So, we planned to hit the ground running (and if we could manage it, sprinting) this year and we kinda did. Our ‘Warrior in a garden’ rashie, the second in our rashguard collection arrived way ahead of schedule from our supplier. Unfortunately though, once we QAed (Quality Assured) the pieces, we decided the production just wasn’t up to scratch for us. Since deciding that in early January, we’ve been back and forth with the supplier to rectify the issues and we finally got the outcome we wanted - they’re being re-made with all issues being addressed before sending them to us.

Although that’s an awesome win for us, the downside is the long awaited release of the ‘Warrior in a garden’ rashie is going to be even more long awaited as we approach Chinese New Year and our supplier may or may not send our stock out before they shut down for a few weeks. We’re hoping to have the updated and up to scratch rashie in our hands by mid to late Feb (edit: They arrived in early Feb and went on pre-sale to Kazoku Newsletter subscribers on 6 Feb)  so we’ll keep you posted on our socials. As always, for first dibs on the limited size run we’ve produced, subscribe to our newsletter and keep an eye out for the Kakuto Kazuko pre-sale link a few days before they go on sale to the general public. 

Otherwise, January was a great month for us. We kept planning effectively the rest of 2024’s projects with room to add more when the creative spark hits us. We also finalised our new Kakuto Finger Tape sponsored athletes - more on them to come but the first athlete we ever sponsored - Tye Collier, 2023 #1 ranked AFBJJ Adult Male Gi Purple belt competitor, has graciously re-signed with us. Tye will be the first athlete we complete an athlete profile on and he will also be contributing to some blog pieces this year with his insights, so keep a look out for those in the coming months.