More Belts

When I started yesterday's post, I was planning to write about belts, but I got off on the tie tangent. So, let's swing back: a well-made, durable belt will last a long time and get better with age. You should not wear the same belt every day for the same reason you shouldn't wear the same pair of shoes every day: you'll wear it out too quickly.

I try to have a number of different belts to choose from so I can wear one that's close in color to whatever shoes I'm wearing that day. (You know you are generally supposed to do this, right?) Also, I don't wear any gold jewelry or gold watches, so I try to avoid belts with brass or gold-colored buckles, which are not always so easy to find, so when I do I tend to stick with them. If you go to a department store like Macy's and look at the belts they sell, they are generally of mediocre quality, and most of them have cheesy-looking brass-colored buckles.

A few months back, I was placing an order with J. Crew and realized that I lacked a dark brown belt, specifically a more casual one that I could wear with jeans. I found a 1.5" belt in the sale section with a roller buckle in a gunmetal finish. This is wider than I normally like, but with jeans it works fine. It had rough, unfinished edges and had a reddish tinge to the color. It appears to be gone from their site, but it looks like this:

At the same time I was in need of a nicer black belt, having worn one out after many years. J. Crew happened to have one of those on sale too, and both were made in USA. The black belt is 1-3/16" wide and the leather has a matte finish, which makes it more suitable to wear with most casual and dressy outfits. This one is still available, and also comes in dark brown and caramel.

You can also find American-made belts at Allen Edmonds. They tend to be more expensive (mainly in the $100 range), but they are in the midst of their annual sale.