Mens Leather Belts or Bonded Leather Belts

This seems to be a subject that crops up every week.

In the shop we're often asked the question "Are these belts leather?".

Now the shop is full of the aroma of leather, you can't avoid it unless you have a heavy cold or you work with it every day.

There are also rolls of leather hides, in the shop, that we cut down into belt straps and then make into belts.

Despite the fact that you can see the hides and smell the leather, we are still asked this question. "Is it leather?"

The reason is ...

Bonded leather.

You see, bonded leather consists of one thin layer of leather (stamped maybe with the words "real leather") plus more layers of synthetic stuff! But if the manufacturer hasn't labelled the belt to show what it is made of (like they have to with shoes) then you might be thinking that the whole belt is leather.

Poor labelling isn't really the problem either.

It's what happens to these bonded leather belts. And we hear this almost every week. "I bought this belt a while back (not from you) and look, it's fallen apart".

When we say "That's because it's not leather" they point to the words "real leather" printed inside the belt.
Yes, that layer might be real leather, but the rest of it isn't. Look at the other layers flapping about - they're man-made!

So that's when they get a bit more interested in mens leather belts made from solid leather.

They don't have to buy a new belt. If the buckle is special for a particular reason we can often replace the broken strap with a solid leather strap.

And a solid leather belt strap won't split, delaminate, disintegrate, break or fall apart (unless you let the dog play with it). It will just get a bit tired after a few years - so you wear it in the garden or when doing a bit of diy.

That's years, not months or 1 year. Solid leather belts last for years. Which means money saved compared to buying a belt that disintegrates and then having to buy another.

We can't say that every bonded leather belt falls apart. But we do know that it happens to enough people for them not to want to repeat it. Proper labelling would help.

In case you're wondering...
We don't sell bonded leather belts.

No synthetics.
Just long-lasting solid leather.

We've Squidoo'd ourselves

Have you messed about with Squidoo yet?

This is their logo so you know how to recognise them. (We're not on some affiliate program by the way).

Squidoo is great fun but shocking how you lose time on there.

I created a lens (which is a kind of web-page) and did a quick bit of research too.

Two hours later, there I was, buried in werewolf mythology!

Having been accused in the past of being single minded about things (not one-track minded, which is entirely different) it seems this interweb thingammy can easily put your brain in butterfly mode. Flitting about endlessly looking for the best bits of (information) nectar.

Mad.

Anyway - there we are - Worldbelts Squidoo'd.

Sheriff Star or US Marshall Belt Buckle

It's all gone a bit wrong these days. My childhood was built around movies like war films and westerns.

We had pistols that fired caps. These came in green or red rolls (with little black dots of powder) that you loaded into your sixshooter and put in your holster.

Grubby knees, cowboy hats, really bad american accents, plastic cowboys that came to bits so you could put their arms and heads on back to front.

There were plastic horses you couln't paint cos they were all greasy from your fingers. There were forts and good guys and bad guys and Sheriff badges.

Today...
Kids can't buy plastic guns any more. Gunpowder caps are probably subject to Health and Safety red tape and the (original) milky bar kid's ridden off into the sunset.

But we can still pretend to be a US Marshal or Sheriff (or a Texas Ranger). We've got a great sheriff star belt buckle for this.

There's no lettering on this polished metal star, so you can wear it and pretend to be whoever you want to be - the sheriff of Tombstone or the Deadwood Marshal.

Don't think you need to go with the face hair though. Some of those dudes grew some serious moustaches!

Skull belt buckle (that doesn't grin)

Bit gruesome this post!

While I was updating the info on this skull belt buckle it struck me that we (nearly) see skulls every day.

A face is just thin layer of skin, muscles n stuff. And behind that is a skull. Yikes.

While we're chatting about skulls (time for a rant)...

You read in a spooky novel about grinning skulls. They don't grin. There's nothing to grin with. It's the lips and muscles that do the grinning and a skull doesn't have lips, or muscles. Maybe a zombie might (if its lips haven't fallen off), but then that's a zombie head, not a zombie skull. I know it's just poetic license. Doesn't stop it being wrong.

I feel better now.

So anyway, this skull buckle has no lips or muscles but its jaw does open and close, which is neat.

Nautical Star Belt Buckle in 7 colour options

Kind of apt that I've just added the nautical star belt buckle on another wet day. If this rain keeps up we'll be needing an ark. (I've got two robins and two pigeons in the garden - that's a start).

Anyway… Time for a new buckle.

This one has started off a new category for worldbelts.co.uk - Star Belt Buckles. Not the movie kind though. The photo here shows the newest buckle. It's a frame (decorated with scrolls) and a five point star, all in black with a colour highlight which you choose.

If you look around on the internet you'll see this star is just like the tattoo, which is similar to the star on a nautical compass (although that has 8 points).

Whatever its origins, this star belt buckle is a popular choice in the shop.

06 Aug 09: And now we have a total of 7 of these buckles:-

Red & Black

Blue & Black

White & Black

Pink & Black

Red Glitter & Black (pictured)

Silver Glitter & Black

Gold Glitter & Black

The Joker has arrived. No not THE Joker.

Hi again

Our collection of playing card buckles has just gone up by one (well two actually because the Jack of Clubs went on last week). We've now got a Joker Belt Buckle.

No, not THE Joker as in Batman. This is a court jester with a silly (not scary) grin.

This chap is all tricked out in yellow, blue and red.

The jester's hat has got the required bells dangling on the end of the three err... pointy bits. He's wearing hose (tights) and a jacket that just about covers his modesty.

The pointy shoes are a bit bonkers. Good excuse not to do the washing up - can't reach the sink!

And then there's the mini-jester's head on the stick. A spoof sceptre perhaps for the royal performances. Or maybe a tickling stick (like Ken Dodd).

This joker looks like he's just made something disappear from his left hand ... or maybe it's just a pose made for dramatic effect.

Anyway he's the final addition to our playing card belt buckle collection.

Worldbelts

Celtic knots are timeless

Let's set the scene...
Mists rolling down green hills, the cool, damp air laden with scents of autumn, woodsmoke and fallen leaves, a fox yelping in the distance and Enya's haunting voice singing of ancient lands.

All that just from the word Celt? OK so Keats has nothing to worry about with prose like this so let's move on.

There are three circles at the top of this article.
The one on the left is my simplified version of the Celtic Cross.
When the Celts got Christianity, the cross became modifed with a longer leg and became known as the Celtic Christian Cross. Makes sense. Incorporates what was already in use and sort of overwrites the original pagan meaning. That's the middle symbol.
Drop the longer leg altogether and you get the symbol on the right. I doubt that the ancient Celts or early Christians used it - it's the Transport for London logo!

Have you ever tried drawing one of these knots? It's hard enough with just a single line - as soon as you try to make it any particular thickness it gets incredibly difficult. Looks more like spaghetti! There are even whole books that teach you how to draw this pattern.

And it seems we've laid claim to this type of endless cord design, even though there are different versions of it all over the world. (Admittedly some are a bit more angular than ours). Today then, it belongs to the Scots, Welsh, Cornish and Irish (and their ancestors, the ancient Celts). That includes me then as I'm three eighths Irish!

Celtic knots are ancient pattern that's been included in manuscripts and stone crosses, along with stylised beasties from celtic mythology and today you can wear this ancient artwork around your waist on a celtic belt buckle.
They make great gifts too, but then I would say that wouldn't I? :-)