General Information on Belt Construction
We use thick supple vegetable tanned leather (top) VS a standard mass-produced leather belt (bottom)
Our leather loops are created with the same leather as our belts. They are carefully measured out from a firm piece of leather. Each end is thinned and overlapped with each other. Two needles and thread are passed through each hole into both layers of the loop. This makes it almost impossible for the loop to ever break at the stitching. Our loops are also correctly fitted for each individual belt strap- did you know such a thing existed? Yes, there are "rules" for traditional leather strap work. Too big a loop and it looks sloppy. Too small a loop and you'll struggle to thread it though.
Some companies advertise their loops as " hand stitched". The example shown above is what you typically get. Yes, it's technically "hand stitched" and it'll work... for a while. Personally, I would just save the trouble and use staples
This is the most common method of loop construction. You'll find it in the vast majority of belts both custom and off the rack. 1 or 2 (depending on the width) steel, brass or plated staples hold the butted ends of the loop together. While it saves a significant amount of time and labor costs, the consumer ends up paying for it in the end. They are notorious for breaking and pulling apart. Nothing is more annoying than a belt with a broken loop and hanging billet end!
Buckle ends on my Dress belts are stitched in place, again, by hand, down either side of the strap.
The "sewn across" construction method, popular and trendy among many smaller makers as well as mass produced ones. The Cardinal Sin of strap work... sewing straight across a leather strap significantly weakens it; reducing the life of your belt. It acts just like the perforations in a piece of notebook paper. In addition to weakening an otherwise nice piece of leather, the ends are wound around the outside causing unnecessary and premature wearing of the thread. You will find this done even on more expensive belts, as well as dog collars and horse tack.
My belts are stamped and/or tooled with high quality hand tools, one impression at a time. While expensive and time consuming, the impressions are much deeper and clearer than you'll find on a mass-produced belt. Factories use machines with rollers. Each roller is the width of a belt strap and has the pattern embossed on it. The straps are placed in the machine and the rollers, along with pressure, create the design on it. After constant use, the rollers start to show wear- hence the designs are lighter on the leather.
How to measure for a belt
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