Alchemical is the accidental fight wear company. Accidental due to the absence of any plan. It happened when I wanted a Hemp Gi and couldn’t find one under AU$450 delivered to Australia. This perplexed me and I immediately started trying to find out if we could get one made. It turns out you can. So, I ordered a sample Gi complete with embroidered logos according to my own design. It arrived and I loved it. I ordered a second sample to work out a lightweight option to match the first one. They were so much nicer to train in than any cotton Gi I had previously, so it seemed like a good idea to make some more. This was 2021.
Fast forward 2023…..
Now we have hundreds of Hemp Gi’s, a shit ton of natural fibre rash guards made from Hemp, Cotton and Bamboo plus a whole bunch of Hemp grappling shorts. If you are not aware of what your fight wear is made of then maybe this means nothing. If that’s you? Hemp Gi’s, shorts and rash guards are not normal. Gi’s are made of cotton. No Gi rash guards and shorts are made of plastic exclusively. We noticed this was the case and after some encouragement from a friend embarked on the journey of Natty No Gi clothing reducing the plastic content to less than 5%. We never would have started this gig if it was just doing the same shit with crazy designs and pictures. The only reason Alchemical Fight Wear is even here is because it’s different.
There are so many new fight wear brands peddling their gear all over social media and everywhere else it sells online. It is a competitive game for sure. How do you set yourself apart in a saturated market? You do shit differently. We currently have three products that you can only get from Alchemical. The lightweight Hemp Gi, Natural fibre rash guards and Hemp grappling shorts.
How else do you set yourself apart? One way is to locate some prominent people and get them to enjoy your gear and talk about it. So, we managed to team up with two bloody great athletes heading to the IBJJF Gi Worlds 2023. Alanis Santiago aka @th33mpr3sss and Liam Urwin aka @cupcake_bjj
As I write this, they are preparing. Training and fine tuning all the systems. Preparing mentally and emotionally for the journey. It is a fact that few people will ever train in hand to hand combat. Even fewer step onto a competition mat where you pit your skills against another player who really wants to beat your arse just for a medal.
Even fewer again will do this on the world stage.
So, what’s this all about? Well, we really want people to experience a new style of fight wear. In order to let you know that there is something new available, someone has to show it off.
Enter @cupcake_bjj and @th33mpr3sss. Two humans we think are well worth supporting. They are in the <1% that hit all the above levels of hand to hand combat on the world stage. We are all working together now to show off the best damn, next level, fight wear on planet Earth. This gear is not off the mass production line. It is genuinely small batch clothing. Thoughtfully designed and constructed with the highest quality materials and the future in mind.
Strangely, natural fibres costs more than plastic. This is because the plastics industry is the waste by product of the petrochemical industry as a whole. You will notice though that many products made of the cheap mass-produced materials cost as much or more than these natural, high performance products. Rest assured we are working hard to keep our prices where they belong. Bear in mind, this gear has approx double the life span of the regular shit, if you take care of it. It also feels better on you.
Enough about us. Heres a little detail about our two Brown Belt athletes taking us to the next level.
Liam aka @cupcake_bjj started training in 2017 at a local club in Gympie on the Sunshine Coast, Terra Luta BJJ, an affiliate of Cia Paulista Australia. He now coaches for another CPA affiliate in Melbourne, Art of Training and has seen his jiu jitsu take on new depths as it is now, not only his passion, but his livelihood. Worlds 2023 is his second time on the World stage having competed at Purple belt in 2022. We are so excited to have Cupcake on our team, having trained with him for years and seen him develop into a formidable opponent, we can't wait to cheer him on again this year!
And Alanis, aka @th33mpr3sss. We are beyond stoked to have this weapon repping our gear. We had met her partner, Levi Jones-Leary on a number of occasions, attended his seminars and trained with him. But when he came back to Australia last year, we got to meet Alanis at a seminar they ran together. She has been training since 2015 and at the age of 16, knew that she wanted jiu jitsu to be her career. Moving to New York to train at Unity under Murilo Santana at the age of 18 and now living in Melbourne, training with Lachlan Giles and her partner Levi, she is living that dream!
Stay tuned for interviews with our athletes in the lead up to Worlds, and individual profiles on these two Brown Belt Weapons! Who, Alchemical couldn't be prouder to be teaming up with for their journey to Gi Worlds 2023.