17 August 2012

Casual Belts for Summer

One of the things I do enjoy about summer is the more relaxed approach to dressing. Bright colors, fabrics like madras and seersucker, shorts, and boat shoes or canvas sneakers can be combined into comfortable and appropriate looks fairly effortlessly.

There are plenty of easy choices for belts, too. I'm not a huge fan of the striped ribbon belts; I do have one, but it's a subdued and somewhat contradictory black with a gray stripe. Embroidered belts are not for me. Rope-style belts are okay, and my light tan leather belt gets worn a lot, but I like having other options.

Earlier this year I signed up to join Frank & Oak, a members' retail site with a slightly different approach. Instead of short flash sales on designer items, the Montreal-based site designs their own pieces and puts them on sale for a month or two at a time, and nothing costs more than $50.

The July collection contained two belts I really liked, both made of thick, sturdy cotton webbing, one with D-rings and one with leather ends and a traditional roller buckle. In exchange for taking a survey I had received a coupon code, and went to the site to use it toward purchasing these belts, but they were both sold out in my size.

Toward the end of the month I got an email saying some items had been restocked, and then a couple of days later another email alerted me to a sale. The belts were almost half off, and were available in my size, so I ordered them. Even with shipping the total was less than $50, and these belts were hand-crafted in Montreal.
This light khaki goes with everything I wear in the summer.
And I'll be able to keep wearing this fatigue-green belt with dark brown leather trim right on into the fall, if I feel like it.

I'm very impressed with the materials and construction on these. If I had to make any sort of critical observation, they are a little too wide at 1.5" for the belt loops on some of my shorts. The width wasn't given on the site but I sent an email asking before I purchased, so I had an idea this might be an issue, but honestly I just felt these were too nice to pass up.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Nice looking d-ring belt. I picked up a reversible black/brown cotton web belt from the Gap a few years back for $6. I only use the brown side, but I love it and wear it more than my leather belts.