hi and welcome! have a couple of questions for you:

how long do you expect a cheap pair of gloves or shorts to last?
how long do you expect you'll train in mma?
how many pairs of cheap gloves and shorts can you afford to buy while you train mma?
is it worth it to buy tons of cheap low quality stuff than 1 really good set?

I'm just a sec. school student so i don't really have much cash to spend on gear. I just started and im really enjoying the training so might be sticking to it for awhile. Aren't you being naive to link cheap and low quality together. You can get value for money gear and it may not have to be too expensive. Was really hoping to get some advice and help instead of this rude reply. Thank you.

don't really think it was a rude reply, were just a few questions, you can choose to answer or not. my apologizes if they offended you. was just trying to help you figuring out the costs in the long term.

however, fyi, i'm the last person on the island one can call naive regarding this matter.

just look at all the crap coming from pakistan or china for crying our loud. gloves that look they belonged to mickey mouse before they shipped them out. shorts with tens of loose threads sticking out you'll be wondering if they'll drop in front of your gym mates without warning.

"value for money" is a myth. it's just an impression, a marketing tool, it's subjective, difficult to measure, intangible and misunderstood. most of the times it means the item in question is dirt cheap and one decides it's good enough for whatever purpose. but it turns out it was wasted money 99.99999% of the cases. i was in your shoes few years back and i just decided i'm too poor to buy cheap stuff.

again, my apologies.

here's an extract from an old anecdote i read some time ago: