Est. 2012 — Panda Nation
We are not for the tough guys.
That line has been on this page since 2012. It still holds.
Feb 2012
Founded, New Jersey
In stock
Year round. Not a limited drop.
80+
Countries we've shipped pandas to
Started by Nelson
One hundred gis. Fifty blue, fifty white.
Inverted Gear started in February 2012, in Nelson's mom's basement in New Jersey. He was 24, a purple belt, teaching at night and working part-time during the day.
The gi market ran on limited drops — months of waiting, a narrow window to buy, and branding aimed at people who wanted to look dangerous. Most of us looked like accountants.
So he emptied his savings, ordered a hundred gis, and borrowed the family minivan to collect the first ten boxes from a New York airport warehouse. The first order shipped on 18 May 2012, to New Zealand.
Improved by Hillary
Then she saw the design files.
Nelson met Hillary at a Grapplers Quest event in late 2012. She was refereeing. She threatened to disqualify a purple belt for talking. He introduced himself after the match.
She joined in early 2013 — a patch first, then a shirt, then everything. She had studied graphic design and advertising, worked for a print company, and had already drawn logos for Marcelo Garcia, Rafael Lovato Jr. and Leticia Ribeiro.
"I didn't know how much I needed her until she saw our original design files that were sent to the factory." — Nelson
Hillary has designed more than 90% of what we make since. Nelson runs logistics. Both of them are still on the mats.
What we make
Quality gear at a fair price, in stock year round.
Pearl weave that holds up. Ripstop that doesn't shred behind the knee. Rope drawstrings instead of folded fabric that knots into something unusable. Fat belt loops, so the cord never disappears in the wash.
No back patch — that space belongs to your academy. No flags. No kanji. One embroidered panda on the sleeves, and that one is not up for discussion.
Some gis are made for special occasions. Ours are made for the grind.
The panda
It was a shirt before it was a brand.
An upside-down panda with "Nelson Puentes Jiu Jitsu" above it, drawn in one night by Steve Pachon on his dad's old computer, printed for a handful of students heading to a tournament. Everybody wanted one.
The name came later, when the berimbolo was taking over and any inverted position read as jiu-jitsu. A factory returned the first sample with a note: "You had put the panda upside down, but we fixed it for you."
Panda Nation
It started with one order to New Zealand. It is on mats in more than eighty countries now, and it is still the same two people picking the fabric and packing the boxes.
