Negrini 350 fencing uniform review

Well, I thought I was being clever by looking outside the box.  Everyone in my club was wearing either Leon Paul or Uhlmann (or Absolute, but they were all in agreement that Absolute was fairly crappy), but I thought there must be other options.

Surely there were more "good" brands of fencing gear out there?  The market can't be totally dominated by two manufacturers?

Let's be honest, though, I just like making things more challenging.  Sure, I could follow the advice of other people who have been in the game for years and know what they're talking about, but why do what everyone else knows will work when you might be able to find something new that's just as good?

So I found an Italian brand - Negrini.  Their website was pretty average, but they had some good reviews (no bad ones) on fencing.net and were priced between Uhlmann and Leon Paul, so they had to be in the same league.  They also supplied the uniforms for the Italian national team, so either they were half decent or the Italians were just keeping their money in their own country.  Plus, I liked the look of their cut - particularly the mask, which pleased me more than the design of Uhlmann's or Leon Paul's.

So, I ordered a 1600N mask and and 800N plastron and a 350N uniform.

The German in the club thought I was nuts - she suspected the Italians wouldn't have the same eye for quality and detail as the Germans*.  I thought I'd be pretty safe, though, as I read a lot of bicycle magazines and I know the Italians have a good reputation for their high-end products...

And therein lies the problem:  "high end."

I have no problems with the mask and plastron - both of which are well made and very comfortable. I think the mask is much more comfortable than the Uhlmann one I had been borrowing.  The 350 uniform, on the other hand...

It's too thin.  I know one of the reasons I went with Negrini was because other reviews said the clothing was light, but this is a bit too light.  I'm sure it's suitably resistant to piercings, but it gives little buffer to protect against bruising.  Even the Absolute jackets had heavier material.  Additionally, the finishing leaves a bit to be desired.  They didn't bother tidying up all the loose edges or cleaning up the pencil marks - as though they figured anything on the inside didn't really matter.  Things just seem... cheaper than I'd hoped.  The Uhlmann 350N uniforms seem better made with more attention to detail - and they don't cost as much.

I expect their 800N uniforms are perfectly nice, but if they aren't going to put the effort into their lower-end products, I'm not going to take a chance on their high-end gear.  I don't think enough companies realise that their "entry level" products are their first and best advertisements.  After wearing the Negrini 350N uniforms for a few months, I can't say I'm going to stick with them for my next purchases.


*Having recently been to both Germany and Italy, I can completely understand why she would think that.


UPDATE:  2015

Having said that, my club has since started buying really cheap fencing gear from a company in China (Wuxi), which is producing 800N uniforms that are thinner than my Negrini 350 uniform.  Alarmingly so.  As in "I can see your underwear" kind of thin.  My Negrini clothes may have been thinner and less well finished than Uhlmann and Leon Paul, but they beat the pants off the Chinese stuff.

And they hold up really well.  I've never had any trouble with them from a durability perspective. I have to admit that I've been rethinking revisiting Negrini.  Whether I do or not remains to be seen.