the academy that you are in, it could run as much as $200/month in gym fees alone. Now, if you intend to be a full-time athlete, you have to take into consideration the registration fees for competitions. A gi company could help provide the money to sustain your BJJ lifestyle.  

• Academy owner

There are those brand owners who are selling gis mainly to their students. They make use of gis and other BJJ related gear as an alternative source of income aside from the gym membership. Typically, their gis have the academy’s logo. And also, most likely, these gis are more affordable than other brands out there.

These are just some of the most common reasons why brand owners do what they do. Now, why do you plan on starting your own gi company?  

Do you have what it takes?

Do you now have your own personal reason why you wish to start your own brand? If you are somewhat decided to start your own brand, you have to ask yourself if you have what it takes to start your own gi company. Apart from funding, starting your own brand requires a number of skills and attributes. It is important for you to have the patience, the grit and the overall willingness to adapt to the changing market.  

Do you know how to approach competition?

It is clear that you are going up against hundred or so brands, while some have been around for years. The truth is that this is probably the worst time to enter the BJJ gi industry. However, with the right approach against competition, you can easily have your own fans and followers.

Do you have the time to work on customer related concerns?

Do you have the time to provide assistance to your customers? Answering emails and replying to their concerns is a must. Now, if you don’t have the time to do all this, are you willing to hire another person who could do the job for you? Being a start-up company owner, you have to realize that it is often a team composed of two or three individuals that make a brand.

How much money are you willing to lose?

You also need to have an idea just how much money you are willing to lose. 50 pcs of gis will most likely cost around $2,500-$2800 via a Pakistan based factory (shipping, labor, and material estimate). Considering other costs such as marketing, and design, not to mention the risk of running into unforeseen problems such as quality issues, how much money are you willing to lose?

Chapter 2

Branding

Branding is can dictate your company’s success or failure. What is branding? According to Entrepreneur.com, it is defined as:

Branding is a marketing strategy that involves creating a differentiated name and image -- often using a logo and/or tag line -- in order to establish a presence in the consumer's mind and attract and keep customers.

Your logo, company’s name, tagline, color way, font and even your voice contributes to your branding. Without the right branding, it is impossible to have a market. Without prior experience in starting your own brand, all of these things seem very intimidating. But what you have to remember is that not all brand owners have a marketing background who suddenly had an epiphany how to build their own brand.

If you don’t have an eye for design, things can be bit difficult as your branding could end up becoming tacky. If you think that flames and heavy leopard prints on your gi looks amazing, it’s time that you rethink on how your brand would look like. Here are a few steps that can help you establish your brand.

Know what your brand stands for

If you are having a difficult time starting your brand, start writing all the characteristics that you want to see in your brand. Do you want it to be hip? Something cool kids on the mats would wear? Or perhaps, you want to be goofy?

If you are having a difficult time pointing out characteristics in your brand, try asking yourself who you want your brand to be if it were a person? Is it a ridiculously good looking BJJ guy who always looks sharp as he wears his gi? Or maybe, it’s a child who loves everything that is cute? Or perhaps, you want it to be a jiujitsu guy stuck in the 80s with a mullet and huge gut?

Designing a logo

Once you have an idea what your brand stands for, it’s time that you make a logo. Both logo and name play a major role in your overall branding. In making your logo, you need to make sure that you hire a professional designer. Here are a few ideas that you could use when making a logo.

Typography

There are brands that have iconic typographies. Illest is an example of such brand. As a perfect example of minimalist design, Illest has been able to capitalize on typography. Futura is a widely used mainly by Wes Anderson in his movies.

Another example of a brand that made use of typography is Coke Boyz, which later inspired Choke Boyz.

How important is typography to your brand? Typography is an element that can easily make you remember a company’s logo.

Typography affects the psychological and emotional state of your potential market. The type of font that you use will also give your audience an idea what your company’s attitude is. Looking at the italic and bold Futura font used by Illest, it conveys a hip and modern brand.

So do you stick with the most commonly used fonts such as Helvetica? If you use these classic fonts, you often times go with a particular risk. You often times risk becoming associated with other brands.

Color

What are the colors that you are going to use on your logo? 84% of consumers are affected by the color of the brand in their buying decisions. Knowing how humans are wired, the use of the right color can elicit a certain emotion towards your market. Successful brands have made use of different colors in order to get results that they want.

What do they mean? Red is often times associated with people who take risks. Also, it has been proven to stimulate the senses raising the blood pressure and may arouse feelings such as power, love, aggression or even danger. From McDonald’s to Netflix, you may have seen the dominance of red in these popular logos. Another popular color known to arouse feelings is yellow.

A perfect example of a BJJ brand that utilized yellow theme on its color scheme is Manto. Also following this color scheme is Gracie Humaita.

What if you want to establish trust among your customers? A good option is to implement blue color on your logo. Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIN are some of the top brands that have utilized this color.

As for BJJ related logos, Roger Gracie, Atos, Estima in Action, Renzo Gracie and even Rickson Gracie’s logo all have a shade of blue.

In choosing the right color for your logo, you need to at least have a rough idea what each color means. This way, you’ll be able to convey the message you want to send to your consumers subconsciously.

Symbols and imagery

It is imperative for your brand to utilize the right symbols for your logo. Over the years, logos have carried subliminal messages on what companies want to convey. If you will look at the FedEx logo, for instance, you’ll notice that there’s a hidden arrow between “e” and “x”. This arrow represents both speed and precision on their services.

There are those logos that have a unique symbolism behind it. You may have seen Volcom logo, but have no idea what it really stands for.

Volcom makes use of the stone logo which was derived from support of freedom and youth audience. The stone logo symbolizes youth freedom, as well as creativity.

In BJJ, it is a common practice to make use of a triangle on a lot of logos. From Gracie Academy to Metamoris, you’ll see the use of a triangular shaped image.

According to a published content from BJJ Eastern Europe in the words of Rickson Gracie:

“If you imagine a perfect triangle in three dimensions – in pyramid form – you can see how you can push it to either side, and it will always be stable. It regains its solid position every time. The application of this concept works that way. When you are mounted on your opponent and have three points of contact, he can move you around and you will easily find your third point again. No matter how or where he moves you, you will be able to find his third point of support “

There are many other symbols that could make a good BJJ brand logo. Whether you prefer to have an animal, kanji, or a flower, you have to make sure that you do some research behind its meaning.  

Hiring a designer

A good logo is a long-term investment. If you really want a well-made logo that you can use for years to come, then you should prepare to pay a decent amount of money. It is highly suggested to hire a designer who is also a BJJ practitioner.

Here are some popular artists that you may want to contact:

• Seymour Yang aka “Meerkatsu”
• Bong Abad of Gawakoto
• Phil Lietz
• Jack Colvin of Roll Supreme
• Aengus Ryan of Patches O’Toole

Of course, not all startup companies have the initial budget just for their logo. The good news is that you could look somewhere else. Here are some sites that can give you what you are looking for.

• Upwork
• Freelancer
• 99 designs

Choosing a name

What’s in a name? It has the ability to capture your niche. In fact, names don’t always need to have a deep meaning. It could be a place of origin such as Kauai and Manila. It could also be anything that pertains to BJJ such as OSS, Tatami, and Mushin.  

It is imperative that the name is unique. You want to always check if it is already used. Oss Kimonos and Oss Clothing are two different companies. Unfortunately, they were both using the same name, which is also a legal problem.

It is a good idea to have a list of different names. From here, you can narrow down the one that makes the most sense.

Also, you need to make sure that you could secure a good domain. It is preferred that the name of the company is used as your company’s domain name. In order to find out if the domain name is already taken or not, you can check who.is for confirmation. You may also want to check social media if the name you are thinking of is already used by another company.

Chapter 3

Eye in Design

Designing your next gi or rashguard is a challenge. In fact, brands attempt to ensure that they attract a certain niche when it comes to their products. Here is a guide on how you can design a gi and have it mass produced by an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM).

There is really no rule to expect when it comes to designing gis. However, you have to be aware of the trends and current practices used by leading gi companies. Here are some things that you need to remember.

Choosing a material

Single weave, double weave, gold weave, pearl weave and rip stop are some of the most popular materials used in gis. In fact, it is important to look into the pros and cons of each weave. These days, one of the most popular weaves used is pearl weave. Why pearl weave? It is a cross between double weave and a single weave gi. It is light, yet you can use it for both everyday training and competition.

Aside from pearl weave, it is also a common practice to use gold weave gis. Gold weave, similar to pearl weave is a hybrid of both single and double weave. It is lighter, and also durable. A lot of gi aficionados love gold weave because of its softness. However, you have to take into consideration that it shrinks like crazy.

Now, are you the type who wants to use hemp? If you ever attempt on using hemp and things that are out of the ordinary, it is expected that you do your research. A lot of Pakistan OEMs would claim that they have hemp in their stock, but in reality, it is polycotton. If you’ve read about the hemp gate scandal with Submission FC, you’ll realize that it isn’t a wise decision to trick your customers or to sell them a product that you really don’t fully understand.

As for the pants, it is a common practice to stick with 10oz rip stop material. It is also a good idea to reinforce stress areas on the pants. It is a common practice to make use of the same material as the jacket on the crotch area of the pants.

Patch placements

Where exactly do you preferably have your patches and embroideries? It is a good idea that you design the gi considering what is legal via IBJJF rules. For a start-up company, it makes a HUGE difference if your gis and rashguards can be seen in a lot of competitions. Here is a photo where you could legally place patches and embroideries based on the current IBJJF rules.

Designing a rashguard

We believe that it is a bit more flexible to design a rashguard. A lot of people use rashguards as a garment underneath the gi, or a competition rashguard. There are a lot of No Gi tournaments that don’t require ranked rashguards.

In fact, you can go crazy when it comes to designing the rashguards. Gawakoto, Meerkatsu, Newaza Apparel are some of the successful brands that have used loud and crazy beautiful designs on their rashguards.

Design trends

A lot of design trends have been used by different gi companies. From using a black gi combined with red contrast stitching to having minimal designs on a clean white gi, these are designs that have dominated the market and helped brands establish a following.

• Contrast stitch

It is a common practice to have a contrast stitch on your gi design. In fact, it is a great way to increase the aesthetic appeal of your gi. But of course, you may want to look into popular contrast options. White gi and black contrast stitch have been a great option.

• Rashguard lining

Rashguard lined gis are becoming popular over the years. Among the most popular brands that utilized this is Bull Terrier.

Scramble Rashguard Lined Kimono. Photo Credit: Meerkatsu

Now, if you don’t have plans of implementing a rashguard on the entire inside portion of the gi, you can simply have it in the gi’s shoulder. You can go crazy and make it your canvas. Aside from using rashguard, you can opt to use taslan fabric.

Estilo by Tatami

• Lapel piping

Lapel piping has been popularized by brands like Storm and Prana Kimonos. VHTS has its own take on lapel piping by having two different colors for each side. This is an IBJJF legal design which serves as an accent to your gi.

Ok Kimonos

• Collaborations

A lot of brands take part in collaborations in order to improve on their company’s network and overall position. Shoyoroll teaming up with Illest is a great example of this. Who would’ve thought that Illest would blend well with the BJJ scene? Considering how Shoyoroll is the equivalent of Supreme in BJJ, it was a great collaboration that benefitted both companies.

Illest and Shoyoroll collab gi.

For smaller brands, Hyperfly and FPG made a great collaboration as well. Their gi design fits the branding of the two companies.

FPG and Hyperfly

Chapter 4

Sampling and Finding the Right OEM Company

You hear a lot of horror stories regarding companies dealing with awful gi manufacturing companies. Yes, finding an OEM can be a really hard thing to do. There are two prominent sources where your gis come from. And to be honest, it doesn’t involve unicorn farts and rainbows.

Pakistan and China are two countries where majority of gi companies get their gis from. At a business standpoint, outsourcing the labor to these countries perfectly makes sense, given how much money it costs to start your own factory. Also, OEM factories are very knowledgeable how to make gis and other sports equipment.

So how exactly do you choose the right factory for your company? If you’ve been following the blog, we published a simplified guide on how to start your own company. We also mentioned a few pointers to remember when choosing the right OEM factory. Though what we are going to discuss in this part is a bit similar to points that we have mentioned before.

Via Alibaba

Alibaba is the most popular option on how to find the right factory for you. Alibaba established itself as a resource for businesses of all sizes looking for factories and suppliers that would cater to their business. It is currently the best B2B spot.

So how exactly do you know if you are dealing with fraud or a good factory? The first thing that you need to do is to search the type of product that you are looking for. In this case, you can use the keywords “BJJ gi”, “BJJ kimonos” or any related keyword. After which, you’ll be given results. You can even narrow down your search if you want to deal with China or Pakistan based manufacturers.

You have to always check the profile of the company.

But of course, this doesn’t remove the risk. You have to realize that you still have to take note of the possible quality issues on their work. And the best thing that you can do to evaluate their work is by getting a sample.

Via Facebook

If you’ve been following other brands on your Facebook, or you have liked different BJJ brands, it is a common occurrence to encounter brands that are list building via social media. In fact, some of these OEM factories are bordering on spamming different people on Facebook. That’s how competitive they can get just to get brand owners to order from them.

Initial screening

Not all factories have the same ability. It can be a bit frustrating to end up with the wrong OEM factory. So what should you do to prevent this from happening? It is imperative to ask the right questions. Here are some of those questions that you want ask an OEM company.

• How many gis/rashguard/shorts can they produce in a month?

If you plan to go crazy getting bulk order of gis, it is imperative to know how many gis can they finish in a month. In fact, you may even ask a more specific question like how much time do they need to finish 50? 100? Or even 200 gis?

• How do they accept payments?

A lot of brand owners hesitate to invest because most OEM factories can’t process payments via PayPal. This is a common challenge for Pakistan based OEM companies. Western Union or Money Gram is the most common option that you can go for aside from bank transfer.

To be safe, you want to find an Escrow Service that can help ensure that everything is ok before they release the funds. Another great option is to pay in half, to start the production, and pay the other half once everything has been checked.

• What type of facility do they have?

It is important to find out what type of facility the factory runs. A lot of backyard factories operate in Pakistan. These factories may not be the best option that you have, especially if you want to make your brand to be the next big thing. Asking photos is the most logical thing that you want to do. Here, you’ll have an idea what the facility looks like.  

You need to realize that there are people online who really don’t have a factory, but instead, stand as a middle man between you and the OEM factory.

• Do they work with other known brands?

You also want to know if they are working with other top brands out there. It is a common scenario that top factories maintain relationship with top brands and schools. The best companies could typically provide you with photos of gis that they finished recently.

Will they send you an exact sample of their work from other brands? Here’s when it could get tricky. Some factories do this. But of course, will you trust a company that sends your gis without your consent?

• How much do they charge for their work?

It is imperative to find out about the cost of gis, rashguards and even their embroidery services. You also want to know the minimum order that you could make. Do they only accept 70 to 100 pieces per batch? Or can you go lower? Pakistan OEM companies are known to accepting small batches.

Sampling

Sampling is a critical stage starting your own brand. You just can’t do bulk orders without checking the quality of the products that the company produces. Apart from the quality of their fabric, dye and overall workmanship, you can also test the factory’s ability to communicate with your brand.

Do they follow instructions well? Do they email you for certain adjustments in details? Or perhaps, they simply send you the gis without proper communication? Sampling is typically free; however, in most situations, you will have to cover for the shipping expenses. Shipping would typically cost around $80 to $85 per small box that contains a gi or two.

Getting samples, it is a good idea to get from at least 5 factories. Here, you’ll be able to evaluate which one makes the perfect choice for you. You also want to consider the price and the overall professionalism that the factory has when it comes to dealing with your request.

Chapter 5

Marketing tricks and selling your gear!

Ever wondered how a unicorn designed gi sells like pancakes? Or how in the world does a gi get sold for over $400 in the secondary market? Here’s when marketing tricks come in handy. How do you market your brand, so you get customers and other new people who will follow the brand?

There are two types of marketing that you can engage on: traditional and online marketing. Which is more important? In reality, you have to be focused on using both traditional and online marketing strategies if you wish to maximize your overall growth in the niche.

Here are useful strategies and tricks that you can use that would cover marketing as well as selling your gear.

Know who you are selling the gis to

Who finds interest in the gis you are selling? Regardless if it’s a bunch of nerds, or simply teammates, you want to make sure that you have your own market. What happens when you don’t have a market? Most likely, your gi company will lose to competition.

An important part of choosing your niche is by doing extensive research about their buying attitude and their overall subculture. Do you plan on selling gis to moms practicing BJJ who are stuck in the 80s? Perhaps leopard prints and retro designs will make a perfect gi. On the other hand, if you are selling gis to young and hip individuals who love brands like Supreme, has the makings of a sneaker head, then perhaps, you should follow designs that reflect street culture.

Identifying your market is a crucial part of marketing your product. Here’s where you will determine who you sponsor to how to interact on social media.

Social media

Social media revolutionized how companies interact and target their prospects. An effective social media strategy is imperative if you are starting any type of business. If you have zero background how to handle social media pages from Facebook to Instagram, this can be a huge problem.

• Choosing the right platform and having the right name

Choosing the right social media platform that you will use and maintain is the first step that you have to make. Typically, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram will already get the job done. Also, you have to make sure that you only use one name in all your social media accounts.

Consistent name in all channels will help your company’s overall branding. Let’s take a look at CTRL Industries for example.

CTRL Industries makes use of @ctrlindustries as their social media.  

Why make the names on Social Media uniform? It leaves an impression on your audience, and it makes it easier for them to type your URL.

• Facebook marketing

Facebook is the largest social media platform. It offers access to billions of users. In fact, Facebook is a highly popular social media app as well. There are a lot of things that you need to do if you ever decide to market via Facebook.

Developing the right voice for your company. Your company’s voice is an important aspect of branding. How do you talk to your audience? Do you have a geeky tone, or do you have an alpha male tone? But of course, you need to know exactly what type of market you attract.

Share 70% non-commercial content. Always make sure that you don’t make it too obvious that you want your audience to purchase your gi. If you are using Facebook simply to promote products, they could easily unlike or unfollow your page.

Maximize your profile photo and cover photo. So what should be the profile photo and your cover photo? Most brands make use of their logo as profile photo, while the cover photo will most likely be the latest product they are offering.

Facebook contests. It is also a good idea to have a Facebook contest every now and then. In fact, for starting brands, that are looking to build on likes, this makes an organic way of building an audience. But of course, there’s a drawback. You really don’t know who is really interested in your brand. A lot of them may only be after the free gi or rashguard that you are giving away.

Sponsored ads. Sponsored ads make a huge difference. Why? You’ll be able to target specific demographic. There are also claims and evidences that likes from sponsored campaigns are from bots. Yes, that means that you may have increased the number of people who liked your page, but these are not real users. Thus, it is highly suggested to only use sponsored ads sparingly.

Integration of other social media platforms. Do you share the same things shared on your Instagram account? If so, you want to synch both accounts.

• Instagram Marketing

Visuals are important when it comes to marketing your brand. You have to adapt to the changing online world. In case you are living in a cave, Instagram is a platform that offers both videos and photos. It is a mobile social media platform that is visuals centric.

Website Design

Web design is a crucial part of your company’s overall branding. Did you know that your web design has to be functional, responsive, not to mention match your company’s branding?

In 2010, there were only 13 million mobile users that check things online. These days, you have an estimate of 788 million users that use their devices to check the World Wide Web. What makes these numbers a crucial web design considerations? It only means that your website should be easily viewed on smaller screens. Modern mobile friendly websites make a huge difference in traffic and in conversion of your market as well.

Do you plan on making a website? If you plan on doing things on your own, you’ll need to be knowledgeable about HTML, CSS, and PHP. If not, you can always try alternative options. Here are some sites that you can purchase a readymade Wordpress theme.

• ThemeForest.net
• Woothemes.com  

But of course, it is highly suggested that you still hire a web developer to assist you in making necessary changes, as well as installing Wordpress on your site.

SEO

What’s SEO? For those who have no idea, try searching for any term online. Let’s say “Brazilian Jiu Jitsu”. Search engines such as Google provides a different result to each user depending on where you are located. The list of sites that make up the result pages come from the current algorithm used by your search engine of choice. Now, SEO is the process of maximizing the algorithm in order to rank on the ideal search result page.

Content marketing

Content plays an important role in selling your gear. Blogs, social media posts, and web content all play a huge role in building a brand. You need to establish a voice before you decide to write your content online or update your status on Facebook.

It is also a good idea to regularly update your blog. Not only does it improve your site’s traffic, it also helps your website in terms of SEO.

Building an email list

Building an email list is also another great way to get the attention of your market. In fact, experts agree that more people opt to get deals and marketing materials on emails than on social media. So how exactly do you grow your email list?

First, you will need to get visitors to click to your website. In order to do this, you have to make sure that you build solid content which could catch their attention. Next, you have to make sure that you incentivize your visitors in order to get their emails. What are different kinds of incentives? From free e-books to discount codes, these are some of the things that you can do to convince them to give their emails.

Gi Reviews

Another great way to market your product is by having gi reviews from different sites such as grapplersreview.com, gireviews.com, and gicritic.blogspot.com. Not only does it critique your gi’s overall durability, but also its design.

Most review sites won’t publish a negative review. Let’s be honest, review sites want freebies and some money from companies in some instances, which is why they also make sure to protect gi brands. Aside from a review, it is also a common scenario that you get an interview especially if you are quite new in the market.

Athlete Sponsorship

Athlete sponsorship is a tricky process. Get an athlete, pay them either with cash or free gear or both, and you have someone who carries your brand. What you have to remember choosing the right sponsored athlete is to be careful who you choose. Yes, you don’t want to end up supporting athletes with rape cases and other heinous crimes.  

There are two types of athletes who you can sponsor. It could either be a big name athlete, or just an ordinary guy who is making a name for himself.

What are the pros and the cons of choosing one for the other? Let’s start off with monetary compensation. If you are willing to pay $500 a month for an athlete, then you could most likely get a big name to promote your brand. On the other hand, if you could only provide free gear, then go for your local athletes in need of help.

Now, let’s admit that a big name definitely has that appeal to more people than someone who is virtually unknown. However, what makes sponsored athletes from lower belt levels a great investment is the fact that your brand becomes relatable. Unlike big names like Andre Galvao, Mendes Brothers and even Cobrinha who switched to different brands, it is more likely that local athletes stay with their sponsors for a longer period of time. And also consumers are aware that professional athletes are paid to say good things about a particular brand.