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Via e-mail: The gi is very similar to the Atama gold weave but has some nice differences. Although the fabric is virtually the same as an Atama gold weave the design of the jacket is different. There are no seams in the back of the Machado jacket which makes for a more comfortable and flexible fit. The Atama has a seam righ down the middle of your back which you can feel when you are on your back. The Machado gi has also been designed so that both sides of the jacket flaps cross all the way over to the other side when you close the jacket. In other words, the right lapel crosses all the way over to your left hip when closed and the left lapel crosses all the way over to your right hip. This makes for a snugly shut jacket that is hard for your opponent to open. The pants are very well constructed also and are made of heavy fabric similar to HKC pants. Overall, the Machado gi is of very high quality, has nice design features, was inexpensive (only $85 when I purchased it), and looks great.

Via e-mail: I like the Machado Gold Weave fabric, it's softer than standard weave fabric, more flexible, and I like the fact that it don't have seam on the back that makes it very comfortable when your back is on the floor.

Via e-mail: We have some Vitamins & Minerals Minotauro Blue gis. At first look they are very high quality. The collar is not as wide as Gameness, but it is stiff enough. VM is really Machado gi with special embroderies and patches. It looks very impressive. The cloth it is made of is soft and nice. You get white belt with your V&M gi, but it has very low quality. MMAgear gi is also Machado made. It has some extra embroderies and partches and looks very good.

Via e-mail: I own both the gold and hybrid weave kimonos. Make sure that you buy one size larger than the size chart if you intend to use a dryer to dry your gi after washing, since the gi loses about two inches overall when using a dryer. Otherwise, both are very comfortable and soft to roll in and the collar is high against the back of your neck but cut low and away from the front of your neck so there is very little chance for your gi to be used in a collar choke against you unless it has become very loose from activity.
The customer service at M Kimonos is very good, Luciana Simon, the owner will get back to you within 24 hours by e-mail if you ask her any question about the gis. Each gi cost me $100 but are well worth the investment. I definitely will be buying from them again in the future.

Via e-mail: Very sturdy and comfortable. Would definitely recommend it. Only problem I have is with their pants. The have a pants tie strings go across the body, loop through a loop in the back and comes back around to the from where you can do a tie. It is pretty annoying especially when putting on/off and using the restroom.

Via e-mail (please see Ms. Luciana Machado Simon's response immediately following): My personal experience with Mkimonos products can be summed up this way: Terrible, terrible, terrible. The irony is that the company, in the person of Luciana Machado, has the most outstanding customer service I've ever experienced.
I ordered two gis from MKimonos, a summerweave and later a goldweave. Upon receiving the summerweave, I was shocked at how big it was. Much bigger than any other A2 I've tried. It was more like a big judo gi even though I had sized myself according to the Mkimonos sizing chart. I decided to wash and dry it because the company claims their gis shrink by about three inches. Not this one. Granted, I like my gis snug, but I think I know when something just doesn't fit and this didn't. If you're anywhere close to straddling the line between sizes, opt for the smaller one. I wrote to Luciana and told her I was unhappy with the jacket fit (the pants were perfect, they remind me of Atama -- light, sturdy, good feel) and she graciously accepted my return and offered me a new jacket, a refund or a $15 discount on a goldweave jacket. I like goldweaves and liked the idea of a one-piece jacket, believing it would be resistant to tearing due to fewer stress points. Boy, was I wrong.
This is where it gets bad. I got the goldweave jacket (both gis arrived in about 4 days -- very fast service) and it looked awesome. Unlike the Atama, there is no seam running down the back and no sewn-on judo-type skirt. I liked that. I washed and dried the jacket and it shrunk to a great fit. Keep in mind, I had learned my lesson with the summerweave so I went a size smaller. I held onto the goldweave waiting to test it out when the weather got hotter here. I had it for a total of four weeks, but only wore it to three, 2-hour classes. I had only sparred in it a total of 1 to 1 1/2 hours in those three classes. After the VERY FIRST CLASS, a line of stitching in the left lapel started unraveling. Aggravating, but not any big deal I thought. After the third (and what turned out to be final class for the jacket) a hole of almost one-inch long opened up on the tricep of the left arm. Several people in class oohed and aaahed over the jacket until I showed them that hole. Every single one said, "You need to return that."
I didn't want to do that since Luciana had been so cool in accepting the first jacket back and knocking off a few bucks for this goldweave. I decided to take the jacket to a professional tailor for repair. The tailor went through the entire jacket and said the arm had ripped because not enough fabric had been turned down before it was sewn. It's called sewing a "raw edge." He also said there were four other places in the jacket which HADN'T BEEN SEWN AT ALL, each about two inches long. Somehow, these seams were hidden in bindings and unless you know what to look for, you'd never see it. It results in the jacket quickly tearing under stressful conditions. How's that for form over function?
The upshot of all this is that I had the jacket professionally sewn as it SHOULD HAVE BEEN from the factory at a cost to me of over $50. I was pretty pooped off seeing as how the "great deal" I got on this goldweave had ended up costing me a ton of money so I wrote to Luciana and told her what had happened. In my email, I specifically stated that I didn't want anything from her, not another discount, not a refund, not a new jacket, nothing. I only wanted to make her aware of some quality control issues at her factory.
She wrote back and apologized profusely for the jacket literally falling apart and she said she needed me to send it back to her IMMEDIATELY because it had to be inspected. I didn't really want to do this because of what I had already invested, but since she had been cool to me, I was cool to her. This $75 jacket had now cost me $125, but whatever if it helped her get her product right. I shipped it back at my expense. She never offered to pay shipping even though her products were falling apart or poorly sized, she never asked how much it cost me to have her product professionally fixed, never asked for a receipt, nothing. I must have spent $28 in shipping alone.
She said she'd send a new jacket so I waited a week before asking about it again. She said they'd be in in about two more weeks, so I just wrote back and asked her to credit my card and we'd call it even. I was sick of the whole thing by now and I wanted to cut my losses. She responded and was obviously upset. She did give me a refund, but she made a point of telling me how her gis were of "excellent quality" and how she had "accepted my return after a long time." I didn't bother to write back to tell her that she was the one who requested the jacket be sent back "immediately;" it wasn't "my return" and that even if I had worn the jacket every single day for two hours a day for the four weeks I had it, the thing shouldn't be blowing holes in it and unraveling. I just let it go. The only thing I said was that I was sorry she seemed to be upset.
All in all, I guess I spent about $170+ on a $110 goldweave with all the repairs and shipping both ways. Hey, it was a life lesson though. What was the lesson? Never buy another Mkimonos product because good customer service doesn't make up for a poor-quality product.

Ms. Luciana Machado Simon's response via e-mail to above review: Dear customer, I don't mean at all to be rude and to say that I don't trust what you are saying. However, what I remember from the episode with you is a completely different story. I remember you emailing me and telling me about your ripped gi. I immediately responded thinking it was a brand new gi and also because I NEVER had a customer unsatisfied in my life. If something bad happens with one of my gi's and the fault was of my seamstresses or company, I immediately send another free brand new piece to the customer as a replacement. It has happened very few times, but it has happened in the past.
Well, I remember that then when you described which gi you had purchased from me, I realized it was a gi from the old batch. So, it had been worn for about 6 to 8 months. Still I would be happy to work with you because it should have lasted much longer than that. So, I asked you to send me your gi for me to send it for analysis and if we realize it had been our mistake, we would be more than glad to send you a free new gi. Sometimes there is a new seamstress that can sew the gi improperly; this is not impossible to happen but it's very rare and you could have been unlucky; and I sincerely apologize for that. You then came to me and said you had had it fixed at a certain place and had already paid for it. That's when I sold you another gi with a discount. You said on your post that I did not offer to pay for the fixing of your gi. Well, that's not how factories or stores operate. If I have one piece of Nike, Victoria's Secret, Bebe Store or whatever store being ripped and I decide to take it to a seamstress to have it fixed and then I send the bill to BebeStore, I guarantee a hundred per cent they would not pay for it! What I would have to do would be to take the piece to be analyzed by the store!
That's the only reason why you did not get a free gi! If you had sent your gi to me, you would have got a free new gi. When I asked you to ship me the gi, you said: "No need for me to send you the gi anymore; I've already had it fixed!" Well, how would I know if it was really damaged before and that itwas our fault if I did not see it? Do you understand what I mean? I guess there was a big misunderstanding going on between us. I NEVER leave my customers unsatisfied and never just drop the subject when it's not a hundred percent resolved. I thought it was clear that these was nothing else I could do. I really did. I treat all my customers with respect and would never leave a customer with a brand new ripped gi if that was the case.
My gi's are made with the best materials on the market. Best fabrics, best threads, etc. They are strong and the most durable and my customers are very loyal and satisfied. I would never sell something I don't believe in. It's my name and brand we are dealing with.
Thank you very much, Joker, for letting me post here and defend myself. Take care!
Luciana Machado Simon.

Via e-mail: I had concerns with shrinkage and fit in the shoulders, so I contacted MKimonos via email and received a response from Luciana with size recommendations based on my build within two hours. Have to say that she was right on the money. [The] hybrid weave feels great! It actually feels lighter than my single weave and a heck of a lot cooler. The hybrid weave just breathes so much better, even better than some karate gi I've had.
Luciana and her husband Josh were an absolute pleasure to deal with. I wish more companies had the customer service of MKimonos. I definitely will be using MKimonos in the future.

Via e-mail (11/27/06): I just wish I had seen that review about the M KimonosGoldweave before I bought mine. I, too, was taken in by the good looks and the "one-piece" aspect of it. Plus, I thought it would be just as good as my Atama, but even cooler, because it was rarer and didn't have a skirt. Simply put, the jacket was a piece of trash. The pants I still have. They're nice. I, too, experienced a lot of unraveling along the collar and a tear along the arm after only a couple of weeks.
I stuffed it in the back of the closet and ended up giving it to a friend of mine. Although he liked the M kimono jacket much better, he ripped a huge hole in the upper shoulder and a tear between the shoulder blades within a couple of months.
Although many people apparently had a good experience with the brand, I, unfortunately, did not.

Via e-mail (12/8/06): I bought a Machado Gold Weave Gi 6 months ago. This was my first gi and I have been training with it 2-3 times a week since I bought it. ItÕs great. IÕve trained in Atama and found the line down the back to be a bit uncomfortable while working from the guard. The Machado Gi is strong and has a thick collar yet is very comfortable. Some of the purple belts at my school said the collar was very hard to manipulate and they were all impressed with the quality of the gi. Luciana was great to work with. I placed the order right as her town was hit by a big storm and knocked out her internet access. After not hearing from the company for a few days, I started to get annoyed. Luciana finally got internet service again and was very apologetic for the problem and even threw in a little gift for me. I highly recommend both Machado gis and Luciana. I will be buying another gi from them again.

Via e-mail (8/29/07): I think that it is the sharpest looking gi made. I got the one with the new embriodery with the M in the middle with the "compass" lines. Once I started rolling in it I knew it wouldn't be a "special occasion gi" for long. I love the gi, it's become my favorite gi because of the cut, the looks, the quality, comfort and customer service! I'm 5'10" 190 lbs and i have a 29" inseam, and the pants fit perfect! My Atama A2 pants are a bit tight but they get by. But, my MKimonos gi pants give me a little more room in the butt and are tapered great. The top is flawless, it fits perfect, it's very comfortable, the lapel is perfect, etc. Any good thing that you can say about a gi, you can say it about this gi!

Via e-mail (12/22/07): I have sent three emails to [Luciana] asking her when a gi in my size would be in. Three emails on three separate occasions to her "new" email [at] yahoo. I have yet to receive any response. It is the most unprofessional organization I have ever dealt with. Bad enough to make me write this review. I wish I had more to offer about the quality of the gi but that would require a sale and they are obviously not interested in that.

Via email (1/11/08): BEWARE!!!!!!!!!! STITCHING S U C K S!!! Believe me when I say read the previous reviews about poor stitching. I read the reviews before I bought but the cool pictures of the GI on their site tempted me to buy anyways, also thinking that the problem would be fixed by now…. WRONG! I opened the package and already there is stitching coming loose , about a 3 inch piece just weaved in the threads as if to try to hide it. I then took a closer look at the quality and I compared it to a ATAMA and Gameness I have and I found that to every 1 stitch on the Mkimonos the ATAMA and Gameness have 2. Well I promptly packed it up and sent the thing back and of course shipping was out of my pocket. I've read on the reviews about their stellar customer service but I don't see what all the hype is about cause out of about 10 of my emails I got maybe 2 replies, and there is no phone number which is extremely frustrating!

Anyways, my suggestion to you would be that if your gonna pay ATAMA money you might as well get ATAMA quality cause these GI's are overpriced for the quality they give in return. I've also come to the realization that their quality control force is YOU the customer because this GI should have never made it out their door….. IT WAS THAT OBVIOUS!.

Until they listen to the customer and fix their stitching problem or drop their prices by $60 I'd look elsewhere.

Via email (12/22/10) from Luciana Machado-Simon, owner M-Kimono, edited for content and length: Nowadays, I am the only owner of MKimonos (not called Machado Kimonos anymore since a long time ago, but with the same M logo, same company, same everything as before). I have been working over the years to only improve in order to reach almost perfection (if perfection was possible, I would be there, I promise) in terms of durability, looks and overall finish and customer service that is ALL done by me. All problems, questions or anything else, I am the one who solves them particularly and as soon as possible. I also send out the boxes on the same day or day after I receive the order because I know how excited the customer gets to try and roll on the gi! I send the gi in order of the orders are coming to me, unless it's 3 day Select, 2nd Day, etc.
Nowadays, our hybrid that, by the way, we created that weave is the best hybrid fabric you will find in the market and we came out with a new fabric, called Palladium, that looks like a gold weave but it's as resistant and and strong as a double weave. It looks incredible and gives the athlete that majestic look of a champion. I can't charge cheap because other brands charge for single weave gi's the same I charge for my hybrid gi, only because a sponsored athlete is wearing it... Also, it takes about four times as long to manufacture an MKImono as it does the average BJJ gi. There is time that is put into the cut, stitching, reinforcements, etc, and that's why our gi's look the way they look and last as long as they do. My gi's are made inch by inch with the purpose of perfection, you'll see.