Introduction: A Word from Our CEO
2024 marked another consecutive year of doubled year-over-year growth for Gaidama. Four years of doubling our revenue from the previous year and finally emerging as a 1MM business admittedly feels pretty good. In just under half a decade, we’ve gone from a one-woman living-room operation to a globally-renowned Jiu Jitsu enterprise. I’m certainly proud of what our amazing team has been able to accomplish in the short amount of time we’ve been around, and I am so excited for the big plans we have on the table for 2025 and beyond.
Our brand was built on a vision of something better, an obsession with textiles and technical details, and a community-driven mindset, but it thrives because of the people who stand for it. We owe our growth to our community – from our brand new customers to our die hard loyalists who have been with us every step of the way since our very first iteration of the now globally beloved Avant Garde Spats. Thank you all for giving Gaidama the opportunity to serve the Jiu Jitsu market and for trusting us with your business.
Sincerely,
Kendall Vernon
Recapping 2024
As 2024 draws to a close, we take a moment to sit down with our very own Kendall Vernon, founder and CEO of Gaidama, to reflect on the milestones, triumphs, and lessons of the past year — and discuss her ambitious plans entering 2025.
Community Contributions and Sponsorships
Q: In less than half a decade, Gaidama has built a reputation for some of the most supportive and generous sponsorship packages in the jiu-jitsu world. Can you tell us a little about how this energy carried the brand through 2024?
Vernon: “Absolutely. In 2024, Gaidama was involved in the support of our sport at every turn.
“We had a consistent team of roughly 25 athletes to whom we paid over $65,000 in cash and outfitted in approximately $130,000 worth of Jiu Jitsu gear over the course of 12 months. We also sponsored dozens of other amazing athletes throughout the year for various events, granting over $5,000 more in cash sponsorships plus over $20,000 more in gear. We flew in dozens of athletes with all expenses paid trips to Gaidama HQ for our fourth annual Epic Open Mat event, and to our more exclusive, invitation-only Secret Society events throughout the year. At these events, we showered them in gear, food, and attention, and let them take center-stage in a weekend of content production.
“We also gave back to our community with over $50,000 in event sponsorships, from being an official sponsor of the 2024 ADCC World Championships and the Presenting Sponsor for the ADCC World Championships Women’s Absolute Division, to providing dozens of smaller scale events with cash and/or miscellaneous in-kind donations that help build up the grassroots movements of the sport.
“And finally, we gave away over $3,000 in gear to our 2024 Fox Fam winners. Additionally, we offered an expenses paid trip that included flights, lodging, and meals to one lucky Fox Fam winner for our fourth Annual Gaidama Epic Open Mat event.”
Q: So, in total, that’s a high six figures’ worth of sponsorship money you poured into your athletes!
Vernon: “Yup. In total, we gave back over $120,000 in cash to the Jiu Jitsu community and over $153,000 in gear. As a company who only just broke the 1MM ARR mark this summer, we feel very fulfilled in our 2024 contributions to the global Jiu Jitsu community.”
Q: Interestingly, Gaidama doesn’t focus exclusively on the marquee athletes of the sport – i.e. the adult division black belt competitors – you’ve also sponsored a lot of colored belts, and competitors in youth and master’s divisions. Can you elaborate on that?
Vernon: “Totally. We’re grateful to have been a part of so many amazing organizations’ and athletes’ Jiu Jitsu careers this past year. As a true grassroots company born out of a living room, we pride ourselves in finding creative ways to support the rising talent of the community just as well as the elite athletes who have already fought their way to the top of the ranks. We found ways to sponsor dozens of blue and purple belts in 2024, including rising stars like Kate Lo, Katie Bochenek, and Chase Vaughn.”
Q: You do have some heavy-hitting black belts and other elite competitors on your team too!
Vernon: “Absolutely. We’ve also been fortunate enough to support some of the best athletes in the world. We are honored to continue sponsorship of athletes like Lyzz Mitrovic and Mo Black, ADCC Trials Winners and 2024 ADCC World Championships veterans, and two of the top female contenders in the world. Meanwhile, JJ Bowers was the first Gaidama athlete to secure an ADCC World Championship title, as the 2024 17U -80kg Youth World Champion. JJ also had a phenomenal run at the 2024 Combat Jiu Jitsu Lightweight World Championships in Cancun in December, submitting the previous CJJ Lightweight World Champion, Keith Krikorian, with an Anaconda Choke that put Krikorian to sleep. JJ would go on to finish in second place, losing only to Matt Masch.
“Chris Tran and Jordan Patrick, two more Gaidama athletes, both earned second place at the 2024 IBJJF NoGi Pan Championships in their respective adult black belt divisions, and both with close matches in the finals. Gaidama star Aislinn O’Connell secured the title as the first ever 2x Champion of Medusa, a female-only Jiu Jitsu competition hosted by Eddie Bravo that features the famous EBI ruleset. We are so excited to continue to partner with these amazing athletes (and so many more!) who have continued to exemplify what it takes to be the best of the best in Jiu Jitsu.”
Partnerships and Booths
Q: Arguably Gaidama’s best-known accomplishment in 2024 was becoming an ADCC sponsor – specifically for the history-making women’s absolute division. That said, you’ve also built a lot of other business relationships with key grappling organizations. Tell us a little about that process!
Vernon: “Gaidama definitely developed a lot of new partnerships with grappling organizations in 2024, and strengthened existing relationships with long-standing Jiu Jitsu business partners.
“One of our most exciting new ventures in 2024 was our partnership with ADCC. For the first time, Gaidama became an official sponsor of ADCC. Beginning with the 2024 ADCC Dallas Open, we developed a relationship with the world-class grappling organization that would elevate our community's in-person shopping experiences for the remainder of the year and years to come. The energy of ADCC events is so much fun, and we had a great time meeting all the new competitors and supporters at ADCC’s renowned nogi grappling events.
“After the Dallas Open, we had the incredible opportunity to be an official sponsor for the 2024 ADCC World Championships held in the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, and, perhaps even more exciting, to be the single Presenting Sponsor for the ADCC Women’s Absolute World Championship division. It was incredible to watch our 30-second Gaidama ad play on the T-Mobile Arena’s Jumbotron in front of thousands and thousands of fans, as Adele Fornarino became the first woman to win double gold at an ADCC World Championship event, securing the win in the women’s -55kg division against Bianca Basilio, and making history with a second win in the women’s absolute division against Bia Mesquita. What an incredible event for Gaidama to sponsor, and an incredible experience for our team, too.
“We made a ton of new friends at the 2024 ADCC World Championships and memories that will stay with us forever. The energy of the event carried us straight to the official ADCC afterparty at the Hakkasan in Las Vegas that Sunday night. Gaidama hosted a VIP table at the bougie underground club, where we partied our hearts out. We’d just put in a long five days of hard work, and when it was all over, we celebrated just as hard.
“After the ADCC World Championships, Gaidama went on to sponsor another ADCC Open, this time in Chicago, where we refined our ADCC booth setup strategy and nurtured the bonds between Gaidama and ADCC to propel us into a healthy partnership for 2025.”
Q: Incredible stuff. Outside of the ADCC circuit, where else did we see the foxes go in 2024?
Vernon: “We really enjoyed setting up shop at American Grappling Federation events throughout the midwest in 2024. My husband Matt and I have had a great relationship with AGF owners Chris Carlino and Brandon Quick for years. We’ve been advocates of the professionally run, well organized AGF tournaments since well before Gaidama was born. Conveniently, AGF is strongest in the midwest, making them the perfect Jiu Jitsu tournament to host a weekend Gaidama booth. We showed up at AGF events in Oklahoma City, Tulsa, and Dallas throughout the year.
“Finally, to tie the year off strong, Gaidama partnered with the IBJJF for the first time ever. We were honored to haul our brand across the country and set up at the IBJJF NoGi World Championships, held in December at the Las Vegas Convention Center. In 2023, Karla and I were there too, but to compete. I’ll never forget the feeling of winning gold medals at the IBJJF NoGi World Championships with my best friend and business partner. Coming back to the same prestigious event in 2024 with Karla and a completely new directive was awesome. We set up our booth and spent 3 solid 12-hour days at “work” – and I wouldn’t have it any other way. We are both very excited about continuing our relationship with the IBJJF in 2025.”
2025: A Vision for the Future
Business Strategy
Q: We know you’ve got ambitious plans for 2025. What can you share?
Vernon: “Naturally we intend to scale and optimize what we are doing in the Jiu Jitsu DTC market. We also plan to replicate our business model into other direct to consumer markets, particularly in the wrestling and cross-training worlds. We also look forward to expanding our wholesale operation, creating a new channel for growth and a new team to lead it.
“The new year will begin with a fixed sponsorship budget […] We will definitely be sponsoring a whole bunch of amazing athletes and Jiu Jitsu organizations in 2025, but have already begun to practice using the word “no” too: something that is as crucial to our longevity as its counterpart.
“The extra cash that we save will go directly into one of the following channels, each of which will see a heavy push in 2025: wholesale operations, in-person vendor operations, gi production, wrestling singlet design, and cross-training gear design. For 2025, each of those 5 categories is going to get the attention that it deserves, helping Gaidama continue its surge to the top of the grappling sports manufacturing industry.”
Q: Who’s on the business team behind Gaidama, going into 2025?
Vernon: “We recently hired Nick Reeves – one of our brown belts at Primate Jiu Jitsu, who also recently opened his own gym, Supreme Jiu Jitsu – to take over managing our Wholesale accounts. Previously they had been a bit disorganized, and no one was entirely responsible for keeping up with them. Nick has helped a lot with Gaidama booths in the past, and has been an integral part of Gaidama’s growth and R&D. With Nick’s help, I expect that we’ll be able to much more aggressively and effectively navigate wholesale opportunities.
“Chris Stafford and Veronica Ortiz, two of my personal favorite brown belt training partners, have recently accepted positions as our new traveling booth team. Nick and Chelsea Reeves, who had previously been our dynamic duo, were unable to commit to another year of traveling and setting up Gaidama booths. Nick will be busy opening his own gym and managing our wholesale accounts, and Chelsea has taken over Gaidama operations as our Operations Manager and will have her hands full doing that work. Chris and Veronica are both extremely down-to-earth, reliable, hard-working people with high integrity and deep investment in Gaidama, so while I know our people will miss seeing Nick and Chelsea around at events, I am fully confident that Chris and Veronica will keep our momentum strong and our community engaged.”
Q: Tell us a little more about the Gaidama gi – the early versions have already been tremendously popular. What do you intend to add to this production line?
Vernon: “Our BJJ gi efforts will quadruple this year. We have plans underway for 5 new releases for women’s gis, 4 men’s gis, and 1 kids’ gi, almost all of which will include multiple color options and most of which will be IBJJF-compliant. We’ve already started R&D work on a new fabric tech for men’s and women’s Jiu Jitsu gis which we hope to have ready for an early October release date.
“Gis are an enormous investment for us for several reasons. For one, we design and develop all of our own gi uniform fabrics from scratch. Unlike other jiu-jitsu companies, we don’t source stocked fabrics. Every gi we make begins with the weave, which, as a textile nerd, is honestly my favorite part of the process. Another reason our gis cost so much to make is because we offer so many dang sizes. I do not know of another Jiu Jitsu company that offers as many gi sizes as Gaidama, nor that allows for athletes to choose their gi jacket and gi pants sizes separately for a truly tailored fit. This complicates logistics from design to delivery, although we feel strongly that it’s a worthwhile investment to make for our community. Finally, our gis are a culmination of years of R&D design work. From the technical patterns to the waistbands to the creative stitching, even our most basic gis are a work of art.
Q: With the growth of cross-training, do you plan on expanding Gaidama’s production beyond the jiu-jitsu world alone?
Vernon: “Absolutely. Our mission to design and develop the world’s best wrestling singlets – not just for women, but for men and kids too – began last year, and continues on into 2025 with a heavier budget and a more aggressive timeline as well. We hope to have a line of premium quality wrestling singlets for men, women, and kids ready to be delivered by mid-summer, and begin offering wrestling wholesale opportunities to middle schools, high schools, colleges, gyms, and club wrestling teams shortly thereafter.
“Finally, Gaidama plans to expand its performance apparel line and become a worldwide namesake for everyday performance athletic attire. We’ve already begun work on technical patterns for women’s leggings and men’s shorts, and have been deep in R&D developing super soft performance fabrics for everyday athletic tees. This process takes a while, so I’m not sure if we’ll see any releases on this front by late 2025 or not, but I have every expectation that we’ll start to see more performance apparel options from Gaidama in 2026.”
Q: You’ve discussed Gaidama’s ambitious plans for a Made-in-America label previously. What does that look like, going into 2025?
Vernon: “Gaidama’s Made in America line is certainly not dead. It’s just temporarily on hold. We invested a ton of resources into USA-Made production in 2024, but because some of the businesses we were working with didn’t feel completely aligned with our vision, we stopped moving forward with it. We still have a very promising lead with our original team in Houston, Texas – the ones who made all our Upcycled Gi Bags when NU/FX was still in business. They recently acquired some heavy-duty flat-lock stitching machines and are working on getting their staff of mostly female refugees trained and up to speed on how to use this specialized industrial equipment. We love them and their mission so much, and are very hopeful that they’ll be able to make Gaidama’s Made in the USA Jiu Jitsu gear before too long. I do not have a timeline yet, but we will certainly keep everyone posted as events progress.”
Sponsorships and Booths
Q: First thing’s first – sponsorship under the Gaidama banner is an increasingly hot ticket. What will you look for when signing new athletes to the brand in 2025?
Vernon: “Moving forward into 2025, our criteria for selecting athletes is going to get a little more exclusive. We get such a high volume of applications, and while we’d love to sponsor everyone, it isn’t feasible. There will be higher benchmarks for social media influence as well as competitive prowess.
“However, I have to say this too: the #1 thing that Gaidama will look for in a potential athlete partnership is not a metric, but a totally discretionary intangible. After doing this for almost five years, I’ve noticed that our best partnerships don’t come from athletes with the greatest number of followers or the longest list of accolades – they’ve come from athletes who have the best personalities. Hungry, happy, humble, hard-working, social people that just also happen to be badass grapplers. That’s really what we’re looking for.”
Q: Who’s on Gaidama’s official sponsored athlete team so far?
Vernon: “Our 2025 sponsorship team is loaded with incredible athletes like Lyzz Mitrovic and Mo Black, both ADCC Trials winners and both of whom competed at the 2024 ADCC World Championships. Jett Thompson recently joined our team as an incredible up-and-coming brown belt, losing only by a hair in overtime to Andy Varela at PGF Worlds Season 6 and then again only barely to Elder Cruz at the ADCC San Diego Open in January. We have high expectations for Jett this year and are super excited to be a part of his career path.
“Here Rose, the eight-year-old wrestling phenom known as ‘the last dragon’ has joined the Gaidama roster, adding an electrifying wrestling dynamic to our team. Joslyn Molino, a promising 13-year-old black belt hunting superstar training out of Florida, JJ Bowers, a 2024 ADCC Youth World Champion, Chris Tran, a black belt IBJJF Europeans Champion, Jacob Johnston, a purple belt IBJJF No-Gi World Champion, and Ana Mayodormo, a black belt ranked number eight at 135, will all be joining us this year, to name a few.”
Q: What about events? Do you intend to sponsor ADCC again?
Vernon: “As far as events go, Gaidama is excited to be an official sponsor of Fight 2 Win for the first time. We are thrilled to be a part of ‘The Biggest Party in Grappling,’ as we break ground in 2025.
“And while we have, for budgeting reasons, decided not to be official sponsors of ADCC this year, we could not be more excited to have a new team of booth workers who are eager to travel all over the US to set up a Gaidama booth at as many ADCC tournaments as possible. At present, our team has committed themselves to the following 2025 ADCC events: San Diego ADCC Open in January, Oklahoma City ADCC Open in April, Atlanta ADCC Open in May, Dallas ADCC Open in June, and ADCC Trials in Orlando in November.
“Finally, Gaidama is incredibly excited to, for the first time ever, sponsor and set up shop at the IBJJF Master World Championships and Jiu Jitsu Con at the Las Vegas Convention Center in late August. We look forward to hosting a sprawling booth at this massive worldwide BJJ event, and have plans to release several new gis between now and then to bolster our kimono lines with a focus on several IBJJF-legal gi variations for both men and women. We also plan on setting up shop again at the 2025 IBJJF NoGi World Championship event, although as of this writing, the dates and times for it have yet to be determined.
“And while 2024 saw Gaidama pop-up shops at many American Grappling Federation events – a tournament circuit that my husband Matt and I have staunchly supported since its initial conception years ago – we’ll likely limit ourselves to one or two AGF events this year, simply due to our extremely packed schedule. We do, however, plan on attending the AGF Oklahoma City event on March 14th and 15th, so if you’re in the area, please do stop by. This is our favorite AGF event to attend, and we’re excited to have it on our calendar!
“Gaidama has also recently partnered with Grappling Getaways, a women-focused Jiu Jitsu camp hosting a huge event in Houston, Texas at the end of February. We’ve also joined forces with Main Character Jiu Jitsu, a rising contender in the professional Jiu Jitsu competition scene led by Kemoy Anderson, a 10th Planet black belt, that will hosting their next adult event in Austin, Texas at the end of March. We’re excited to work with both of these incredible organizations and many more to come in our continued support of the global Jiu Jitsu community.”
Closing Thoughts
Q: If there's one major lesson from 2024 as a whole that you're taking with you into 2025, how would you sum it up?
Vernon: “To be completely frank, 2024 was a year of significant spend, both in terms of cash and in terms of my personal energy and sanity. And the truth is, I don’t know which of those investments helped us grow and which didn’t. 2025 is going to be the year that I start acting like an actual CEO and don't just make decisions based on ‘gut instinct.’”
“My goal for this year is to create processes that get me as much data as possible in an automated and timely way so that I can make strategic decisions for the benefit and health of the company. It is immeasurably stressful to make uninformed decisions for a business – and for all the employees who count on that business for their income – based on mostly just guesses. 2025 will be a year of analysis and data gathering, clarity and perspective, vision and execution.”
