Why do some arts wear white uniforms while others wear black, or colored uniforms?
Traditionally most arts wore white uniforms. However, many schools practiced on dirt floors, so the arts that spent most of their time on the ground due to throws, takedowns, and ground fighting, such as Hapkido and Jujutsu, got their uniforms dirty, turning them black, while stand up arts such as Taekwondo and Karate remained clean (white). Therefore, generally speaking, schools who practice the stand up arts tend to wear white uniforms, while schools that practice takedowns and ground fighting tend to wear black or brown uniforms. This isn’t the case in every school though, many schools nowadays wear different colors either as a personal preference, or to separate students from instructors, or one program from another.
