Men's Casual Belts

What makes a belt casual

Width and attitude. Casual straps run wider than dress straps, usually 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 inches, and the finish is allowed to have texture. Pebble grain, suede nap, a visible weave, contrast stitching, a brass buckle with some weight to it.

The practical test: if the belt is more interesting than your shirt, it's casual. That isn't a criticism. A khaki-and-navy striped surcingle belt is supposed to be the thing somebody notices.

The leathers

Suede calfskin is 23 of these belts and one of the best things you can put with denim or khaki. Ours come European sueded at $95 and Italian sueded at $98, in black, brown, navy, grey, slate, and whiskey. Keep them out of the rain and hit them with a brush now and then.

Bridle leather is firm, dense, and stuffed with wax and tallow during tanning. It starts stiff on purpose and softens into your shape over a year or two. This is the traditional English harness-shop leather and the one that ages best.

Harness leather is bridle's heavier cousin. Thicker, more rigid, originally cut for tack that had to hold a horse. If you want a belt your grandson complains is too stiff, this is it.

American bison has a big open pebble grain and stays soft from day one. It scuffs, and the scuffs look right.

Aniline leather is dyed all the way through with no pigment layer sitting on top. That means you see the actual grain, including the marks the animal earned, and it develops color with use faster than anything else here.

Kipskin is a finer, lighter hide than calf with a tighter grain. Our burnished kipskin runs $105 and the glazed kipskin $90.

Deertan glove leather at $100 is the softest strap we sell. It has almost no break-in period.

Tooled cowhide is stamped with a pattern by hand or press, western style. There are two of them.

Braided leather strips woven into a strap. The prong goes through anywhere in the weave instead of a fixed hole, so you get the exact fit you want. Some are braided with linen for summer.

The ones that aren't leather

Surcingle is the ribbed fabric strap with leather tabs at each end, at $65 the least expensive belt we carry. The name comes from the horse world: a surcingle is the wide woven girth that runs around a horse's barrel to hold a saddle or blanket. The belt borrowed the webbing and the name. Ours come solid in olive, red, navy, yellow, black, camel, and denim, and striped in navy and camel or navy and red. If you went to a school with two colors, this is the shape that carries them.

Italian woven cotton elastic at $90 has tan leather tabs and real stretch. Orange, yellow, pink, red, white. Summer belts, and they forgive a long lunch.

Mini woven cotton stretch at $110 is a tighter weave in royal blue, khaki, and red.

Linen shows up braided into six of these straps. It breathes better than leather and looks correct with seersucker in a way that leather never quite does.

About the buckles

Two things worth knowing before you order.

Several styles are listed as a double buckle option, which means you choose brass or nickel at checkout. Brass warms up a brown or tan strap. Nickel is the safer match for black, grey, and navy.

A few come with a four-piece buckle set, including the alligator embossed calfskin at $95. One strap, more than one look.

Most casual buckles here are heavier and more visible than what's on a dress belt. That's the point of the category.

Related

The narrow, quiet end of the line is in Dress Belts. If you want the full run of stretch and woven styles, see Woven & Stretch. School colors are in Game Day, and the exotic-pattern calfskins are in Embossed Exotic. Sizes past 44 are in Extended Sizes, and everything is in all belts.

Questions we get

What is a surcingle belt?
A ribbed woven fabric belt with leather tabs at both ends. The name comes from the surcingle, the wide webbing girth used to strap a saddle or blanket to a horse. The belt uses the same kind of webbing, which is why it's tough, washable, and inexpensive.

What's the difference between bridle leather and harness leather?
Both are firm vegetable-tanned hides stuffed with wax and tallow. Harness is thicker and stiffer, originally cut for tack that had to take real load. Bridle is slightly thinner and breaks in faster. Both outlast almost everything else in this collection.

How wide should a casual belt be?
Between 1 1/4 and 1 1/2 inches. Wider reads western, narrower starts to look like a dress belt on the wrong pants.

What size casual belt should I buy?
Two inches larger than your pant waist. A 34 waist takes a 36 belt.

Brass or nickel buckle?
Brass with brown, tan, cognac, and olive. Nickel with black, grey, and navy. Several styles here let you pick at checkout.

Can I wear a suede belt in the rain?
Try not to. Suede takes water badly and spots. If it gets wet, let it dry away from heat and bring the nap back with a suede brush.

What's the least expensive belt you carry?
Surcingle at $65. Woven cotton elastic starts at $90 and suede calfskin at $95.