A drawstring is one of the smallest components of the gi pants but it creates a great divide between customers. A while back we asked ladies which drawstrings they would prefer. As it turns out, one half loves what the other half hates. About half of the customers favor flat drawstrings because they stay tied, and keep the pants from falling. The cord lovers hate flat drawstrings for the same exact reason; the knot is too tight, and cannot be untied fast enough when sweaty. The cord lovers also praise the ease of tying and un-tying of cord drawstrings but the downside is that you can never really get a good tight fit because of the stretchy material, and some explode and unravel during washing.
We started making pants with generic, stretchy rope cords and included a flat drawstring for free. That seemed to make most people happy but at the same time led to quite a bit of waste, and the problem with exploding cords still existed so we had to find a better solution.
After searching near and far we found a factory that makes nylon custom cords, and decided to do away with the generic rope drawstrings for good. All gi pants now come with a standard flat drawstring and custom cords are sold separately for $5.00. A well-known BJJ blogger, instructor and gi reviewer Can Sönmez says that these are the best cords he has used, and he has worn 30+ gis over the past years. Give them a try and let’s see if you agree or not!
Photo: Can Sonmez
