Ground Fighter Grappling Gear - Interview

BSP Date: August 10, 2015

Q: What is the name of your brand(s)?

Ground Fighter Grappling Gear

Q: When & where was it founded, and where is it currently headquartered?

Founded in 2009 in Dallas, TX. We’ve traveled all over the country growing this company and have lived in multiple states since we’ve started, but we’re now back in the DFW area.

Q: Who are the founders/current owners?

Garrett and Chrissy Ford. Husband and wife, business partners, best friends, partners in crime, and grappling dummies. Generally Garrett is the creative one who has the product ideas and does most of the design work, whereas Chrissy handles the day-to-day business operations. Together we’re a great team, and we enjoy working our asses off to produce stellar grappling gear.

Q: Is there any significance behind the name of the brand or its logo?

The name Ground Fighter speaks for itself. :)  Two words that describe the sport we all love and relate to. Our logo is a stylized combination of the ‘G’ from Ground and the ‘F’ from Fighter. It may take a minute to see both, but it’s definitely memorable once you do. Which do you see first?

Q: What was the driving force (or forces) behind the founding of the brand? 

We were tired of never having any grappling gear or apparel that matched our style and passion for the sport. That combined with a long conversation about how “if money was no object, what would you want to do” on a road trip from Texas to Oregon. From there ideas started rolling in, and we began making unique products that we loved. Thankfully lots of other people loved our style too.

Q: What are your strengths / the strengths of your brand?

People are drawn to Ground Fighter because our name is easily recognized and remembered, and our style is unique and creative with minimalistic designs and clean lines. Our customers keep coming back though because of our high quality products and unbeatable customer service. Every product we release has been through intense testing to make sure it will last a LONG time. The very first pair of no gi shorts we released five years ago is still in the regular rotation of training gear in our house. We encourage our customers to leave reviews on the products they’ve purchased to help others with their decisions. Also we make sure we’re available day and night to answer any questions as quickly as possible.

Q: What was your first product produced (prototype or otherwise)?

We started with four t-shirt designs. We wore them everywhere and still remember how amazed we were that people liked them as much as we did.

Q: In that first year or so, what were your first struggles in getting the brand off the ground?

Finding the best way to communicate with our audience. Back in 2009 the functions and features of social media wasn’t near the level it’s at now.

Q: What would you consider to be your signature or keystone item(s) to date?

Our “Shoot First” spats have been incredibly popular, as has our trademarked “Ready Set Roll” line of products. We are most proud of our new “Northern Lights” gi though. Word is spreading about the amazing design and quality, and we don’t doubt that it will be a key product for the Ground Fighter brand.

Q: What items do you also sell that people may not be aware of?

We just recently released our very first gi, so many people may not know us as a gi company yet. Also we carry kids gear. It’s hard to find good kids gear, so we think it’s important to provide high quality products for the future of the sport as well.

Q: Do you have anything exciting coming up in the next few months or so that you can share with us?

We’ve got lots of new designs and new products in the works--ranked rashguards, shorts, spats, hats, our second gi, etc. Sometimes we get so excited about a new product that we wish we could rush the release, but we know how important it is to make sure every little detail is perfect first.

Q: Geographically speaking, where is your primary customer base?

Our base is fairly distributed as we spent 3 years traveling around the country in a travel trailer going to gyms, tournaments, fights, etc. to grow the brand. We have a strong following throughout Texas since that’s our home base now. After that it would probably be the Pacific Northwest (since we used to live in Portland), California, Florida, and New York.

Q: A common question/concern among our members is the issue of shipping. We have found that some brands will not ship worldwide or have carved out certain countries from their territory. So if you would, please explain your shipping policy, pricing and any geographic restrictions that you have with regard to the sale of your goods.

We ship to just about anywhere in the world, and we’re always working to reduce shipping costs. Currently we have free shipping on US orders over $75, which means when you buy a gi you might as well pick up a couple other things to avoid shipping costs. With international shipping--costs vary depending on location, but the more you order the more you save on shipping. We also offer multiple shipping options to meet your needs.

Q: Do you have any sponsored athletes? If so, do you have specific criteria for selecting such athletes?

Yes, we currently have about 15 contracted sponsored athletes, including black belts Renato Tavares and Suyan Quieroz. We have a Sponsorship page on our website with more information on what we look for and how to go about submitting a request form. You can also view the profiles of some of our current athletes. We put a lot of focus on supporting our athletes, so we keep a smaller team and spots don’t come up often. In fact, everyone on our team currently has been with us for multiple years, some since the very beginning. We’re so very proud of all our Ground Fighters. They dedicate themselves to this sport day in and day out, and we’re glad to help promote and support them in any way we can so that they can further their career and reach their goals.

Q: Where do you get the inspiration from in designing new gear for your brand?

Inspirations come from anywhere and everywhere. Sometimes ideas come when we’re completely surrounded by BJJ--like obsessing over a new move, or a phrase someone says when rolling. Other times it happens when we’re the furthest from BJJ--like the way colors come together in nature when backpacking through the mountains, which is where the idea for our “Northern Lights” gi came from. We get cool ideas a lot faster than we can get them on products and released. More than once we’ve had to scrap an idea because by the time we were able to complete it, someone else had done something with a similar theme.

Q: What differentiates you and your brand from other BJJ brands?

When we first started Ground Fighter, it seemed like everything had skulls and wings. So we wanted to offer people a completely different style. Even now with all the different brands out there, our style is still very unique. We love coming up with creative ideas, designing products with a minimalistic approach, and using bold colors to stand out. For example, take our “Kimura” or “Jiu Jitsu” shirt designs. They look clean and simple, but a lot of thought and creativity went into designing those. We usually include a blurb about the design process on each product page.
http://groundfighter.net/collections/shirts/products/ground-fighter-kimura-shirt-navy
Besides our unique style and that we provide high quality products for a great value, we also have the best customer service. From custom gi packaging, to informative size charts and product info, to answering questions quickly day and night, to providing valuable BJJ content  via social media and newsletters--we’re always thinking up new and better ways to serve our customers. We love chatting with fellow BJJers whether that’s at a gym, tournament, dive bar or on social media. Connecting with our audience is our favorite part of running this company.

Q: What other brands are out there that you admire? And why?

Shoyoroll paved the way for BJJ brands. They’ve done their thing very well for a very long time. We’re impressed with how Ctrl Industries burst onto the scene. They know their style and their audience, and they go all out. Meerkatsu is passionately creative. He’s always working on something cool. Newaza has a style that’s completely their own, and I admire that.

Q: Is your company direct sales only? Or do you have distributors?

Besides our website, we also have Ground Fighter products in a few fight shops and gyms. You can see the list on the Retailers link on our website. We’re also working on distribution in the UK, Europe, and Australia to get prices down.

Q: Do or have you participated in tournament booths or sponsorships of tournaments?

Yes, we’ve sponsored at least 15-20 different BJJ tournaments. We actually traveled around the country in a travel trailer for about 3 years setting up booths at various tournaments. It’s a great way to support the BJJ scene, grow our brand, and meet lots of other grapplers. We’ll be at the IBJJF Dallas Open next, so come say hi.

Q: Any plans for future expansion?

We’ve been consistently growing every year.  This year our big objective was getting our first gi out into the world. Now we’re focusing on distribution and easier access to our products for people around the globe.

Q: Please tell us a little about yourself, where you grew up, your BJJ experience, home life, education, military service, etc. Anything that might help our members get to know you a little better.

Garrett: I grew up in the suburbs of Dallas in a typical middle class family. I actually never thought of myself as very athletic growing up and spent most of my youth studying drama, choir, and other arts. It was until my second year at Arizona St that I got into BJJ. I dabbled in martial arts growing up--Karate, Akido, Judo, Boxing, and Muay Thai, but I never took anything seriously until I found Jiu-Jitsu. I’m a pretty small guy and found that I loved BJJ because I could hold my own against bigger guys if my technique was on point. I trained at Megaton’s for over 2 years while I was in AZ. I remember Mackenzie Dern making me look like a fool when she was an orange belt. I’ve trained at a lot of different gyms since then, but now that I’m back in TX, I train at Next Gen in Frisco, TX under Chris Brennan.

Q: What hobbies do you enjoy?

Besides BJJ--rock climbing, hiking, kayaking, and anything else that gets us out into nature.

Q: Do you have any pets?

We just adopted a year old male Yorkie from a rescue and named him Sazed (“Say-Zid”) after our favorite character from the Sci-Fi Mistborn trilogy. He is settling in great, and his personality shines through more and more each day.

Q: Where did you grow up and attend school (University/College)?

See response above to “About Me” question.

Q: Tell us a little about your background in martial arts/grappling.

See response above to “About Me” question.

Quick Fire

These questions are designed to allow for short, one or two word answers. Oftentimes just yes or no, and from a personal perspective.

Q: Rash Guard – Short or long sleeve?

Short

Q: Preferred gi colorway?

Blue

Q: Rash under your gi?

Yes, I actually have a latex allergy that makes me allergic to most mats

Q: Spats under your gi?

Yes

Q: Gi Pants – Rip Stop, Cotton Twill/Drill Cotton, or Cotton/Poly Blend?

Drill

Q: Gi jacket weave?

Pearl

Q: First gi you owned?

M Kimonos--I wore it for years until it had holes in the butt and knees.

Q: Favorite submission?

Nothing makes me happier than landing a smooth guillotine.

Q: Last stamp on your passport?

Canada—USA Womens World Cup!!

Q: Beer or wine?

Why not both?

Q: Tea or coffee?

Coffee! All day, every day.

Q: Do you wash your belt or not?

Yes, wash your belt. Your belt is a symbol of your knowledge and commitment. It will not lose any special powers if you wash it.

Q: Regular knot or superlock knot in belt?

Regular

Q: Isle or window seat?

Window

Q: And finally…what social media do you participate in and what are those addresses?

https://twitter.com/ground_fighter

https://www.facebook.com/GroundFighter.Net

https://www.youtube.com/user/GroundFighterMMA

https://instagram.com/ground_fighter/

http://groundfighter.net/

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BSP - Brand Spotlight Program

First of all, all of us at BJJ New Gear (BJJng) would like to thank you for your active participation in the group over the 3+/- years since our launch. We look forward to many more mutually-beneficial years together as BJJng continues to grow and add value to you and your brand.

The below text is also available as a PDF formatted document. If you would like a copy sent to you, PM any of us on Facebook (links below), or email your request to BJJNewGear@gmail.com

Thank you

BJJ New Gear’s Brand Spotlight Program (“BSP”)

Purpose & Summary 

Since its inception, the objective of BJJ New Gear has been to provide a single location for all BJJ gear brands to have access to a large community of BJJ gear enthusiasts, and vice-versa. As BJJ New Gear has grown, we have entertained various ways to facilitate that interaction. Our Brand Spotlight Program (“BSP”) is yet another step forward in BJJ New Gear’s growth and added-value that we strive to provide to all of our members - Brand Owner and general member alike.

While we will attempt to outline the BSP here, this is a new program that was developed in an effort to improve upon what we have already been doing successfully for our Brand Owner members – promoting their brand and BJJ gear. And like many things that we try it has long been our modus operandi to:

* Quickly pull the trigger on a good idea,

* Implement a new program while we are initially excited about it and it’s fresh in our minds, and

* Simply try out a new concept and then adjust on the field by calling an audible when necessary.  Further improving the program as we gain real-time feedback from the group.

In short, the BSP is a week-long exclusive focus on YOUR brand and YOUR brand only. BJJ New Gear shall conduct only one BSP at a time, and it shall be for the entire work week (M-F). While we will maintain our normal posting of gear from all brands during that week, there will only be ONE brand per week in the BSP, and only ONE giveaway allowed in the main group during that week as well. All other giveaways shall only be announced and posted in our subgroup, BJJ New Gear – Contests, as we normally do.

Schedule

The week will begin on Monday morning with a profile of you, your brand, its history, the owner(s), etc. It will finish on Friday with a giveaway of one (or more) of your products to a member (or members) of BJJ New Gear. What happens during the rest of the week is open to discussion and we are more than happy to hear your ideas on improving the BSP or tailoring it to fit your objective; but how we see the weekly progression rolling out is as follows:

* Monday - Introduction of you, your brand and its history. In addition, we will begin to drive our members to your website, Facebook page, Instagram and other social media where you can start capturing their contact information and interest.

* Tuesday – Begin focus on the single product that you want promoted. More than likely this will be an upcoming or recently dropped item. But it could be several items. That’s up to you.

* Wednesday - Release BJJ New Gear's review of the product(s) (if we've been provided with one in advance). * See below. This is highly recommended.

* Thursday – Begin giveaway promotion of one (or more, up to you) sample of the profiled product(s).

* Friday - Select and announce winner(s). Also, announce and exclusive discount for BJJ New Gear members who place an order within 24 hours; using the discount code: “BjjNewGear.”

Proactivity & Mutual Benefits

When signing up for the BSP, the Brand owner agrees to the following, well in advance of his scheduled BSP launch date so that BJJ New Gear can be ready:

* Provide us with a history of the brand and its ownership.

* Provide BJJ New Gear admin with one (or more, up to the brand owner) sample of the item to be promoted. If possible, this should be done well in advance so we can review it and then use that review to help promote the brand and item during the BSP week. If it is not possible to provide the item(s) prior to the BSP, then BJJ New Gear will let the brand owner know what size item is desired, and where to ship it to.

* Provide us with digital images/photos of the item(s) to be promoted, as well as the brand logo.

* Cross promotion of BJJ New Gear and the BSP on its Facebook page and Instagram account during the BSP. BJJ New Gear will provide suggest language for these posts, as well as a graphic promotional piece.

* Ship the item to the chosen contest winner, anywhere in the world, as soon as reasonably possible the following week. We strongly discourage limiting shipping to specific geographical areas, such as "USA only." Our members are worldwide and that often does not go over well. Besides, placing limits like that is not how to expand a brand beyond the traditional boarders. If you have a reasonable objection to this policy, please contact BJJ New Gear to discuss well in advance of the BSP.

Benefits

The entire goal of the BSP is to provide an added-value that cannot be achieved anywhere else. The ability to very inexpensively promote your brand, your gear and drive hundreds if not thousands of qualified people to your doorstep. Here is what BJJ New Gear’s BSP does for those that participate:

* Expose your brand to over 12,000 members of our ever-growing Facebook group, and over 6,000 followers on Instagram. Not once, not twice, but daily for a full week (M-F).

* By providing a background on the brand and the ownership, BJJ New Gear’s members and followers will become more familiar with both. And as we all know, people like to buy from those that they trust and are familiar with. That is exactly what the BSP is designed to do.
 
* Create a professional bullet-point review of the item(s) provided to BJJ New Gear admin, and maintain those online in our blog indefinitely for future brand promotion and reference.

* Drive BJJ New Gear’s members and followers to your website, Facebook page, Instagram, twitter and any other social media that you have. There they can register for newsletters, see your full line of products, “like” your Facebook page, and follow you on Instagram and twitter.

* Future add of your brand logo to the BJJ New Gear "Wall" on Facebook.


If the Brand Spotlight Program is something you’d like to consider, please contact any one of the BJJ New Gear administrators to go over any questions that you have and/or schedule an upcoming date in our calendar. When you sign up for the BSP, it is entered into our calendar for the group and all future BSP’s will be excluded from that week.

Thank you.

Juan

Doug

or email to: BJJNewGear@gmail.com

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Helping BJJ New Gear GROW

If you are viewing this blog post chances are that you were given the link by one of the current administrators of BJJ New Gear. And as the above graphic indicates (the same graphic posted in BJJ New Gear), we are growing and looking to add to our team.

I'll try and make this short, to the point and as clear as possible.

What we are NOT looking for includes:

*** Athletes to sponsor (we do that, but that's not why we posted).

*** People who just want free gear.

*** People who want to be an admin, but don't want to do the work and put in the time of an admin.

What we ARE looking for are people who have ALL of the following. Not most of these, ALL OF THESE:

*** A PASSION for jiu jitsu and BJJ gear.

*** TIME virtually everyday to spend helping BJJ New Gear grow in a variety of ways. How much time you ask? Well, some days we'll be busy with other aspects of life and only spend an hour or so at BJJ New Gear. Other days it is not unusual to spend 4, 6, 8, 12 or more hours online juggling a wide range of needs for BJJ New Gear. No, I'm not kidding.

*** A good computer, high speed internet connection, and an iPhone or Android (yes, that's 3 things right there).

*** A Facebook profile.

*** And an INTIMATE working knowledge of ONE OR MORE of the following platforms. This INCLUDES the infrastructure of said platforms. In fact, if your friends don't call you "_____ Guru" or "______ Geek" then this just will not work.

These platforms include: Twitter, Blogs (not writing them, building them, modifying the infrastructure), and Instagram.

Ok, let's be clear about a few things:

*** We have two admin now and we all like what we do with and for each other and BJJ New Gear.

*** We want like-minded people to join us in doing just that ^^^^.

*** This isn't a job, it does not "pay," but it is very rewarding in a variety of ways.

*** Will you get some free gear from time to time? Sure. Someday, in time. But if that's a consideration in joining us...do all of us a big favor and don't (join us, that is).

*** The BEST WAY to get started...is to....hold onto your seat....GET STARTED. You don't need to be christened an Admin to seek out new gear and post it in BJJ New Gear. And since finding cool new BJJ gear and posting in our Facebook group is our core activity (we ALL do that), you should get started with doing just that.

What's next?

Please consider all of this before you get back to us. And in doing so, all that we ask is a detailed answer to the following question:

How do you see yourself adding value to our BJJ New Gear team? 

You see, that's what we need. One or more additional admin to "add value" to what we do. We are actually looking for several people with distinct and different skills than those we already possess.


So please, get back to us and provide further detail as to what skills you possess and how you want to do to help BJJ New Gear grow and expand?

Thank you.

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VHTS "Be Water" Kimono Giveaway

Welcome to BJJ New Gear's blog. Feel free to poke around a bit if you like.

As far as the contest for the VHTS "Be Water" gi...well you made it this far and you are almost done with the scavenger hunt for this Giveaway.

Here is the VHTS size chart. Check it out and determine which size kimono fits you best. Then go back to the original post for this item in BJJ New Gear (see link below) and enter it below the contest post for VHTS' kimono.

And if you have any question with regard to your size, take a best guess. Then if you are the winner, you can work with the owner of VHTS to make sure you get the right size. But for now, for the purposes of this contest, make an educated guess.

Click to Enlarge

This link will bring you back to the contest post:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/BJJNewAndUpcomingGear/permalink/422953294532621/

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Where to get a CUSTOM MADE BJJ kimono

Some people just have a hard time finding a gi that fits their body type. Maybe your arms or legs are shorter or longer than "normal" (if there truly is a "normal"), or you are extra tall, heavy or muscular. In any case, for a significant percentage of the population it is difficult to find a cut of gi from any brand that fits properly.

Well, the option may well be to "build your own" gi, where you can choose your fabrics (in some cases), color and most importantly measurements. 

In that effort the purpose of this blog post is to list as many gi brand manufacturers as we can find, in no particular order, who will make you a one-off, custom gi to your specifications. 

Whether or not they'll also add custom embroidery or patches is not the focus of this post. But some do and you should either have your digital images ready to go (usually .ai vector files are best), or be prepared to pay extra for that service (design). 

So here is the list what we've assembled so far. More will be added as we become aware of them. The company names are linked to their website or Facebook page. The owner/contact name is linked to their Facebook page (where appropriate).

If you know of other companies offering this specialized service, please PM me and I will look into them and then post here if appropriate. Oss. 

Killer Bee Custom Gis

Jesse Bellavance - Owner

Solano Kimonos

Paul Solano - Owner

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