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Why Suede Belts Are a Better Bet Than Traditional Leather

They’ll keep your pants up but without the harsh look of the hide’s exterior.

collage of three suede belts courtesy

By Evan Malachosky

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Belts do more than simply keep your pants up. Sure, that’s no small task, especially if your pants are a little big, but they’re meant for more than that: Belts tie an outfit together, no matter whether you’re wearing a made-to-measure suit or a T-shirt and jeans.

But certain belts work better on certain occasions, any good stylist can confirm. So, when’s the right time to wear which type, you ask? Generally, you can wear whatever belt you want, whenever you want, so long as your shirt stays untucked.

Once you tuck your shirt in though, you let the world in on what’s hiding underneath: in this case, that’s your belt. As such, when the shirt’s tucked in, you should be more cautious about wearing a stuffy dress belt with tatty vintage jeans — and vice versa. A suede belt, however, works in almost any setting: when dressed up for a friend’s wedding or working at your bench. Here’s why and which we stand by.

Products in the Guide

What to Consider

Belt Widths

Most belts are between 1.25 and 2 inches wide. Generally, formal belts are slimmer while casual belts are bigger — but these rules are oft broken if you dress more avant garde or Western.

Most jeans, for example, can’t accommodate a belt wider than 1.75 inches — that’s as wide as the belt loops are. Dress pants, on the other hand, often have tighter loops, which makes even a 1.5-inch belt feel tight.

Belt Size

Don’t order the same size belt as you do pants. Simply put, if you’re a 34 waist, you need a size 35 or 36 belt. Your belt should be one to two sizes bigger than your actual waist. This lets you fine tune the belt to fit your waist, no matter the pants you’re wearing. Generally speaking, though, you want less tail — extra belt tucked into the loopstay — on a dress belt than you do a casual one.

Belt Color

Traditionalists could argue over this topic for days on end, but you can go one of two ways when it comes to belt color: match it to your shoes or pick something completely out of the ordinary.

If you’re dressing up — i.e. conforming to a dress code — it’s best to keep your belt subdued. It doesn’t have to match exactly, meaning you could wear a brown suede belt with a similar shade of brown leather shoes, but wearing something that obviously contrasts will make you undone, not bold.

Belt Buckles

The buckle is what keeps the belt together. It can be simple or ornate depending on your style and how you’ll wear it. If you tuck your shirt in, you’ll want something with a little more substance. If it’s simply there to keep your pants up — i.e. your T-shirt will cover it anyway — it can skew simple.

  • Frame buckle
  • Plate buckle
  • Snap buckle
  • D-Ring
  • Snap buckle
  • O-Ring

When to Wear a Suede Belt

suede belt
A black zip hoodie, raw denim and a textured tan belt: a sweet combo.
Evan Malachosky

Formal vs. Casual

Ask the tailors in your favorite suit shop and they’ll tell you a traditional leather belt is the only belt you should wear with a suit — or any formal outfit for that matter. But this simply isn’t true anymore. As we recognized at New York Fashion Week, the suit is evolving, and the tried and true rules that applied to earlier generations no longer make sense, thanks in no small part to changes in the way we work, eat and socialize.

Dress codes are disappearing; so too are in-person meetings, at least for some workers; and the social clubs that used to require a shirt and tie to enter are eager to accept sweatpant-wearing members, as long as they can still foot the bill. Needless to say, wear a suede belt if you want to, when you want to.

Tecovas Suede Belt

  • Width: 1.375 inches
  • Sizes: 32-44
  • Color(s): 3
  • Buckle: Frame

The holes on Tecova’s trusty suede belt, which comes in three colors, sit an inch apart, offering you decent customization when it comes to fit. The best part about this belt, though, is how comfortable it is. It’s flexible but strong, soft but plenty rugged. (It’s waterproof, for example.) It’s just right for being worn with jeans or work pants, but I’d probably steer clear of pairing this with a suit unless the suit has a western slant.

Loro Piana Suede Belt

  • Width: 1.37 inches
  • Sizes: EU 85-110
  • Color(s): 10
  • Buckle: Frame

A quintessential suede belt, Loro Piana’s high-end suede belt clocks in at over $500 — crazy, sure… for some. The brand stakes its legacy on its materials, running a separate business altogether that caters to some of the most beloved brands on the market. (Every brand from Brooks Brothers to Supreme uses Loro Piana materials.) That means you’re getting the best stuff, for a direct-from-the-factory price: fine Italian, leather-backed suede in an array of colors, all with silver-tone hardware.

Mango Suede Belt

  • Width: 1.3 inches
  • Sizes: S-XL
  • Color(s): 4
  • Buckle: Frame

No good belt comes cheap, but they shouldn’t all be $500. This option from Mango is by no means cheap, though, at least not in construction. The belt is 100 percent bovine leather and the brand will add extra perforations free of charge in any of its stores.

Chisos Handcrafted Belt

  • Width: 1.5 inches
  • Sizes: 30-46
  • Color(s): 3
  • Buckle: Frame

Chisos’s handcrafted roughout leather belt is the ideal width for vintage jeans, and the texture will only enhance over time, meaning this a belt that’ll get both softer and more textural with time. No, it isn’t technically suede — suede is the center cut, roughout is the inside layer — but it looks like it, but even more textured. Plus, since the holes are only .75 inches apart, not a full inch, it’s easier to find your perfect fit.

J.Crew Italian Suede Belt

  • Width: 1.25 inches
  • Sizes: 30-42
  • Color(s): 2
  • Buckle: D-ring

The best mall buy, for sure, if you don’t have access to a nicer department store like Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus or even Macy’s, J.Crew’s simple Italian Suede Belt hangs tough with even the finest Italian labels, thanks in no small part to how many of these belts they can stand to order at one time. That oftentimes means you’re getting higher quality goods for less, even if stigma implies the opposite.

The construction is a little confusing, though — its exterior is suede, while the backing is vegan leather. A pointless addition, I’d argue, unless this vegan leather is simply a treated synthetic. It doesn’t feel bad, though, I found — way closer to real leather than plastic.

Brooklyn Tailors x Saddler’s Dress Belt

  • Width: 1.18 inches
  • Sizes: 75-100 cm
  • Color(s): 1
  • Buckle: Frame

Saddler’s is a little-known belt-making brand from Italy. But its belts aren’t available anywhere outside Brooklyn Tailors’s McCarren Park-adjacent store. The brand’s Creative Director, Daniel Lewis, spotted them on a trip to Japan. The store owner pointed him directed to Italy.

“Saddler’s belts was established in the 1960s and has been producing fine leather belts with the utmost level of skill and hand craftsmanship ever since,” he says. “Despite this incredible expertise, heritage, and quality, Saddler’s is virtually unheard of outside of Italy (they have a solid following in Japan) and is sold nowhere else in the USA other than Brooklyn Tailors.”

Luca Faloni Classic Suede Belt

  • Width: 1.3 inches
  • Sizes: 30-40
  • Color(s): 9
  • Buckle: Frame

Like many of the other belts on this list, Luca Faloni’s classic suede belt is made in Italy using Italian suede. Each one is hand-stitched, too, by generational craftsmen in Bergamo, a city northeast of Milan. They have loads of colors, and they all mesh really well with dress pants and sneakers if you’re someone who has to look put together at work but not definitively formal.

Beckett Simonon Nelson Belt

  • Width: 1.29 inches
  • Sizes: 32-42
  • Color(s): 3
  • Buckle: Box frame

Buying a belt from Beckett Simonon is a smart, brain-space-saving idea. How so? If you buy a belt from a brand that also makes shoes, you’re one step closer to finding a match for your belt, if you know what I mean. The brand makes it easy to find shoes that fit perfectly with your suede belt. Both are made from the same materials in the same colors.

Charles Tyrwhitt Made in England Suede Belt

  • Width: 1.38 inches
  • Sizes: 32-42
  • Color(s): 1
  • Buckle: Open Frame

Charles Tyrwhitt uses responsibly sourced Italian leather for its supple suede belt, which is made in England. Its buckle separates from the pack with its open frame design, a long rectangle with no discernible back. This lends the belt a modern edge, making it fit to pair with a performance dress shirt and smart chinos.

SuitSupply Braided Suede Belt

  • Width: 1.5 inches
  • Sizes: 32-42
  • Color(s): 1
  • Buckle: Frame

Material doesn’t need to be where your experimentation ends. A braided suede belt doubles down on textural elements, making it something that stands out with casual and formal outfits alike. This lighter-colored iteration would work with a tan summer blazer and suit bottoms or with blue jeans and a camp collar shirt. It’s your call.

Rag & Bone Suede Belt

  • Width: 1.25 inches
  • Sizes: 30-40
  • Color(s): 1
  • Buckle: Frame

For the streetwear-leaning, this Rage & Bone belt is altogether simpler, albeit even a little more modern, than the other options on this list. It’s a brighter, oranger tone, with shinier silver hardware and an etched logo on the buckle. Made in Italy as well, this option fits right in on city streets, with its slimmer design and wide array of sizes.

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