Guide
What a wrestler actually wears
Singlet, shoes, tape, and the headgear that belongs to a different ruleset. A kit list without a shop.
The uniform is a singlet, cut close so a grip has to be on a body and not on a handful of shirt. Shoes are light, with a sole that has to work on a mat and not on a street. Tape goes on fingers and wrists that have already told the truth in practice. Headgear, the ear guards, belongs to folkstyle rooms more than to senior freestyle finals. If you see it on an international mat, you are often looking at a different rulebook or a younger age group.
None of this is a shopping list. Brands change. A beginner does not need the expensive version of any of it on the first Tuesday. They need shoes that will not slide and clothes they can sweat through. The first-month page is the practical one. This page is so the objects in a photograph are not mysterious.
What the objects are saying
- A lot of tape often means a thumb or a wrist that is being negotiated with, not a fashion.
- Shoes left in the centre of the mat, as López did in Paris, are a retirement, not equipment.
- A towel on a chair means someone has already warmed up.
- Headgear in a college gym is normal. Headgear as a symbol of all wrestling is a mistake.
We do not review products. If a piece of kit changes the rules, it will show up in the rules pages. If it only changes the advertisement, it will not show up here.