Here’s a fun piece of trivia for ADCC 2024 enthusiasts: what do the promotion’s brand new women’s open class division, two of the North American Trials winners (and now newly-minted ADCC Worlds veterans), and over half of this year’s female Trials competitors have in common?
The answer: the Gaidama connection.
A small business originally born from a pair of hand-sewn women’s spats, Gaidama – now one of the top women’s combat sports gear brands in the world – has come a long way over the course of its mere half decade of existence. Among its many milestones, however, Gaidama’s role as a major sponsor at ADCC 2024 – and as a driving force behind the debut of ADCC’s brand new women’s absolute division – has become one of the brand’s true crowning achievements.
“I think it is really awesome and historical what Gaidama is doing for the women's scene in jiu-jitsu,” enthuses longtime Gaidama athlete Fayelynn Cherrier, whose fiancé Alex Enriquez won East Coast Trials this year and competed in the -55kg division at Worlds. “They sponsored the first ever women's absolute division, and it was amazing to watch a woman in the smallest bracket win the title.”
“One of the most memorable moments from the weekend was seeing just how far Gaidama has come as a brand and as a team,” adds Cherrier. “I saw so many people competing in their gear from kids, teens, women, and men. It is really a brand for all!”
“Seeing our athletes win Trials and make it to the ADCC world stage is inspiring!” agrees fellow Gaidama athlete Jordan Patrick. “I saw foxes everywhere [at ADCC], on several of the athletes. Being a part of the ads for Gaidama themselves makes me so grateful to be a part of the journey and the community of amazing people within it.”
That community, as it so happened, proved key to successfully pulling off Gaidama’s inaugural ADCC connection.
How it All Began
When Gaidama CEO and founder Kendall Vernon first made plans to celebrate her husband’s birthday with a fun couple’s trip to ADCC 2024, she had no idea that it would eventually evolve into a life-changing business venture.
“We got our tickets as soon as they became accessible, almost a year prior,” explains Vernon, whose husband Matt’s birthday happened to fall on the same weekend as ADCC Worlds. “This was way before I ever even considered that Gaidama could possibly have a presence there. We were just planning to go watch jiu-jitsu and party.”
At most, Kendall thought she might like to set up a Gaidama vendor’s booth at some of the ADCC Opens. She harbored a passing curiosity about setting up a booth at Worlds as well – but didn’t believe it would actually happen. It wasn’t until ADCC’s Ryan Stoddard e-mailed Kendall the promotion’s Worlds sponsorship packages that a switch flipped for Kendall.
“Whatever interest I had in ADCC Worlds transitioned from curiosity to determination in a span of about thirteen seconds,” says Vernon. “Suddenly this was something that wasn’t just interesting – it was something that we were going to do.”
Easier said than done. Opportunities to sponsor ADCC Worlds – popularly considered the Olympics of the submission grappling world – are highly coveted, with countless brands vying for limited spots. When Stoddard asked Vernon whether she’d make an appearance at North American Trials, however, she leapt at the opportunity to shoot her shot. Alongside Gaidama’s current Operations Mananger Chelsea Reeves, Vernon flew out to Vegas, where the pair witnessed athletes sporting Gaidama gear on nearly every single mat in the women’s Trials divisions – and quite a few in the men’s as well.
The prevalence of the fox logo on ADCC mats shifted Stoddard’s thinking. “I took the opportunity to recount [Gaidama’s] history, our unprecedented impact on the women’s jiu-jitsu gear industry, and all the things we were working on to raise the bar for the grappling world as a whole,” recalls Kendall. “As [Ryan] acknowledged this, the conversation shifted slightly. His response went from a firm ‘Not this year’ to a ‘There’s a chance – I’ll see what I can do.’”
The seed was officially planted – and as luck would have it, that seed would blossom beyond Vernon’s wildest dreams over the course of the next several months.
Welcome to the Open Class
When Ryan Stoddard told Vernon that he had a spot for Gaidama among ADCC 2024’s sponsors, she was thrilled. What she didn’t expect was for him to follow up with a second, even more exclusive offer.
Stoddard called Vernon one Monday morning, and cut right to the chase: “We’re putting together a women’s absolute division and we’re wondering if you’d like to be the presenting sponsor for it. We’d put your logo on the belt. We have to figure this out right now. What do you think?”
Kendall didn’t hesitate. She agreed immediately, despite the whirlwind of financial logistics involved. “Everything was happening so fast,” she tells me. “I went from having no real thoughts of Gaidama having any part of ADCC to suddenly being a Gold Sponsor for the event and the Presenting Sponsor for the Women’s Absolute Division, all in a matter of days. Financially, I was not prepared for it at all. I ended up borrowing several thousand dollars from my kid’s education funds to pay for the sponsorships, but something in my heart told me that it was the right thing to do and that it was all going to pay itself back in the end.”
She was right, of course. ADCC 2024 proved itself an enormous success – both as a whole, and for the dividends it paid on Gaidama’s behalf. “ADCC was such an enormous success for us, and I’d do it again in a heartbeat,” says Kendall. “Our whole team had a blast, we made a ton of money, got an incredible amount of exposure, and picked up a lot of momentum.”
While today, Gaidama makes gear for athletes of all genders, it’s no secret that the brand – originally born to serve the unique needs of female grapplers – has and will always mean something special to women in jiu-jitsu. As such, Gaidama’s role as the Presenting Sponsor behind the inaugural open class division bore particular significance.
“It was amazing to watch the Women’s Absolute Division unfold,” Kendall marvels. “It was insane to see our logo on the mats, and to watch Adele Fornarino make history by being the first Australian to win double gold at an ADCC World Championship event, wearing a championship belt with Gaidama’s bold logo right on the face of it. It was incredible.”
The Foxes’ Runway
Of course, sponsoring the absolute division was far from Gaidama’s only job at ADCC 2024. The brand also had to dress its own athletes for the big day: a task not unlike armoring a knight for a joust, or styling a movie star for the red carpet.
Among the most noteworthy pieces showcased by ADCC competitors was the custom butterfly set, as worn by ADCC West Coast Trials champion and Gaidama athlete Lyzz Mitrovic. Upon discovering that Mitrovic had studied as an entomologist, the team decided to build a design around the athlete’s academic background.
“I recall us truly being so inspired by this human side of Lyzz and the particular knowledge that shapes who she is in the world, outside of being an incredible athlete,” says Vernon’s business partner, Gaidama co-owner, and social media guru Karla Shelhammer. “We agreed that this could tell a great story for her armor of choice.
“Kendall and Lyzz worked together and channeled their butterfly idea through our sublimation designer, Vasili, to make such a memorable piece that carries so much symbolism in what it means for Lyzz to compete at such a historic event. It truly is an honor to even be a small part of the process.”
It Takes a Village
Vernon may be a force of nature, but no venture on the scale of Gaidama’s presence at ADCC 2024 happens without a whole lot of teamwork – and Vernon is quick to highlight the contributions of her fellow Gaidama team members toward the weekend’s unprecedented success. No only did two of Gaidama’s longtime sponsored athletes – Lyzz Mitrovic and Mo Black – ride their North American Trials victories to coveted spots at the big show in Vegas; fellow foxes also showed up in force to make sure everything ran smoothly during ADCC weekend itself.
Chelsea and Nick Reeves, for example – a husband-and-wife team who work closely with Gaidama, with Chelsea now serving as the brand’s Operations Manager – drove a whopping 17.5 hours one way, split across two days, to set up Gaidama’s booth at the venue.
Armed with an Enterprise truck full of the fox-branded goods and miscellaneous booth materials, Chelsea and Nick set out for Vegas determined to make the trip worth their while. “The biggest challenge for ADCC was probably the preparation and the drive,” admits Chelsea. “In the weeks leading up to ADCC, Kendall and I spent so much time mapping out every single detail for the booth setup at ADCC.
“We planned everything down to the last centimeter. Kendall and I met at the warehouse on multiple occasions, and spent time setting things up and creating a ‘mock’ booth so that we could be sure that we brought only what we needed and did not waste any space as we would only have a ten-by-ten space to showcase all of our gear.”
Of course, road trips rarely go perfectly according to plan. “I would say the most unexpected inconvenience that we ran into was probably when it started to rain and our rental truck ended up having a leak right above the passenger seat – my spot,” remembers Chelsea.
Luckily, she remained good humored about the situation. “I have a short video of me holding a cup above my head collecting the rain as it dropped from the ceiling of the truck,” she tells me, still clearly amused by her own misfortune. “Also, the truck was a fairly large box truck and the seats did not recline at all so [we spent] a long, long time of sitting straight up, which was probably better for our posture anyway!
“I kind of love that the ceiling was leaking though because after doing a few of these vendor booths for any kind of event, you learn that there will always be something that doesn't go to plan. So, if a little water was the thing that was going to go wrong of all things, I was totally okay with it being that instead of something that could've been much more inconvenient or challenging.”
The Payoff
“She is literally opening doors for women everywhere,” Chelsea Reeves says of Kendall Vernon.
It’s an apt summary of the footprint Gaidama has left on ADCC. As a company that has always championed women in combat sports, it follows that the brand would show up for women at the most prestigious submission grappling event on the planet in more ways than one.
For most of the foxes, though, the most important part of the whole affair was human connection.
“The major highlight of sponsoring a jiu-jitsu event with attendance from over fifteen thousand jiu-jitsu practitioners and fans is being able to come face-to-face with old and new customers, and so many people from the community,” says Karla Shellhammer. “Especially on my side of things, I meet a lot of people on the social platforms, but every time I attend a booth, I get to actually put a face to the handle and often build on the connections we make.
“Every single piece [of how we made this happen] has been an invaluable lesson in how important this groundwork is, and in what other ways we can bring Gaidama to new places and keep nurturing our growth.”
Gaidama’s sponsorship of the women’s absolute division was, perhaps, the pinnacle of that sense of human connection and community. “The most impactful thing [about that opportunity] was seeing all the years of hard work coming full circle,” says Shellhammer. “Not only because the women’s grappling community helped build our foundation, but also because there hasn’t been a women’s absolute division in ADCC since 2007 – and how epic is it that this was also the first year in over twenty years that the -55kg was also back, and that the champion from that division also won our belt!”
Ultimately, it’s all about the legacy that Gaidama’s left on the jiu-jitsu scene – and the one that these foxes are still building for women everywhere.
“Our brand has truly [brought about] a different way to look at female grapplers,” Shellhammer is quick to emphasize. “We are not damsels in distress anymore. We are key players, doers, and shakers, and this is just the beginning.”
What’s Next?
With the success of ADCC 2024 now locked firmly under Team Gaidama’s belt, the foxes are more inspired than ever to continue building communities for women in jiu-jitsu, and connecting athletes with their brand.
“ADCC really proved to us the impact we can have by being physically present at grappling events,” Kendall Vernon tells me. “We’ve been running booths at local tournaments for a few years now, but the amount of effort that we put into our booth at the ADCC World Championships and the amount of return we saw from it took my ambition to an entirely new level. We connected with the community there in a way that we had not really done before. As soon as we got back, I went straight to the drawing board to figure out how we could extend the reach of our physical presence and start running booths farther away from our home base.”
“Adventures await!” agrees Karla Shellhammer, who confirms that Vernon and Shellhammer hope to expand their presence not only at future ADCC events, but other major circuits like the IBJJF scene as well.
“We picked up so much momentum at ADCC and we’re working hard to use it as a launch pad to fire off from,” says Vernon. “Where exactly are we going? I honestly don’t know. I just know that I am having the time of my life waking up and busting it to reach a little further every day.”
