Kung Fu kit by style: Sanda, Wing Chun, Shaolin

Start with your school

Kung fu kit lists differ from school to school, so ask before you buy anything. As examples only:

• Wing Chun Huddersfield, a UK school, provides its own uniform of a T-shirt and sweatpants;
• the International Wing Chun Academy in Australia asks for long, plain black trousers with no visible design or labels;
• UK martial arts stores such as Playwell sell traditional kung fu suits with toggle-fastened jackets.

Our research found no UK-wide uniform standard for Wing Chun or Shaolin, so treat your school's list as the rule. Some schools supply items themselves: both schools above sell part of their kit directly.

Uniforms: full suits and trousers

PMA's Medium Weight 9oz and Elite Microfibre suits both have toggle fasteners on the jacket, and trousers with an elastic and cord waist and elasticated ankles.

If your school trains in a T-shirt and plain trousers, you may only need trousers. Blitz sells full-length kung fu trousers on their own, with an elasticated waistband and drawstring tie and elasticated cuffed ankles. You'll find them with the suits in our Kung Fu Uniforms category, marked as trousers only.

Fabric is the main difference between suits. PMA's Medium Weight suit is 100% cotton and titled 9oz. PMA's Elite suit is a microfibre that the seller calls ultra light, with no weight stated. Blitz's trousers are an 8oz blend of 65% polyester and 35% cotton.

PMA's suits and Blitz's trousers are sold in numbered sizes by height, such as 5/180cm. Blitz's chart puts its 5/180cm at 180-189cm tall, so use the maker's chart where there is one.

Check whether a sash comes with a suit: for PMA's 9oz suit, the seller says sashes are sold separately.

For forms competitions, BCCMA's Traditional Taolu Competition Rules (2024) say athletes should wear competition uniforms with athletic, event or cultural characteristics. BCCMA's 2025 British National Wushu Taolu information pack says a Chinese-style costume can be of any material in any colour. The pack adds that the costume must not hamper movement or stop the judges evaluating the performance.

Kung fu shoes

Check the sole first. UK retailers sell kung fu slippers with cotton soles and with rubber soles: Playwell, for example, lists both. Blitz makes its kung fu shoe with a cotton sole. It says it chose the cotton sole for grip, flexibility and a closer connection to the ground, and it designs the shoe for indoor training. KWON does not state what the sole of its Beijing shoe is made of.

Some schools set rules on soles. The International Wing Chun Academy in Australia, for example, does not allow shoes with hard or high-traction soles.

Sizing differs between makers, too. Blitz sizes its shoe on a men's UK chart and advises women to order one size down. KWON sizes in EU sizes. It says its Beijing shoe runs a bit small and advises ordering one size larger.

For forms competitions, BCCMA's Traditional Taolu rules say athletes should wear appropriate kung fu or wushu shoes. Light Sanda is different: competitors fight barefoot, and the rules strongly recommend appropriate foot covering when you are not in a match (BCCMA Light Sanda rules 2024, Rule 12.6).

Sashes

Some kung fu schools use coloured sashes, but the customs differ. Wah Lum, a US kung fu school, says men tie the sash on the left and women on the right. The International Wing Chun Academy gives coloured sashes to its teaching staff, while its students earn embroidered grading badges. Ask your school which colour, length and tying style it uses.

As one maker's example of size, Blitz's kung fu sash is 300cm long and 10.5cm wide, in polyester with a satin finish, in nine colours. We don't list sashes as products.

Sanda

Sanda is a fighting discipline of wushu, the Chinese martial arts. IWUF's rules permit wushu punching, kicking and throwing techniques, apart from the prohibited methods in Article 18 (IWUF Wushu Sanda Competition Rules & Judging Methods 2024, Articles 17.1 and 18). BCCMA, which describes itself as the official governing body for Chinese martial arts in the UK, says full-contact sanda was previously called sanshou.

BCCMA's competition rules include two Sanda rulebooks: BCCMA's own Light Sanda (Qingda) rules for light-contact fighting, and IWUF's Sanda rules. Their kit lists differ, so check which one an event uses.

Light Sanda (BCCMA)

BCCMA designed Light Sanda for athletes who train on a non-professional basis (BCCMA Light Sanda (Qingda) Competition Rules & Judging Methods 2024, Introduction). It is aimed at children aged 5 to 17 and adults aged 18 to 50 (Rule 1).

Kicks, strikes, sweeps and throws are allowed within the rules' restrictions (Rule 14). Striking to or at the face is prohibited (Rule 18.1.1).

You provide your own safety equipment unless the event's rules say the organiser will supply some or all of it. You always bring your own gum shield and groin cup. Women may wear a chest protector under the top (Rule 11).

Rule 11.1 lists the compulsory equipment, to the same standards IWUF uses for Sanda:

• an open-face head guard;
• BCCMA-approved boxing gloves: 8oz (230g) under 65kg and 10oz (280g) at 65kg and over, with 8oz in every women's category;
• shin and instep protectors;
• body armour;
• a gum shield;
• a groin guard.

Our research found no published list of BCCMA-approved gloves, so no glove we list is presented as approved. Ask the organiser which gloves it accepts.

For clothing, competitors wear a training jacket or plain T-shirt, as the organiser specifies, and long trousers: no shorts or boxing trunks. Tops must not be covered in prints or be multi-coloured, and the Chief Head Judge has the final say (Rule 12.1). Bouts are fought barefoot (Rule 12.6).

IWUF Sanda

Under IWUF's rules, all competitors wear IWUF-approved clothing and protective gear (Article 7.1). Men wear sanda shorts and a vest, and women wear sanda shorts (or a skirt) and a T-shirt, in red or blue. Competitors bring one red and one blue set (Article 7.2).

IWUF's age groups are children 9 to 11, junior 12 to 14, youth 15 to 17 and adult 18 to 40 (Article 3.1).

Protective gear comes in red or blue:

• headgear, gloves and a chest protector;
• shin guards for children's and junior competitions;
• instep guards for children's, junior and youth competitions.

Competitors provide their own gum guard, their own groin cups (worn under the trunks) and hand wraps 3.5m to 4.5m long in total (Article 7.3). That is about 138in to 177in. So a 150in wrap, about 3.81m, is within that range, while a 180in wrap, about 4.57m, is just over.

Glove weight depends on the division and weight category (Article 7.4):

• 180g for children and juniors of 48kg and below;
• 230g for juniors of 52kg and above, women's youth and adult divisions, and men's youth and adult categories of 65kg and below;
• 280g for men's youth and adult categories from 70kg to 85kg;
• 330g for men's youth and adult categories of 90kg and above.

What we list for Sanda

The Sanda kit we list is:

• boxing gloves offered in both 8oz and 10oz;
• an open-face head guard, for Light Sanda;
• shin guards for Light Sanda, whose makers say they cover the shin and the instep or forefoot;
• mouthguards;
• a groin cup.

None of the gloves, head guard or shin guards is described by its maker as BCCMA- or IWUF-approved, so treat them as training and sparring kit, and check the event's rules before a bout. We don't list hand wraps for Sanda.

Mouthguards and groin cups are different: under both sets of rules you bring your own to a bout. A gum shield is compulsory in Light Sanda, so have your own mouthguard before your first bout. If you wear braces, follow the maker's guidance: Shock Doctor, for example, states that its Nano Double is not compatible with braces.

Wing Chun

Your school sets the Wing Chun kit. The examples here come from individual schools' own pages.

Wing Chun Huddersfield provides its own school uniform, a T-shirt and sweatpants, to wear in training.

The International Wing Chun Academy in Australia asks students for:

• its school T-shirt;
• long, plain black trousers with no visible design or labels;
• cotton-soled kung fu slippers, socks or approved martial arts shoes.

The Academy does not allow bare feet or shoes with hard or high-traction soles.

If your school's list looks like either of these, buy what it specifies, and check any shoe's sole against its rule. Both schools supply some of the kit themselves.

Shaolin

Shaolin Temple UK describes itself as the official centre for Shaolin Buddhism, Kung Fu and Qi Gong in the United Kingdom. Its home and preparation pages publish no uniform, shoe or sash guidance.

Shaolin Temple UK's online shop does sell Shaolin T-shirts and a "traditional style" Feiyue shoe. The shop describes the shoe as suitable for kung fu training, with a canvas lace-up top and a rubber sole.

Our research found no Shaolin-style uniform at five UK martial arts stores, so none of the kit we cover is described as Shaolin kit. If you train at a Shaolin school, ask what it expects you to wear.

Weapons

Kung fu forms can include weapons. BCCMA's Taolu information pack, for example, asks that weapons are of a relevant size and length under IWUF's taolu rules. We don't list weapons for any sport, and nothing in our kung fu range is a weapon.

What we don't claim

Nothing in our kung fu range is presented as BCCMA- or IWUF-approved. Our research found no published BCCMA list of approved equipment, and IWUF's Sanda rules require IWUF-approved clothing and protective gear.

We don't claim that any kit prevents injury: we describe coverage, materials, sizing and fit. This guide and our assessments are research-based: we have not tested these products, and we quote makers', retailers', schools' and governing bodies' words as theirs.