How to Wash a BJJ Gi

Cold, inside out, hung to dry. Everything else — the smell, the stiffness, the shrinking — follows from those three.

The short version, and why each part matters

Wash cold, on the day you train, inside out, and hang it to dry out of direct sun. That is the whole routine, and every common gi problem traces back to breaking one of those four rules. Heat is what shrinks cotton and what sets odour into the fibre; delay is what lets bacteria colonise damp fabric; washing it right side out is what fades the patches and the print.

The single biggest mistake is leaving a wet gi in a closed bag. A gi that sits sealed and damp for a day is not dirty any more, it is cultured, and no amount of detergent afterwards fully undoes that — the smell that comes back the moment you sweat is bacteria living in the fibre, not residue on it. If you genuinely cannot wash it the same day, take it out of the bag and hang it up. Air is most of the battle.

For a gi that already smells: a pre-soak is what works, not a hotter wash. Half a cup of white vinegar in a basin of cold water for an hour, then a normal cold cycle, kills most of it. An oxygen bleach — the sodium percarbonate kind sold as OxiClean and similar — is the stronger option and is safe on white and on most colours, but dissolve it fully in water first and never use chlorine bleach on a gi. Chlorine destroys cotton fibre and will yellow a white gi permanently. If the smell survives two treatments it is usually living in the collar filling, which is thick and slow to dry, and the fix is more drying time rather than more chemistry.

Shrinking is mostly heat, and mostly the dryer. A cotton gi will shrink a little in its first few washes no matter what you do — that is why buying preshrunk matters and why a gi that is slightly long out of the bag is usually correct after a month. Beyond that, cold water and air drying keep a gi at the size it settled at for years. If you want to shrink one deliberately, a hot wash and a hot tumble will do it, but the process is not reversible and not precise, so size down rather than shrink up wherever you can.

Stiffness is the price of air drying and it softens with use, not with fabric conditioner. Conditioner coats the fibre, which reduces absorbency and traps the odour you were trying to remove, so it makes the real problem worse. A cup of white vinegar in the rinse softens without coating. Beyond that, a stiff new pearl weave breaks in over ten or fifteen sessions and there is no shortcut worth the damage.

Two things that shorten a gi's life more than washing does: hanging it by the collar on a thin hanger, which stretches the collar out of shape permanently, and drying it in direct sun, which weakens the fibre and yellows white fabric. Hang it over a bar or a thick hanger by the shoulders, in shade or indoors. A gi treated this way outlasts several treated the other way, which is the actual return on a five-minute routine.

What to look for

Apollo gear for this

Frequently asked questions

What temperature should you wash a BJJ gi at?
Cold. Heat is what shrinks cotton and what sets odour into the fibre, so a cold cycle both preserves the fit and cleans more effectively in the long run. Wash it inside out to protect patches and print.
How do you get the smell out of a BJJ gi?
Pre-soak rather than hotter water. An hour in cold water with half a cup of white vinegar, then a normal cold cycle, handles most of it. Oxygen bleach (sodium percarbonate) is the stronger option — dissolve it fully first. Never chlorine bleach. A smell that survives two treatments is usually in the collar filling and needs more drying time.
Will washing shrink my BJJ gi?
A cotton gi shrinks a little over its first few washes regardless — which is why preshrunk is worth paying for and why a slightly long gi is usually right after a month. Beyond that, cold water and air drying hold the size for years. The dryer is what causes real shrinkage.
Can you put a BJJ gi in the dryer?
Better not to. Heat is the main cause of shrinkage and of a shortened fabric life. Hang it over a bar or a thick hanger by the shoulders, out of direct sun. If you deliberately want to shrink one, hot wash and hot tumble will do it, but it is neither precise nor reversible.
How do you soften a stiff gi?
Use it. A stiff new pearl weave breaks in over ten to fifteen sessions. A cup of white vinegar in the rinse helps; fabric conditioner does not, because it coats the fibre, reduces absorbency and traps odour.
How often should you wash a gi?
After every session, without exception. A gi is worn against skin for an hour of hard sweating and then pressed against other people. Same-day washing is also the cheapest odour control there is.