High quality tangzhuang shirts - where?

[jonathan.bluestein]

I have the following problem:

In my school, regular students wear white tangzhuang shirts (I wear black). Over the years I have experimented with many designs of white shirts as such. They all fail. None has sturdiness required to sustained serious training, especially applications training done with full power. They all rip within weeks to months. The thicker jackets, for some reason one can only purchase them in all colors BUT pure white (even the thicker jackets have not lasted me over a year). Trust that I have already spent many hours searching Ebay and Aliexpress hoping to remedy the situation for my students, but could not find a satisfactory solution. I have some Chinese stores which make really excellent clothes, but they are not up to standard for martial arts training.

I would like to ask for recommendations for decent shirts or jackets that will last and are pure white.

This is an option, but the price is a bit prohibitive for a single shirt (over double the price of most similar designs), and I do not know whether they will last: https://ymaa.com/publishing/uniform/silk/jacket . Do consider that the school is in Israel and the students also pay for the shipping...

Thanks for helping out!

[Bill]

Judo gi tops.

[jonathan.bluestein]

Mixing Chinese attire with Japanese clothing? Uh... Not my cup of tea. Well if style wasn't an issue I'd go for the Shuai Jiao jackets. But running a commercial schools, as opposed to teaching in a park part-time, one tries to convey a certain sense of cultural relevance beyond the physical and spiritual. Meaning, in people's minds the tangzhuang goes hand in hand with Chinese arts, so that's the way to go (apart from me liking the designs). A real shame however they don't make Chinese designs (apart from the Shuai Jiao stuff) with double-cotton like they do for Japanese arts.

[Little_Spear]

I am also interested in some nice beefy tangzhuang... Have you tried linen? I see them on ebay quite a bit, although i havent purchased so i have no constructive opinion on those being sold. However, i will say that typically linen has a higher tensile strength than cotton ( i have made a couple bow strings for 50lb bows in the past, no prob). Might be worth looking into, especially since linen is so light and airy.

[jonathan.bluestein]

Linen has actually proven to be the biggest disappointment. Most linen tangzhuang are made to be airy, with gentle stitching and fewer fibers. Very nice for casual summer wear, but they rip easily. I have a cheng pao made from thick 'premium linen' which is very sturdy, but it was custom made and expensive.

[Wanderingdragon]

Would love it in any gauge linen but they don't have a size huge

[Greg J]

Hi Jonathan,

This sounds promising:

http://shop.martial-way.com/index.php/k ... otton.html

White is one of the colors they offer.

Good luck!

Greg

[jonathan.bluestein]

Thanks Greg. Unfortunately I recognize the one you linked to very well. It is the most common and cheapest design being sold nowadays as a 'tangzhuang / kung fu shirt'. They go for 13-30$ on AliExpress, INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING INCLUDED, for either cotton, linen or mixed (your link has them for 45$ without the shipping - terrible bargain). Not recommended, based on personal experience.

[jonathan.bluestein]

I have been looking into these today:

https://world.tmall.com/item/528743343616.htm?spm=a312a.7700824.w4011-14436315700.87.qLA79t&id=528743343616&rn=32bac15eec8f1bdf6acd80edeaf38ef6&abbucket=16

https://world.tmall.com/item/534551402160.htm?spm=a312a.7700824.w4011-14436315700.97.qLA79t&id=534551402160&rn=32bac15eec8f1bdf6acd80edeaf38ef6&abbucket=16&sku_properties=1627207:178982258

https://world.tmall.com/item/535604220195.htm?spm=a312a.7700824.w4011-14436315777.131.3FhFnA&id=535604220195&rn=ad7fb00412f9fa85de9b7b3d7088a532&abbucket=16

https://world.tmall.com/item/535604220195.htm?spm=a312a.7700824.w4011-14436315777.131.3FhFnA&id=535604220195&rn=ad7fb00412f9fa85de9b7b3d7088a532&abbucket=16

https://world.tmall.com/item/528821445551.htm?spm=a312a.7700824.w4004-14436315778.14.3FhFnA&id=528821445551&sku_properties=1627207:178982258

Very cool stuff. I might make a large order for myself and my students in the near future via some TaoBao agent website. I am trying TaoBaoRing now. The same designs are available on AliExpress too, but over there the prices are too high. On AliExpress the prices are the same as on TaoBao, just without the discounts currently shown on these pages. Sometimes even more expensive.


I have very good guanxi with this store on AliExpress:
http://www.aliexpress.com/store/330493
They make amazing clothes, even if most are not resilient enough for martial arts. VERY good quality. Anyone here who wishes to buy from them and get a discount only needs say Jonathan Bluestein sent him. Nice people, speak decent English, and can customize clothes too. They happen to have the best bargain for Cheng Pao that I managed to find... which they actually added to their store because of my recommendation: http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/Pure-linen-retro-Men-s-Long-Trench-top-quality-Ip-Man-robe-Windbreaker-Wing-Chun-Kung/330493_32623342031.html

The very best Cheng Pao out there is the following tailor-made piece, which is also available in lesser grades of linen/cotton and in blue/white: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JAWHM46/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1 . This stuff is amazing... So nice I only train with it solo or wear it casual, since I like it too much to ruin it But some of the clothes the previous store I recommended sells are not far behind in terms of quality, and are much cheaper.

[Dajenarit]

Use a Shuai Jiao jacket?

[jonathan.bluestein]

Just a note concerning the Taobao links for the nice-looking clothes I put here before... Most of these turn out to me made of partly or wholly synthetic fiber. Not gonna work for me. I took all synthetics out my closet some time ago, and not going to have my students wear them.

[Little_Spear]

Just a note concerning the Taobao links for the nice-looking clothes I put here before... Most of these turn out to me made of partly or wholly synthetic fiber. Not gonna work for me. I took all synthetics out my closet some time ago, and not going to have my students wear them.

I hear ya on that... I can't stand synthetics. I'm cotton, linen, and wool all the way