Our Story

BUDO Fight Gear began the way a lot of good things in jiu-jitsu do — with an injury, and a refusal to walk away.

In 2009, Daniel Kovacic was a white belt with a busted back. The injury kept him off the mats for five years — but ten years of Japanese Ju-Jitsu and a love of the art don’t leave a person quietly. Unable to train, he started designing the gear he wished he could wear: gis that actually fit, and looked like nothing else on the mat. BUDO wasn’t a business plan. It was a way back to a sport his body had taken from him.

From white belt to black belt

He came back. Today Daniel is a first-degree black belt — the full journey, white to black, lived over more than sixteen years. Along the way he and his wife Nicole opened ELEV8, a Melbourne gym now 270 members strong, and turned BUDO from a side project into the brand worn by the people they train beside every week. BUDO is still family-run today: just Daniel and Nicole, on the mats and behind the brand.

The name, and the art

Before BJJ, Daniel spent ten years in Japanese jujitsu, earning his brown belt — and a lifelong love of Japanese culture. That’s where our name comes from. Budo means the martial way: discipline, respect, the lifelong path. It isn’t a costume we borrowed — it’s where we trained.

That reverence runs through every design. Our artwork is authentic Japanese art with a modern feel — Oni, Onikuma, Akkorokamui, the yokai and the myths — drawn with respect, never as decoration. And it’s authored, not ordered: every design starts as Daniel’s own idea. When the artwork outruns his hand, he brings in tattoo artists, then reworks every piece himself until it carries the BUDO weight. Nothing is pulled off a shelf. Nothing is generic.

Designed in Melbourne

We’re proud of where we’re from. Melbourne is the culture capital of Australia, and the home of Australian jiu-jitsu — where the sport first took root in this country. Our gear is designed here, drawn from three things you won’t find together anywhere else: Australian design, Japanese influence, and Melbourne culture.

The gear itself is made overseas, by manufacturers we chose carefully. We started in Pakistan, then moved production to China for noticeably better quality — visiting our factories in person, to build the relationships and the standards behind every gi we put our name on.

Built to last

Our standard gis use a durable 450gsm pearl-weave jacket; our competition edition drops to a lighter 380gsm for the scales and for speed. Every gi is pre-shrunk, reinforced and triple-stitched, with an EVA foam collar wrapped in fabric that matches our ripstop poly-cotton pants. We don’t design for grapplers from the outside — we are grapplers, testing our gear on the mats of our own gym. If it doesn’t survive ELEV8, it doesn’t ship.

Why we never discount

You’ll never see a BUDO sale. If you buy something at full price, you should never have to watch it drop the next month. Discounts don’t reward loyal customers — they punish them, and they quietly tell you the product was never worth the price. Ours is. So the price stays.

This is BUDO

Born in Melbourne. Built by people who are still on the mats. Designed with respect for the culture that shaped it. Worn by competitors, hobbyists, kids taking their first class, and anyone who simply thinks it looks super cool.

Browse the range and find your fit. Same soul on the mat or off it.