If you’re a fan of tech, if you obsess over everyday carry or are particular about your style, you’ve likely heard of Drop. Drop sells products from respected brands across an array of interests ranging from mechanical keyboards to hi-fi audio, knives and more. It’s unique in that it not only collaborates with esteemed names, but also with its own community of members, self-professed obsessives, enthusiasts and, lovingly, nerds. Today, Drop’s latest release takes on the denimhead community with the Ibara Slim Rinse Jeans.
While Drop has collaborated with venerated denim brands like Raleigh, Companion and Naked & Famous, this is its first solo jean. And unlike so many other startup denim brands, this isn’t a cookie-cutter pet project. “What we wanted to do was to make the ultimate enthusiast jean that was accessible to a bigger audience,” says Drop’s senior product manager of wearables John Webb. “And not just price-accessible, but wear-accessible, too.”
In Drop’s journey, they managed to find the Japanese factory making jeans for the world’s best brands. Located in the denim capital of Kojima, this factory is a go-to for runway designers and niche denim brands alike. They also got one of the top male fit models to dial in the perfect fit. In this case, that fit is a relaxed slim fit with a medium rise. And through it all, Drop worked tirelessly with denim developers who’ve worked with the biggest jeans brands to develop a very specific denim, just for these inaugural jeans.
“You get the best of both worlds as far as the denim goes,” Webb says. “You get high comfort and high character from the beginning.” At 15 ounces, the fabric tips the scales more than your average pair (usually, this is about 12 ounces). That 25 percent extra beef is the first thing you’ll notice when you put them on. If a typical pair of jeans is a dress sock, these are more like a gym sock.
The heft is apparent, but it’s also surprisingly pliable from the get-go so it doesn’t feel like, in Webb’s words, a pizza box. That’s because the denim is woven at such a low tension. This makes the fabric more open and loose, resulting in a more comfortable jean from the beginning, unlike a fair amount of other jeans at this weight. While the low-tension weave is great for comfort, the denim punches above its weight and exhibits characteristics more in line with even heavier denim thanks to the yarns. Instead of aiming for a perfectly smooth denim that uses a uniform yarn width, Drop opted for a denim that has three different widths of yarn to give it a beautiful variance that will become even more pronounced with wear. In a sea of dull, lifeless denim, this is a breath of fresh air.