By Joshua Barrow
I got to say I love this gi after the first wear. Very light, great fitting for a stocky guy, and a calm cool look.
I bought the Prana Druid gi after buying the Prana Abbott – which to me had the coolest look available last year. Being a new brand, made in Pakistan I am always leary of quality issues, but the Abbott is STRONG… So I thought, why not. I had just sold a team mate my Ying/Yang set and needed a white gi.
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When I got the gi, it came shipped in a USPS box. Ziplocked in the bag, I think. Honestly my wife took the first glance at it. But I can say normally the “new gi” smell is pretty hardcore, but I didn’t smell anything. (I got a second one surprisingly as a gift from her and opened it as well). Seems standard these days how they packaged it, no worries. What wasn’t standard was the lack of chemical smell..
Design
I am the kind of guy that likes to wear classy yet flashy stuff.. Robert Graham golf shirts, you know the kind of guy. So this design appeals to me. The logo is big enough to stand out, but not crazy enough to draw too much attention. The stitching (black) on the white seems to make it “pop”.. the branding on the inside of the lapel says ____ of 200, wish it had an actual number. That would have been cool. A bright white fabric, let's hope that the Druid doesn’t get dingy yellow or blood stains too quick …
Read more: How to Wash and Shrink Your BJJ Gi 101
Jacket
The sleeves are perfect for me, being 250lbs and 5’9 (yes, I know, lose weight). The top of the jacket on most gi’s fits fine, but the length is always off. The a2h cuts work when I am in shape, but don’t do well when I am in my post-wedding/post remodel out of shape look. The underarms are snug, but not tight. Not a lot of bagginess here. To me its slightly better fitting than the Abbott.
The lapel on it is firm, yet soft. Doesn’t annoy me – heck I didn’t even notice it was there.
Pants
Now here is the best part. These pants rock. A hair long, but the fit the hips and almost seem to have a lower crotch so that you can actually move around in them. I cant say enough about the pants. Maybe I am just into ripstop pants, but they give you a feeling of free to move. My only knock is that the black string slips knots (I fish a LOT and know knots/etc).. So you train and end up retying the pants initially for the first part of class.. At least that is what it seems to happen that or the material stretches substantially. Either way not that big of a deal to me.
Only issue I had while on the mats with it, was that my team mates are studs and in my 4th match I got smoked… Gi’s can’t provide endurance yet?
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Overall
These guys are awesome to deal with. I bought a new house while waiting for my gi, sent them a note on Facebook, gi came to the right place. My wife tells me that she ordered it before the pre-order was even available via email. Product rocks, the service and buying process was easy.
I'm a happy guy. Good thing I got 2 of them!
