The Leather

The leather used to make your belt is full bridle veg-tan cow hide, which today is produced almost exclusively for the saddler, in Great Britain.

As the best raw material for belting (strong enough to harness a horse) it is rarely, if ever, found in the high street or department store. Per square foot, this quality of leather is too expensive for a belt manufacturer to incorporate and yet still be competitive with the plethora of belts coming in from China, Pakistan, Turkey and Spain.

Instead, belt manufacturers must rely on finding any ingenuity to compete and in this ambition comparable quality is inevitably sacrificed.

All full bridle saddlers’ leather comes in a waxed finish both sides and can have a difference in thickness in any one hide varying from 2.5 mm to 4.5 mm.

For hand making belts this is a blessing since 2.5 mm doubled gives 5 mm total thickness when wrapped around to capture the buckle and is therefore consistent then with the rest of the belt strap.

However, these variations would provide a nightmare for a CNC driven automated belt making business because of the natural differences in tolerances.

The waxed finish protects the hide from colour staining on the front face. Once cut, both top and bottom (full length) edges must be bevelled and then sealed so that the exposed fibres are coloured and waterproofed. The wax therefore provides a barrier against any minor error in applying this edge slicking stain, which is a non-toxic water based acrylic formula.

Based on the amount of wax that the plough gauge picks up in hand cutting just one hide, that too would soon foul up automated machinery - and down time adds to the production costs.

Today, though, there are still a few retail outlets that provide their customers with belts made from this quality of harness leather, which has always been the material for the traditional British belt. They can be found in gentleman’s outfitters long since catering to the Armed Services with civilian clothes and to the country set who still appreciate the value of quality. Expect to pay three times the wholesale prices quoted here - justifiably because with care they can last a lifetime.