I was reading Steve Rowe's 'Beyond Technique' column earlier, and he refers to students checking the snap of their Gi. I presume this refers to the stiffness of the cloth and the satisfying thwack it gives when you punch while wearing it.
Being that a Gi is a sporting garment likely to be washed at least once a week [hopefully], how does one go about maintaining the aforementioned 'snap'? Does it involve starch? Quite frankly, I've never starched a garment in my life and have no idea where to get it from...
Since my eldest is about to take up Karate, help please!

The stiffer the canvas the more 'snap' for your buck, if you feel the need to starch (not really necessary but it smells nice) use a spray starch when you iron...

Take your karategi out of the washer and dryer a little damp and let it dry on a hanger if it's a quality gi you won't even need to iron it.

Cheers Steve!

I just have a heavy weight Gi, like Steve says leaving it to dry makes it go a bit stiff anyway.


** as a note. Dont put it in the dryer and then wear it. You will burn yourself

Ha ha, we don't have a dryer [and they're bad for the environment!]. Is that what you did?

Yarp! did it last night. Rushed home from Uni, slammed the gi top in the dryer while i got ready and put it on without thinking. Hurt like hell! Stupid thing retains heat/damp so long.

That's what the hand dryers in the toilets are for....

I should have mentioned.. it was damp when I got home from uni.

At the risk of stating the obvious, without 'fa-jing', explosive power - call it what you want, no Gi is gonna sound snappy.

thanks Magic