Gi pants upgrade

For years, I have been frustrated by drawstrings that come with gi pants. Specifically, Judo and Jiu-Jitsu style gi pants.

What happens is the drawstrings are not of a uniform shape, so when they are cinched up, the pants bunch (in the back for me) in an uncomfortable wad. Pain is the result if one happens to roll across this bunched up material during training. Rolling across it in Jiu-Jitsu training is going to happen, so for years, I simply elected to try to unbunch the material. This was painstaking and time-consuming.

Recently, I decided to try out some different methods to resolve this issue. I purchased several kinds of rope and twine to experiment with. Internet folks gave the advice that cotton rope gets difficult to untie when wet, and I will verify this. Nylon rope is too slick to keep the knots tied.

However, I found that braided soft cotton drawstring - like the type used in hoodies - was perfect. I used 1/4 inch thick drawstring. It is perfectly circular, and was purchased from a local hobby store for $1.79 per yard.

But how much drawstring do you need? 

There are a couple of ways to answer this question:
- One can take the current drawstring out of the pants and measure it.
- On can multiply their waist by two, and add 24 inches.

Either method produces a substantially similar result.

My waist measures 38 inches. So I plugged it into the formula:
(waist x 2) + 24.

(38 x 2) + 24 =
76 + 24 =
100 inches of drawstring needed.

This came to 2.78 yards of drawstring. Since stores rarely sell odd amounts, I purchased 3 yards.


How to prepare the drawstring:

First, sear the ends of the string with fire. A lighter or match should be fine. I put regular scotch tape below this, to create a hard part in the material. 

How to put the drawstring in:
I use a wire from a coathanger, with a hook at the end. This device is run through the pants, the drawstring is hooked at the end, and then the wire is used to run the drawstring back through the pants.
The wire tool:

Here's a closeup of the hook:

And here's how you thread the drawstring into the hook:

See how nice and circular the drawstring is?
Here is a picture of the old string:

Now, I tied each end into a knot, so it would not retreat back into the pants during laundering, and to make tying the pants easier. Here's what it looks like:

Here is a clip where Rener Gracie teaches some methods for feeding the drawstring through the pants.



Final product:

The final result is a pair of gi pants that cinches up nicely. No bunching. The string stays tied. It unties easily, and the pants loosen up almost as easily as they do without a string. It looks just fine. My students did not notice at all.

Final results picture:

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