Elastic belts are free size and normally don’t tear at all. meaning they can last for life.
I am kind of surprised that they are not commonly recommended in the anti-consumption/ buy it for life communities. Despite the fact that replacing normal belts with them at scale would save the world shitload of resources that are spent on normal belts annually.
Side note: I don’t recommend wearing jeans or suit trousers on daily basis, as there is more durable options that can last for longer time.
Photo is for example, as this is a generic item.
Elastic ALWAYS breaks down and is made from polymers and nylon crap.
Horrible advice. Buy good quality leather and it lasts decades.
Shit advice OP.
Buy good quality leather and it lasts decades.
Where can I find these? Every time a belt wears out I buy a more expensive leather one looking for one that will last. I have not yet found one that stays in good enough shape to wear to work after a year of use. I’m buying new belts every year and moving last years belts to my home/rough jeans use.
A flea market. Find a local leather worker and they can make one super fast with good quality leather. “Genuine Leather” is one of the lowest quality leathers out there.
You’ll probably need to take care of it if you want it for work. Cleaning and conditioning it.
Personally, I avoid belts that are narrow, like 1" wide, as I think they like to twist more if they have to do a lot of lifting.
I’ve heard good things about NAB Leather, but have no personal experience.
What you want is single-piece full-grain leather about 10-12 oz weight. (This is a leather thickness measurement, not the weight of the belt.)
I find that trade shows (e.g, home/garden shows) often have a few vendors who make top quality belts.
I bought mine at artisan fairs, from leatherworkers. Been wearing it for more than five years now every day. It shows a bit of wear, but I think it will last at least another five
Best advice is to learn how to identify real leather vs laminated shit. Once you can tell by sight, smell, feel you can thrift great items. Also going to markets and craft fairs, you can stumble across artisan leather makers (but even then you gotta make sure they are using quality products)
I found my belt at a secondhand store. It did take some hunting before one turned up, but I can change the buckle on it if I want. I got it for extra cheap because it had snaps holding the buckle on originally, but one of the snaps was broken. It was an easy enough fix to remove the snaps and replace them with chicago screws, and it’s honestly a bit more durable with screws anyways.
I bought a traditional leather belt a few years ago from Hank’s Belts. They have a lifetime warranty on their belts, and so far is shows no sign of wear despite daily use. Most of your “department store” belts are made from leather “sawdust” glued together and they will not last since the glue breaks down. Leather itself will last a lifetime. There are several other small companies that make belts with a lifetime warranty. Often local “art fairs” will have some local craftsman who makes/sells belts that are also made of quality leather and will list a lifetime (but you need to know what to look for as some of them use the cheap “sawdust and glue” leather that won’t last.
I got tired of having to replace my daily wear belt every year and eventually I went to a local leather shop and bought a belt from them. It cost the exact same as the department store crappy belt, but it’s now been 18 years and I still have the same belt.
In fact, the belt outlasted the leather shop. I don’t know what I’ll do if something happens to my belt or my waist gets much larger.
Guess I’m shopping for a belt today!
Second Hanks
Leather belts tend to wear out at the holes and you’re always playing with too tight too loose.
Work dress/work belt I went with a Ratcheting one for pretty cheap on Amazon. Its like new 3y later. Def fake/cheap leather though.
For everyday, I got a nylon (?) Belt with a plastic latch clasp. It’s been 6y, like new. And it doesn’t set off metal detectors.
I bought two Grip6 belts like a decade ago, and they still show very little wear.
It’s a very simple design: a durable strap (no holes), and a buckle that’s just a solid chunk of metal (no moving parts).
I would highly recommend them at the prices I paid back then… But holy shit their prices have increased a lot. Still might be worth it as a BIFL, but still hard to justify for such simple parts.
Idk about this, dog. Elastic always seems to be the first thing to wear out on my clothes so I’m not excited to try it on a belt. My leather belts seem to be immortal, are you using good leather belts or cheap ones?
I’m still wearing the fabric belt I thrifted when I went vegan in college over twenty years ago. Elastic isn’t necessary, get a durable cotton or wool belt.
I usually recommend seatbelt belts to friends because they are highly adjustable and very long lasting. I picked up the black GM one over 20 years ago, it stayed with me when my weight fluctuated 50lbs up and back down again. It was extremely useful in my old physically active job, I can catch the corner of a box on the buckle and hold heavier weight a lot easier.
I love it so much, I bought the TMNT belt as soon as I saw it and because I looooove ninja turtles 😬
That turtles belt is radical.
It’s turned into my every day wear belt lol
Doesn’t the elastic eventually perish? I think I had one that died.
I was going to say… I’ve had an elastic belt that basically disintegrated when I pulled it out of the closet after not having worn it in 15 years (wore it for 5 years before that).
“For life”? No. Pretty long time? Probably.
I’ve been wearing one for three years. It’s just good.
three years is nothing though. the leather belt I am wearing is close to 10 years old. I do keep on the lookout for good belts though as sure this thing will wear out eventually since I wear use it every day.
These loose their elasticity over time, which is rather rapid in hot weather. I had a couple for summer, each lasted 2 seasons.
Real thick and plain leather lasts much longer (I have a hand - me - down I got 25 years ago that has distended and become ugly but works as intended), unless in wet weather where leather the requires a shitload of maintenance not to rot. Quality vegan leather lasts long from what I heard, but I have yet to go through the one I already own.
Quality “nylon” belts last rather long too if the metal parts are thick, but tend to either slip a bit or bite hard but damage the fabric. The ones that close over are the best, ones with the roller slip more. I prefer the ones made from cotton over nylon personally, as they are more confortable but last less.
Crap “leather” belts made of two thin leather strips with a padding inside don’t last very long, even higher quality ones.
Real jeans last long, but thick fabric with no elasthane whatsoever is dissapearing from usual stores as thinner with elasthane is easier to manufacture and fits “better”.
Elastic belts have rubber cores which very quickly degrade like the elastic in underwear.
The elastic in underwear lasts a lot longer if you don’t put them in the dryer. Unless you regularly enjoy the sound of a buckle hitting the drum over and over, it’ll last a while in a belt.
Elastic wears out.
Not BIFL.
I have one that has lost elasticity and has become warped, but I do think they’re better than traditional belts.
Interesting, I didn’t know they could lose elasticity. Maybe after more than 5 years of use?
All elastic material degrades with time and use, this can be made worse by environmental factors like heat or moisture.
A good quality leather belt will outlast any elastic one, quality leather belts are just harder to find nowadays.
I can’t tell from pictures, but I do not believe the belt in the picture is elastic. It looks like Nylon which isn’t elastic and should last for a long time. It will wear out, but with care should last for a lifetime. I’ve seen elastic belts similar to the above, and those the elastic will get old and wear out in 10-20 years. Belts like pictured can also be made of other fibers (both natural and synthetic), that are not elastic. Some of them will last longer than others - it is important to know what the belt is made of, not just the style.
I just started making my own belts. Most leather belts are made of thin veneer of leather. It might even be marketed as 'top grain leather" to make it seem special. Get whole grain leather.
I bought parts from one of the last Tandy Leather retail locations. Brought them home and used my hole punches I picked up at Harbor Freight for a different project and some grommets I got for a different project and made a belt. Out of pocket cost was maybe $16. That belt will last me decades.
In theory I could knit some belts with any number of sturdy materials like leftover metal cables but I have never felt the need.
Beware. It is hard to tell from pictures, but my guess is the leather that holds the buckle part on is a low quality leather that will not last for a lifetime. To make this a lifetime belt you may have to replace the buckle a few times.
Yep. That part tears all the time. When that happens you can still use the belt by tying it, if you have enough length, but really you need to re-affix the buckle or buy a new belt.
Or buy a belt with a better buckle. They exist, but you have to know what you are looking for.
Do you have any recommendations? Cause I go through one of these probably every two or three years.
As I said elsewhere, I bought my last belt from Hank’s belts. 100 year warranty leather belt. That is a different style belt from the one in this topic though and so perhaps not what you want.
If you are looking for the style of this picture a web search for “lifetime warranty belt” finds several options that are this style - but since I’ve never heard of the company until they showed up in a search I cannot recommend any. Do some investigation on the company and decide which one to risk buying from.
So what’s more durable than jeans?
Work pants with aramid stitching.
You probably want something a little more baggy, jeans can be snug around the thighs and that wears out the material fast. If you have the crotch fail then that is your problem.
There is also the material used, elastane and tencel/rayon have low tensile strength and wear out fast while polyester and especially nylon are very strong. Recycled materials are also weaker than they otherwise would be because the recycling process cuts them up. In general 100% cotton is good and I would give blends a close look. Wool and linen and ramie are all pretty uncommon in jeans and jeans adjacent things but despite their many other positive qualities they aren’t super strong; wool has a low tensile strength and linen and ramie tend to fail when bent a lot.
Also consider the weight and the weave, thinner material is going to wear through faster while thicker stuff is going to be tougher. Also a reverse sateen weave should last a little longer, it is like the twill leave in denim but oriented sideways so everything is smooth while going forward (and not smooth up/down but what can you do) so it catches and snags and stuff less.
So you will probably have a better time with some baggy or at least roomy reverse sateen cotton-poly or 100% cotton military fatigues. Or other pants with those qualities, just fatigues are common to see like that
Good luck
Cargo pants and pants made from polyester.
There’s quite a range of quality and durability in denim, but it can be extremely durable. It was associated with physical labor in the US for a long time and especially in its old West (cowboys, railway workers, etc). You can still find a pair of jeans that will last you the rest of your life and then be sold in a vintage store, but they’re not cheap. Cargo pants have a similar range but I think they’re typically made of duck canvas.
I do think these are preferable to normal belts, but every one I’ve worn with regularity has torn rather dramatically in the middle of the workday. One of them I had to replace with a power cable.
“He’s raggin on your cord, dude.”
