Lets have a look at a "Genuine Leather" belt???

[kgg]

This belt is a "Genuine Dickies" belt made in China with "Genuine Leather". This belt was owned, used and abused on a daily bases by my brother. Lets be kind saying it has seen better days and he got every cents worth of value out of the belt that probably cost about $20 CAD. Needles to say I'm in the process of making him a new belt made out of "real" leather. The only piece that can be salvaged is the belt buckle which is actually pretty sturdy.

Now me being me I hated to just throw the belt in the garbage bucket. I first just had to dissect the belt to see how this inexpensive Chinese "Genuine Leather" belt was constructed.

i) The belt is 36mm wide and has a thickness of 4.96 mm, according to my mic.

ii) The edges are finished with some pliable plastic / rubber substance.

iii) The prong holes of the belt are spaced 24mm center to center, according to my mic.

iv) The belt did not have a loop keeper.

v) There is some form of 3mm thick plastic strip that was sewn in the middle of the layers, probably for stability and longevity of the belt holes, that was installed 18 mm before the first prong hole and extended 18mm after the last prong hole. These measurements were according to my mic.

vi) The body of the belt is made up of 6 layers of some form of fabric with the both sides being finished with what appears to me to be some form of fake leather. Each layer was stuck together along with the edge being stitched with V46 or maybe V69 thread. I could not find anything that to me would resembled some form of real leather, chrome tan or veg tan, in the construction of the belt.


I guess the bottom line is you get what you pay for.

kgg

Edited September 22, 2024 by kgg

[fredk]

How long did it last him?

My #1 got, at best, an average of 6 months from similar but not so good belts

[kgg]

17 minutes ago, fredk said:

How long did it last him?

I think around 3 or so months. Which means he would spend about $80 a year for belts.

kgg

[TonyV]

"genuine leather" can be anything from the very thinnest split they can manage, bonded to whatever fabric and plastic they can buy the cheapest (your brother's belt), to leather scraps and sanding dust ground up and glued together to make it, sort of like particle board is to wood.  As long as it has some portion of leather, they can call it "genuine, solid, or "real" leather are deceptive terms used to market trash..  Even "top grain" can be deceiving.  The "full grain" term is a bit more honest, but not always.  The industry needs a tune-up.

[dikman]

Wow, could be a case of "find the leather"!  Doesn't set a very high standard for a replacement, anything you make has to be better.

Reminds me of my Triumph "genuine leather" saddlebags, they started splitting at the folds and delaminating. As Tony said, reminded me of some version of leather particle board.

[kgg]

1 hour ago, TonyV said:

As long as it has some portion of leather, they can call it "genuine, solid, or "real" leather

And I thought the various sewing thread standards weren't confusing enough.

1 hour ago, TonyV said:

As long as it has some portion of leather, they can call it "genuine, solid, or "real" leather are deceptive terms used to market trash.

I wonder which marketing genius came up with those misleading terms. To me "genuine" meant authentic and "real" meant actual.

I also wonder how many people buy genuine leather and think they are getting decent leather?

kgg

Edited September 22, 2024 by kgg

[AlZilla]

I've only been at this leather thing a couple of years now. When I first started learning about leather types, one of the 1st things I read was that "genuine leather" and "real leather" are the lowest form of leather you can find. As above, they can be ground up leather formed into a sheet.

That said, I just bought about 20 belts from Walmart on clearance for 2 bucks each because they had nice buckles.  I'll incorporate the belts into some low wear/stress function. Maybe.

[kgg]

1 hour ago, AlZilla said:

That said, I just bought about 20 belts from Walmart on clearance for 2 bucks each because they had nice buckles. 

I like that. Keep the hardware and throw out the rest.

kgg

[RockyAussie]

Sorry mate but I would ditch the buckle as well. Tongues that are flat on the back like that one are terrible to the holes in even the best real leather belts.

 

[kgg]

2 hours ago, RockyAussie said:

Sorry mate but I would ditch the buckle as well. Tongues that are flat on the back like that one are terrible to the holes in even the best real leather belts.

Very good advice, thanks.

11 hours ago, dikman said:

Wow, could be a case of "find the leather"!

How true.

kgg

Edited September 23, 2024 by kgg