Originally I plan to post this in the Karate section but such can also relate to other forms of martial arts particularly Kenpo and various Korean martial arts. Most Karate Gis will have a patch or symbol usually on the right corner. The symbol itself shows the style of Karate or an other martial art the person practices. It also tells which organization he or she belongs to.
Hi Manila-X In my experience in the UK it's more common to see blank Gi than patched or embroidered Gi.
Embroidery or a patch showing your style, ryu, club etc is fine but anything beyond that and you start looking silly, IMO.
The above is usually what we wear. Other than that nothing else. I feel like overloading your gi with patches looks gaudy. In my opinion the mcdojo set likes to do that.
I rather like th BJJ patched look....in any other art it does look a bit contrived Also it is worth mentioning that the word "McDojo" does NOT mean "bad" - it means "ran for money". The two often coincide, but merely becuase something is run for a profit margin does not immediately render the training as ineffectual. Arguably the Gracies run one of the biggest chain of McDojo's
We wear our style crest on the left hand side of the gi, over the heart, that's it. I personally think anything more than a patch to identify your style/school is overkill. I once asked my instructor if I could get a patch across my butt that said "I heart my Sensei", I'm still healing from the beating...
I have my students wear two badges/logos on our uniforms and have done since we changed our name and switched from Gi to T shirts. As a result they have the 'old' logo on the arm and the current logo on the chest on the left hand side. When I'm in a Gi I tend to wear no logo as I work with lots of different styles and associations.
I think there has to be an element of "bad" for somewhere to be a proper McDojo. For sure there has to be an element of money to it but I think it needs to be money given for a poor product. Undoubtedly the Gracie's are after the money side of martial arts but I think the product they offer is a good one and they believe in their product.
Being a mcdojo isn't necessarily a bad thing, as long as it isn't unethical. I like to use two Martial Arts gyms in my town as an example. Both are mcdojo's that make you sign contracts. However one gym has a ton of heavybags, a boxing ring, a floor to do grappling. They teach wrestling, judo, bjj, kickboxing (WAKO, Thai, cardio) and MMA. They have been producing a lot of champions and they frequently have UFC fighters come and train there as well. The other gym/dojo however..... Has rude customer service/instructors, belt testing fees, child black belts, child instructors, adults and children in class together, everyone squished in a tiny space to train, switching from karate to mma and other unsavory business practices. Oh and multicolored tacky uniforms covered patches.