Krugans was the first company in the world to launch a Jiu-Jitsu-specific gi. On February 9, 1987, we created the jacket in braided fabric, seamless on the back and sides, thus making a gi much more resistant and comfortable.

For almost 60 years our jiu-jitsu was practiced with judo gis. It was around the 1980s that the “wagi” and “shitabaki” of judokas gave way to the jacket and pants, according to the official nomenclature of the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Confederation.

The emergence of a specific gi for Jiu-Jitsu happened to Afonso Camerotte de Lacerda e Silva, better known as Viking, today a fifth-degree black belt. “My father and I already worked in the business of making professional uniforms. So when my gi or a colleague's gi tore, we fixed it in the making. That's when people started asking to shorten it here and tighten it there”, he says.

Thus came the initiative to manufacture a gi for the gentle art. The first measure was to make a fully braided jacket, different from the judo wagi, which has a skirt made of another fabric and would tear when scraping. The seam on the back, which bothered the guandeiro's spine, was eliminated and the sleeves, which were too wide, were adjusted. The pants were tighter and made with much stronger fabric, with internal reinforcement from the crotch to the hem.

The Jiu-Jitsu gi has become more resistant in parts that used to be fragile in the judo gi, in addition to being more molded to the body to favor typical movements of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. “It was a kimono created by fighters for fighters”, recalls Viking.