What Makes Our Belts So Special
The Design
Our belts are traditionally designed with hand stitching or hand beaten copper rivets securing a small but perfect range of buckles from a family owned foundry in Walsall. We have chosen both brass and nickel finishes with a couple of innovative mechanisms. The belts are hand cut with a generous ‘tongue’ leading away from the leading hole. The edges are hand finished with oak tools going back over a generation. The edge creases are created by hand.
The Leather
Our leathers are tanned in an English tannery and supplied by a family-owned company in Cheshire who hold a Royal Warrant to The Queen.
Leathers are chosen for their rich colours, strength, and comfort to wear. The vegetable tanned front faces have a gorgeously fine, consistently deep satin finish with hand tooled edging and lining. The dye runs through to the rear face of the belt with a natural finish. Leathers are a sturdy yet comfortable ¼” or ⅜” thickness.
This leather even smells gorgeous and has a very fine face finish.
The browns, blacks and natural leathers have deep, natural colours that will age beautifully and they accept oiling. The dyed leathers are all sustainable dyed-through vegetable tanned saddlery leather.
The Buckles
All buckles are hand cast, polished and made in a family owned foundry in the West Midlands that dates back to the 18th Century. The brass finish has a deep lustre that will keep for a lifetime. The bright nickel finish is hand plated in the foundry to a generous hard-wearing thickness.
There are traditional style buckles such as the West End or Bristol, and the unique Firemans Buckle which has it's place in history as the first quick release mechanism for a belt.
All of our stitched belts are made using the traditional ‘Double Handed Saddler’s Stitch’ at 8 stitches to the inch. The ‘Saddler’s Stitch’ is considered the strongest and most reliable method of stitching two pieces of leather together forming a significantly stronger seam than anything that has been sewn on a sewing machine.
With a ‘Saddler’s Stitch’, each line of the thread creates a single, continuously stitched seam. This is completely independent from the other line of thread, effectively giving the belt a double stitched seam.
Our makers use “Tiger thread”, which is regarded as the strongest and most reliable hand sewing thread available today. Using this thread and technique you can be sure that under normal circumstances it will last a lifetime.
The rivets are copper which are hand cut and hammered to leave an extremely strong finished belt with every one unique.
The Finished Product
Our new belts reflect our founding philosophy: Built in Britain. Built to last. Respecting heritage – with style. We are proud of this and it helps with local economies, especially in these hard and uncertain times.
We believe these are some of the very best belts available which can be worn formally or informally. Each belt should last for life if treated normally so we will guarantee them for life.