IRVINE, CA — Gracie Barra announced Thursday that it will be rolling out wider belt stripes beginning next quarter, along with a transition to GB Official Stripe Tape™ available exclusively through the organization’s online store for $14.99 per stripe.
The new stripes — which sources describe as “more tape than belt at this point” — represent a 40% increase over the current dimensions, which were themselves already wider than anything seen at any other academy on earth.
“It’s about visibility and brand consistency,” said a GB spokesperson. “We want rank to be identifiable from across the mat, from the viewing area, and ideally from the parking lot.”
Students who attempt to apply stripes using non-branded tape will be subject to a Stripe Compliance Review, a new process overseen by GB’s recently created Department of Belt Integrity. The department, which reportedly employs three full-time staff at headquarters, will conduct random audits at affiliate locations worldwide. One franchise owner, speaking anonymously, described a recent incident: “A student in São Paulo was wearing athletic tape from a pharmacy. A pharmacy. We had to intervene.”
The stripes must also be applied during a scheduled Stripe Ceremony ($25 ceremony fee), which several practitioners have noted brings the total cost of a single piece of tape to roughly $40 before tax.
Competitors have raised concerns that a four-stripe white belt under the new system will be approximately 60% tape by surface area. “It looks like his belt broke its arm,” said one brown belt at a California affiliate. “I can barely see the white anymore.”
“I pay $220 a month, I bought three gis at $180 each because I’m not allowed to wear anything else, and now I’m paying fifteen dollars for tape,” said one blue belt at a Florida location, staring into the middle distance. “But the jiu-jitsu is fine. The jiu-jitsu is fine.”
GB had also announced a limited-edition gold stripe tape for $29.99, available only to graduates of the GB Leadership Program ($399, four weekends, lunch not included).