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 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 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 by kgg

[Doc Reaper]

Hi guys, it's been awhile since I commented. We all know that in this day and age we have words that are "installed" in to marketing that give advertising to give the feel of "genuine" (opposite of honest) to fool the masses into believing it is a quality item! Like when news reporters comment that Trudeau or camala are genuine candidates  (meaning low end or trashy) some will believe they can trust that installed politician and they will not question the motives

     When you hear the term "Vegan Leather" the smarter folks will know it's plastic table cloth material or some type of highly processed lawn clippings. If you purchase a Walmart belt and you have a small waist that belt is designed to last a specific length of time (like 12 weeks). If your belt has to work harder its life is considerably shorter (6 weeks if you're lucky) and those Walmart belts cost about $12. Buying a real leather (not genuine) is penny wise (not the clown) dollar smart. Most folks don't understand that "genuine" is the bottom of the barrel or (for a term we can all understand) garbage! 
 

And for our guys that make belts or straps, any type of layering makes things stronger (like plywood) and more efficient. Sandwiching a length of genuine leather between two top grain lengths will definitely make it last longer.

and when punching holes in belts try using an oval shape instead of a round one. The buckle tongue will lie down better and not poke straight out. 
 

And remember all globalist make genuine politicians!!!

Edited September 23 by Doc Reaper

[fredk]

12 hours 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'll incorporate the belts into some low wear/stress function. Maybe.

Years ago I got a clearance lot of maybe 100 belts from a factory closure (no buckles). At the time I was making toy shields  so I cut then up to make hand & arm straps on the shields

[Herbie]

1 hour ago, Doc Reaper said:

and remember all globalist make genuine politicians!!!

[Handstitched]

One belt I have in my collection, is a cheapy "genuine leather "belt "Made in China"  from an op shop, out of curiosity I cut into it...it was cardboard in the centre, hardly a surprise   

I have peeps bending and  sniffing my belts at the markets to see if they are the real deal.

HS

[kgg]

13 hours ago, Handstitched said:

One belt I have in my collection, is a cheapy "genuine leather "belt "Made in China"  from an op shop, out of curiosity I cut into it...it was cardboard in the centre, hardly a surprise   

Why that doesn't surprise me.

13 hours ago, Handstitched said:

I have peeps bending and  sniffing my belts at the markets to see if they are the real deal.

I guess they got sucker once or twice.

kgg

[nstarleather]

Quote

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.

This is the part that blows me away...so much labor...6 layers.   Like so easy to just one or two and use decent material...it shows that they must pay next to nothing or have it all done with machines laminating huge sheets.

[fredk]

What I found with the 100 ex-factory belts was that it is all done by automatic machinery, in one continuous length. Cut to size length and holes punched

I had one 'belt' that was about 10ft long. It was seemingly the tail end of a roll

[nstarleather]

23 minutes ago, fredk said:

What I found with the 100 ex-factory belts was that it is all done by automatic machinery, in one continuous length. Cut to size length and holes punched

I had one 'belt' that was about 10ft long. It was seemingly the tail end of a roll

That's crazy...such waste but with pennies for material I guess it doesn't matter.

[fredk]

With the ex-factory, which was in Carrickfergus, 12 miles from Belfast, 'belts' were in various stages of completion. So by studying them I came to see how they were made

[Handstitched]

On 10/1/2024 at 1:13 AM, fredk said:

I had one 'belt' that was about 10ft long. It was seemingly the tail end of a roll

Thats one hell of a waist line 

HS

[dikman]

Too many donuts!

[fredk]

In the last week I've seen some people that size, at least!

[Northmount]

That would have been a little long for my grandfather.  Years ago he asked me for a simple belt - 48" waist.  Made the overall length 64".  It just met, tip to buckle.  That was the only long blank I had, so he was out of luck.  That's when I learned to get real measurements for belts.

 

[toxo]

We all know that a £15 belt or a £20 bag is as far removed from "real" leather as it's possible to get but most of Joe public don't know that. The only way to change things is legislation which is highly unlikely and even if there was such legislation how would you police it?

[mishakhan]

On 9/22/2024 at 2:48 PM, TonyV said:

"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.

i have experienced that whenever I buy a belt