Dbrand's Latest Line of Skins Lets You Touch Grass Anywhere


In an age the place know-how dominates almost each facet of day by day life, one firm is discovering a intelligent solution to reintroduce a little bit of the pure world – with out giving up your devices. On April 1st, identified for pranks and parody, Dbrand took an uncommon strategy: it introduced a brand new product line known as Contact Grass. Whereas the timing sparked skepticism, the product is fully actual – and surprisingly standard.

The Contact Grass line is strictly what it seems like: skins that make your units feel and look like they’re coated in grass. Whether or not you’re seeking to soften the commercial really feel of a MacBook or need your PlayStation 5 to mix in with the garden, Dbrand has you coated – actually.

The gathering was made out there for over 100 completely different units at launch, together with the most recent iPhone fashions, MacBooks, handheld gaming consoles, and even gaming desktops. Unsurprisingly, the novelty rapidly attracted consideration. Whereas lots of the most in-demand skins offered out inside days, a variety remains to be out there instantly from the Dbrand web site.

Multiple iPhones, AirPods, and a Rubik’s cube are covered in green grass-like textured cases, arranged on a white background.

No, it’s not precise grass. As an alternative, Dbrand makes use of a way generally known as electrostatic flocking to connect hundreds of tiny polyethylene strands to every pores and skin. In the course of the course of, every strand is electrically charged to face upright, giving the phantasm – and texture – of a miniature area of grass in your system.

A green Xbox console resembling grass with two small robot figures playing soccer on top, next to soccer cleats and a soccer ball on artificial turf.

Roughly 25% of every strand is embedded right into a layer of adhesive, which prevents shedding and retains the floor surprisingly resilient. That design selection ensures the grass-like texture doesn’t find yourself caught to your fingers, lint curler, or the within of your bag.

A closed laptop with a green grass-like cover and a miniature lounge chair figurine sits on an orange outdoor table.

Nevertheless, this inventive materials did pose a couple of manufacturing challenges. Conventional die-cutting strategies risked damaging or pulling out the artificial grass fibers alongside the perimeters. To resolve this, Dbrand switched to laser reducing, which not solely ensures exact edges but in addition heat-seals the strands in place for added sturdiness.

A green round table with an orange trowel and a phone decorated with fake grass, rocks, and a small robot figure, next to a green-and-white lawn chair.

Regardless of the weird materials and further manufacturing steps, Contact Grass skins are priced equally to Dbrand’s different choices. Smartphone skins begin at $29.95, whereas bigger units like laptops and gaming consoles can vary as much as $69.95.

For extra data, go to dbrand.com.

Christian de Looper is a client tech reporter primarily based in sunny Santa Cruz, California. Christian has reported on tech for over 10 years, with bylines in lots of the largest tech publications, together with Digital Traits, Forbes, CNN Underscored, Tom’s Information, and PCMag. Christian has an obsession with how tech corporations stability nice design with nice performance, and lives at house along with his spouse, daughter, and cat.