Cool Design: Automatic SlideBelt
Yet another cool introduction to an awesome fashion trend from my good friend, Franco Uomo: the automatic slidebelt. My understanding is that this came from an Eastern European design around WWII. Instead of having holes in the leather, a notched rail system is on the backside allowing a catch on the buckle to slide and lock along the notches. The great thing about this design is that it doesn’t mar the beautiful leather on the front of the belt and isn’t prone to the cracks and splits that holes form over time. Even better, it gives you very fine control over the belt measurement as you have an array of notches to increase/decrease. It’s also much quicker to buckle and release. Why don’t they make all belts like this? I gotta’ say, I’m gonna’ have a hard time going back to the traditional hole-in-belt design. Thanks, Franco!
January 8, 2012 @ 23:22
Do you know where I can get a nice silver slidebelt buckle? I have an alligator leather belt with the ratchet inlay as shown in your photo.
Any recommendations?
Thank you,
Joe
January 9, 2012 @ 02:23
My good friend, Franco, has a lot of different belt buckles and if you don’t like what you see he’ll try and track one down that has your personal touch. Visit him at: francouomo.com. If you are in the Bay Area, stop by his store at Santana Row. Let me know how your hunt goes. If Franco isn’t able to hook you up, I have some other ideas on where you can look.
June 13, 2012 @ 20:51
I’m very interested in getting one of these ratchet belts. So apparently you can have a bunch of different buckles and they easily clip on and off to swap out? Now that you’ve been using it for a few months, any downside?
June 20, 2012 @ 04:59
Can say after months of using it that these are my belts of choice. No downside that I’ve experienced yet. Already outlasting and standing up much better than my traditional belts that have holes that tend to crack and crease because of the way you traditionally tighten such belts. This is inclusive of my most expensive belts with the finest leather and construction. Yes, you can easily swap out buckles making it such a better investment as far as accessorizing.