Thaismai is my favorite equipment brand. It’s not because I’ve tried and tested every brand on the market (and, in fact, a number of seemingly different brands in Thailand are actually the same manufacturer and identical in every way except the label), although I have had experience with a handful of different brands. However, the reason I love Thaismai so much is partially that the product is good, but mostly because of sentimental reasons.
Thaismai is an old company and back in the old days of Lumpinee the gloves and shorts were sponsored by Thaismai. I was wearing my gloves at the Lanna camp one day and Den, who is in his 40’s, kind of looked on them with nostalgia and said he didn’t realize they still made equipment. He recognized it from when he was a kid, but clearly it’s fallen a bit out of popularity with so many other competitors. As for my own sentiment, for the years I was training in Master K’s basement in New Jersey, there was this small flag that hung from a column in that little room – almost like a family crest with a piece of wood across the top of the fabric and a horizontal string from which the ornament hung. On the fabric was a fighter in the midst of a Ram Muay, his arms stretched straight out and one knee on the ground and his foot pointed behind him. On it read only the words, in English, ThaiSmai.
The word “smai” in Thai (สมัย pronounced as two syllables, sah-my) means a time period, an era. The name is fitting to how I associate with the brand, which is as a long-standing, kind of “era” of Thailand, in the way that Master K is himself like a time-capsule of an older Thailand, an older Muay. I romanticize it a bit, I think, but I reckon it would be like feeling sentimental to the old font of Everlast because that’s what Muhammad Ali wore. But, I’d argue that Thaismai is a far superior product to what Everlast has become… not to be a jerk about it though.
So, I use Thaismai gloves when I train and I have a few wonderful pairs of Thaismai shorts. They have, of course, kept up with the times in terms of the designs and patterns on their equipment and they’ve got some massively cool colors on some of their gloves. But I’m mostly happy to have lace-up gloves (I don’t like Velcro) in low ounces (I train in 6 oz) that can take a beating. The shorts I have are simple, inexpensive, nylon and traditional cut (high waist, medium length on the legs), which means they dry fast, don’t cling too badly when they’re soaked with my sweat and I can roll the waist down. And I’m happy to think of Master K kicking away in his basement and all the good times we had there every time I see the label. I’m sentimental like that.
For the longest time I didn’t even realize that Thaismai had a retail shop in Bangkok, and even when I found out that they did I didn’t know where it was. But when we had a chance a few months ago we hunted it down and shot a video tour of the place, and located it on the map so you can find it yourself if you like.
A Video Tour of Inside the Thaismai Shop
above, a little video walk through the Thaismai store, and a view from outside too.
Ordering from Thaismai
There is a Thaismai website, but it has not been updated in a while. You can see online photos of the kinds of equipment that they carry. Perhaps find what you like on that website, or on Facebook and if you’d like to place an order to be shipped I suggest that you contact them through their Facebook page or email them at tsm@thaismai-tsm.com – they should be able to handle English language requests, though if you have trouble let me know and I’ll try to help.
Their telephone number:
TEL. 662-289-4133, 662-291-8760 FAX : 662-291-8761
Wholesale Prices
Jumprope 90 Baht each (minimum order 100 ropes)
Focus mitts 10% discount on minimum of 10-20 mitts
Thai pad synthetic 750 Baht/pad (10% discount on minimum order 10-20 pads)
real leather 1300 Baht/pad (10% discount on minimum order 10-20 pads)
Discount on Shorts minimum order 50 pair
Discount on Gloves, mixed style/color minimum order 50 pair
examples of their different hand pads, for retail and wholesale, as found on their Facebook Page
Glove Prices (velcro)
Synthetic – these synthetic prices seem quite low, not sure which glove they refer to, but it was what was quoted to me.
6 oz 450 Baht
8 oz 500 Baht
10 oz 550 Baht
12 oz 600 Baht
*increase by 2 oz 50 Baht increments
Real Leather – 6 oz 1,250 Baht – this is the glove I use, though I prefer lace up. The price seems accurate to what I paid. I hope to be reviewing this glove soon, it’s a very good, inexpensive glove.
*increase by 2 oz/100 Baht increments
*for both leather and synthetic prices above are for solid color; for pattern designs add 300 Baht.
At the time of writing this 1,000 Thai baht exchanges for about $28 USD, 25 Euro, 20 British pounds.
The Bangkok Map of the Thaismai Store Location
Below is a Google Map of where the Thaismai store is, followed by a Google shot of the store front, so it will be easy to recognize:
2354/19 CHAROENKRUNG ROAD., BANGKORLAEM BANGKOK 10120 THAILAND
