October 2017 UPDATE:
Shoyoroll Brand has ended it's Guma program after 6 years. The below text will remain in tact to help new ShoyoFans understand what Guma once was..and what they missed out on.
Guma, and its upgraded sister, Uber Guma, are membership programs of Shoyoroll Brand. As a Guma or Uber Guma Member (collectively "GUMA") you get special privileges that are beneficial to fans of Shoyoroll ("ShoyoFans") who have certain objectives. More on all of this below.
The purpose of this blog is to simply outline GUMA, it's cost, benefits and negatives so that you can easily gain an understanding of the program and determine if it is something that you might want to consider in the future.
What is Guma Reserve?
Guma Reserve ("Guma") is a paid annual membership of Shoyoroll Brand, which guarantees members first access to many online kimono releases through the Shoyoroll web store. In addition, Guma members receive exclusive access to Guma-only releases, as well as a 10% discount on some merchandise.History
Guma Reserve as it's officially known, started in 2012. Uber Guma was launched three years later in 2015 in an effort to honor the Guma members who have been with Shoyoroll since the inception of the program. Quite frankly, GUMA is a fantastic concept and has an unbelievable success for both Shoyoroll Brand and its fans.Cost
For Guma the fee has consistently been $300 + shipping. For Uber Guma, it's twice that. But in reality there is no "cost" because as a Guma member, come springtime you get a nice package in the mail that has the Annual Guma Gi, a tee shirt and other "mystery" item(s).As an Uber Guma member you get the Guma package plus the Annual Uber Guma gi, tee shirt and other "mystery" item(s). The combined secondary market value of these items easily meets or exceeds the cost of the membership. So the fee is well worth it to most ShoyoFans.
How Do You Get GUMA?
If you are an existing GUMA member in good standing, come October/November you'll receive a renewal notice from Shoyoroll via email. It is that simple. As long as you are not asleep and miss the opportunity renew, you are good as gold.If you are not yet a Guma member, sometime in the Summertime Shoyoroll will announce that it is opening up the next years Guma membership to new members. At least that is what they have done for the past couple of years.
They then launch a dedicated website where interested ShoyoFans can sign-up and get in line for any potential openings in the membership. In the past this has occurred in mid-August. It should be noted that once you signup you will not hear from Shoyoroll if you've been selected until the renewals are complete sometime in the late Fall.
There is no cost or obligation to throw your hat in the ring for any opening in the membership. Monies are only due if you are selected and chose to sign up at that time.
How Many Guma Members Are There?
Only Shoyoroll knows. And now that Shoyoroll has opened up in Europe and Japan, and offered Guma to Europe, it has to be well over 1,000 strong.As far as Uber Guma goes, the freshman class of 2015 was fairly small because it was made up of only those who had been Guma since the inception in 2012. The estimate here is somewhere between 150 and 200 Uber Guma members.
However, for 2016 Shoyoroll has opened up its Uber Guma to more members, some of them even FIRST TIME Guma members in 2015. So that 150 to 200 is likely nearly double for 2016.
And it should be noted that many original 2015 Uber Guma members are pretty unhappy with Shoyoroll opening up Uber to people who have only been Guma for less than a year. The air of exclusivity has been tainted with this decision.
How Is Uber Guma Different From Guma?
Well, Uber today is what Guma was in 2012/2013. In other words, Uber is an exclusive club of a limited number of people who have access to small production batches of gis made just for them. Because Guma is so large now it is no longer an exclusive club. It seems virtually everyone is Guma these days, and the numbers are growing each year. But Uber is a much smaller, tight-nit community of ShoyoFans.So here are a few ways where it is different.
- You get the Annual Uber Guma package, including gi, tee shirt and other "mystery" item.
- For some gi batches there is an exclusive Uber-only colorway. For example, in 2015 the following Uber-only colorways were offered to the Uber Guma members: RVCA (blue), Leo V. Human Chess (Navy Blue), Magik (Blue), Clear Skies (White with blue collar).
- Access to some in-person drops. In 2015 this only occurred with two drops, and is a major bone of contention with the Uber members who had hoped to get access to more than just these two. But they got access to the Black A&P batch 5, and the PIFA white gi.
How About Albino & Preto ("A&P")
Up until 2015 the answer was "no." But as of 2015 there have been occasional A&P gis put into the Guma program. In 2016, Shoyoroll/AP announced the "AP Reserve" program. Essentially this is the mirror image of GUMA for AP products. The mechanics and costs for the first year of AP Reserve (2017) were the same as that of GUMA. Time will tell how this new program works out.What is NOT Included
You don't get your 10% GUMA discount on any A&P drops, you have to be an AP Reserve member for that. And you don't get a first look at or right to reserve anything other than gis. So no hats, tees or rash guards. Not even for Uber Guma. And it would make sense if Shoyoroll started to include these ancillary items for AT LEAST the Uber Guma members. But as of 2015, this is not the case. It's only for gis.Prior GUMA Packages
So, my best recollection as to what the prior packages were is as follows.2012
1751 Georgetown Gi + 2012 Guma Gym Bag2013
Black Skies Gi + Hoodie + Lanyard2014
Guma 2014 Gi + Hoodie + Water Bottle2015
Guma = Guma 2015 Gi (white with gold trim), + Silver Foil Tee Shirt + Silver Key Chain & Bottle OpenerUber Guma = The above Guma package + Uber Guma 2015 Gi (same as the Guma gi, but Black colorway with gold), + Gold Foil Tee Shirt + Gold Key Chain & Bottle Opener.
2016
Guma = Guma 2016 Gi (white with maroon trim/accents), + Guma Tee Shirt + Guma Hoodie.Uber Guma = The above Guma package (except for the hoodie) + Uber Guma 2016 Gi (grey with contrast lapel) + Shoyoroll Jacket (in lieu of the hoodie), and some Shoyoroll branded finger tape.
European GUMA received the same package as above + a foam hand.
GUMA Positivities
Well, the 10% discount you get on the gis basically pays for shipping. And with the retail cost of Shoyoroll's gis constantly going up, any little bit helps. But the two main positives are as follows:- You never miss a gi drop. Days before the public drop all GUMA members get to log into the GUMA section of the Shoyoroll website and place their orders. So there is no more dealing with the public drops and frustration in failing to secure a gi because you were 2 seconds late to the drop.
- The other nice aspect to GUMA is the exclusive gis and colorways. For most gi batches that Shoyoroll drops they will make a distinctive colorway for Guma-only and possibly for Uber Guma-only purchase. So while the public only gets to purchase, say the White colorway, Guma might get to purchase the white as well as the Guma-only Black. And Uber Guma have it even better, able to purchase the White, the Guma Black AND, say, the Uber Guma Blue.
So as you can see, if you are a gi hoarder and like a variety of different gis for your rotation, then GUMA is for you.
GUMA Negatives
The primary negative of Guma is this (taken verbatim out of my renewal notice):- Member purchases will be monitored. Those who are abusing membership privileges may be subject to cancellation of current membership and being denied access to purchase a future membership.
- Members are prohibited from reselling merchandise on private websites, commercial websites and/or other resell channels.
- Failure to abide by the rules, terms and conditions of Guma Reserve Membership as stated, will result in your membership being revoked/canceled, without refund.
- Shoyoroll reserves the right to cancel membership(s) at any time, at our discretion without refund.
These "handcuffs" as I like to call them are a major restriction if you like to buy & sell gis. And unless you have a rotation with 20+ Shoyoroll gis, then why do you really need GUMA? You don't. If you are the average person with 2 or 3 gis in your rotation and purchase one new gi per year, then GUMA isn't for you.
Other than that, Guma and Uber Guma are fantastic programs and well worth trying to get (and keep) for many ShoyoFans.
I hope this brief write up was helpful. If you have any feedback, please feel free to leave it here, PM me on Facebook by clicking here. Or email me by clicking here.
Enjoy & good luck.
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