I too was under the impression that the melee ranked shorts and rash guards were the official gear that clarifies rank. It's pretty obvious that a brown or purple shirt is symbolic of a brown or purple belt, but like someone else said, sometimes you just wanna support the system and wear something other than white, or gray. I mean if you show up at a tournament I can see how that may cause confusion, but I guess these are the rules and people obviously take them to heart.
Zog is right it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know which items are intended as rank items, but listing them as so would help if it causes such a fuss. I too wouldve gotten that navy shirt just to show support of the system and because navy is a pretty popular color in my attire. It wouldn't be to mislead anyone, and I could understand how others may do the same. The navy and royal blue comparison is tricky like that, the blue belt rash guards aren't navy, there a blue that more accurately displays the color of the avg blue belt, not criticizing, just stating my opinion.
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