Which direction do you wear a belt?

[RSC]

Thanks, all. Interesting responses.

On looking into this further, the belt is similar to or maybe called by some a rigger's belt, and regulations in the US Army, Navy, and Coast Guard specify that the belt is to be worn with the tip end to the left.

I've decided at least for now to thread this belt to the right so that the tip end is on the left, the same way that I wear an ordinary leather belt. It feels wrong putting it on, but it's only for a moment, and I don't have to walk around all day feeling that I have the tip end on the wrong side. I guess it's better to start out wrong and end up right than to start out right and end up wrong.

I'm not a fan of the somewhat tactical look in black, but my wife thinks it looks pretty good, black goes with anything, and I didn't like the other two colors that the store had in stock. Most importantly, and why I got the belt, it seems to hold my pants up very well. I went on a good long hike today and had no trouble. It definitely looks better than sagging pants.

 

[ajkel64]

I am right handed and I used to feed my belt in from the right hand side. The problem that I had years ago was that when I worked for the Government way back in the 1980's I used to have to wear a holster. I wore it on the right hip. Which meant that I had to take the belt almost all the way off to put the holster on. I quickly changed to feeding it in from the left so that I only had to take the belt off a couple of belt loops to loop it onto the holster.

 

[musicman1951]

Thread every belt to the left. That is the correct way because that's the way I do it. It's true that the tail of the leather belt will go to the left and the tail of the web belt will go to the right.

That's just the way it goes (for the obvious reason stated above).

 

[BigJ]

Great thread!

Guess that I am ’ambidexterous’ as I have threaded my belt in both directions over the years!

 

[Bhugo]

Buckle on left side

 

[trentr]

Never even imagined any other way than left/counter clockwise. My mind is now blown and I will also be checking belts.

 

[Type1]

There was a time, certainly in the UK, when there were male and female ways of doing things. Buckle on the left and tail on the right was male. Reverse was female. Mens jeans have the button or stud on the right, button hole on the left. Jacket zips for men were male half with zipper puller on the right. Female jackets are the reverse.

I once had a M65 jacket that had the zip reversed. Maybe that's standard in the US. No idea why these things were/are manufactured different for male and female. Nonsense if you ask me.

I would say regarding the zips that it is still the case.

 

[Type1]

Buckle on left side

+1

 

[cleanshaved]

Buckle on left side as well.

 

[RigelDust]

The correct direction of course.

 

[RigelDust]

The correct direction of course.

Because... if it were the other way it would be upside down.

 

[magoo75]

Buckle on left side

Buckle on the left and not in the front was the cool / hip way us teenagers wore it back in the 1950 ‘s . I don’t see it done anymore.

 

[Neil-O]

Back in the 70’s buckles were a big thing. My sister worked at a place in the mall called “The Buckle Gallery” and over a couple of years I amassed a small collection of brass buckles sporting graphics of Coca Cola, rock groups, etc. All of those buckles were designed to attach to a leather belt with snaps. The belt HAD to go left/counterclockwise to make sure the buckle did not display upside down. It never occurred to me that one would want to go right/clockwise. That just seems very “wrong” to me.

 

[Whilliam]

I wear mine horizontally. I tried vertical and it was rather uncomfortable.

I had quite the opposite experience with suspenders.

 

[Whilliam]

Back in the 70’s buckles were a big thing. My sister worked at a place in the mall called “The Buckle Gallery” and over a couple of years I amassed a small collection of brass buckles sporting graphics of Coca Cola, rock groups, etc. All of those buckles were designed to attach to a leather belt with snaps. The belt HAD to go left/counterclockwise to make sure the buckle did not display upside down. It never occurred to me that one would want to go right/clockwise. That just seems very “wrong” to me.

I remember those. So-called "Tiffany" style buckles. I may still have an old Campagnolo buckle from that era gathering dust in a storage locker somewhere. Big, heavy thing, as I recall.

 

[Raissermesser]

Had one that was made of pot metal, maybe zamak. Wasn't long before the part than snagged the hole in the belt broke off. In that era you could also get a belt buckle with a small, detachable, revolver mounted to it as though it was a design.

Anyone else remember the double hole belts of the 1970s? The buckles had two prongs.

 

[RigelDust]

Had one that was made of pot metal, maybe zamak. Wasn't long before the part than snagged the hole in the belt broke off. In that era you could also get a belt buckle with a small, detachable, revolver mounted to it as though it was a design.

Anyone else remember the double hole belts of the 1970s? The buckles had two prongs.

Two prongs?!?! lol
The whipping belt was THREE!!!! We could hear the sound it made when it was being retrieved to deal out punishment. Black leather with three prongs. It was never worn. Thank god. Imagine that. It would be like your mom wearing the whipping switch as a brooch.
Shiver***

 

[Dave-the-rave]

This is a pic of some of my dads buddies late 50's. Those belts were the ones he used to 'administer discipline' with when we were young. Being in a tank Regiment these belts were polished black and were rock hard from years of polish. It was kept in a box and he would say 'Go get my belt' and off ya would trundle to retrieve the torture implement.

My brother and I got so sick of it we buried it in the back garden. He had a spare of course although it was still green and a bit softer as it hadn't been polished black. For years afterwards we would be crapping ourselves when he was digging the garden in case he dug up the belt. He never did.

Funny how a totally unrelated discussion can bring old memories to the surface. After fifty years the belt itself will be long gone but those old brass buckles may still be in that garden.

 

[shaveitoff]

I start threading it on the left side. But that doesn't mean the buckle ends up on the right side. When you use a piece of rope, you just end up tying a knot.

 

[Raissermesser]

View attachment 1057424

This is a pic of some of my dads buddies late 50's. Those belts were the ones he used to 'administer discipline' with when we were young. Being in a tank Regiment these belts were polished black and were rock hard from years of polish. It was kept in a box and he would say 'Go get my belt' and off ya would trundle to retrieve the torture implement.

My brother and I got so sick of it we buried it in the back garden. He had a spare of course although it was still green and a bit softer as it hadn't been polished black. For years afterwards we would be crapping ourselves when he was digging the garden in case he dug up the belt. He never did.

Funny how a totally unrelated discussion can bring old memories to the surface. After fifty years the belt itself will be long gone but those old brass buckles may still be in that garden.

Usually the instrument of punishment was whatever was handy. Was so hard-headed, I didn't care. Literally. Turned out that ran in the family, but they weren't about to let me know at that age.