Dan Of Earth

Soul Kimonos Paridiso Review

Overall:

A very well crafted Gi that met all of my expectations. I had no quality issues whatsoever with the Gi. I made some slight modifications by removing  the shoulder tapes as I felt the white tape was too harsh of a contrast with the black and made the Gi looked cluttered, but overall I think the Gi looks very well done. (Note: The seam taping along the outside of the Gi is grey, but may show up white due to the brightness of the pictures)

Measurements:

A: 6.25

B: 28.75

C: 18.5

D: 23.5

E: 20.5

F: 13

G: 9.5

H: 37.5

About the Paradiso:

The Paradiso is very nicely priced at $120 with free shipping from Soul Kimonos. Every purchase of a Paradiso also includes the “Rolling with my homies” T-shirt, a great looking T, making the $120 Paradiso a great great deal.

-550gsm Pearl Weave Top w/Eva Foam Collar

-10 oz Cotton Drill Pants

-Stretchy Rope Drawstring w/unique belt loop system

-Very Long reinforced knees

-Tailored fit

Top:

The Gi is a pearl weave of medium weight and thickness. I felt like the jacket felt for snug to my body (an A2 on a 5’10″ 195lb frame) just how I like it. The embroidery was very well done and I have zero complaints about in, either on the front, arms or on the back.

The sleeves leave very little excess for grabbing, a delightful attribute indeed. The inner sleeve tape felt a tad bit scratchy but after a few washes it seemed to go away after breaking it in. All the sewing on the inner sleeve taping stayed true and did not run off.

I’m not the biggest fan out of outside seam tape on the bottom of the skirt, but I felt like Soul Kimonos really did a good job of not making it look tacky.

The Gi is reinforced at all of the normal locations, the inner armpit and the skirt slits.

Bottom:

One of my favorite attributes is the width of the pant legs itself as well as the length. The pants fit me great and aren’t baggy like a lot of the MC Hammer pants that make it to the market today. They are also very soft and comfortable to wear.

The knee reinforcements are double stitched and have great coverage all of the length of the pant leg. Inside the left leg reinforcement is a nicely embroidered palm logo.

The belt looping system is of an excellent design minus one small flaw. It should be lowered around 1/2 an inch to a full inch below the waistline to stop the drawstring from coming up at the tie location. It causes the pants to cinch oddly in front, but doesn’t cause any discomfort or cause a drop in performance, but worth mentioning.

As I previously stated, I modified the Gi to suit my personal tastes a bit, removing the shoulder tapes is an extremely easy process. You simply start by cutting the black threads on the INSIDE of the jacket that are holding down the shoulder tape. Once enough of the thread has been removed you can literally pull the whole patch off.

Belt Prototype:

We also received a Prototype belt from Soul Kimonos that is made out of Pearl Weave. It’s now my primary belt and I abuse the crap out of it. I wash it after every session (AND YOU SHOULD TOO) and it’s holding up very well. I like the vibrant blue color that the belt came in as well. It’s been a couple months now and all is well. People will probably find these similar to the War belts if you are familiar with those.