How many belts do you see in the photo at right?
If you said three, you’re trapped like millions of other men across the globe. We look at the photo and see nine. Three straps and three different buckles should make for nine different belts.
On The Fly is probably going to change the way that everyone buys and sells men’s dress belts. Frankly, we’re disgusted that human civilization left to us to do this much needed work ? but we’re up to the task, and we look forward to blazing the trail.
Here are the problems as we see them:
- Belts come attached with a single buckle. Makes sense! But what if you want to use a different buckle than the one that is sewn in? To match your watch, for example? Or because you invested in a beautiful sterling buckle? Well, you’re out of luck. Your only option, really, is to find and buy the same strap with the buckle you want. And now you own two belts in the same leather when you really just needed one with a different buckle. Pretty soon, you own all sorts of duplicate dress belts with different buckles just to avoid the humiliation of having your belt hardware not match your watch hardware. On The Fly will not stand for that.
- Customers with odd-numbered waist sizes (33", 35", 37", etc.) were guaranteed never to get a belt that fits right. With belts offered only in even sizes, a customer with a 35" waist has to choose a belt sized 36 or 38. A 36 means you’re always in the second hole, and a 38 means the fourth hole. The middle hole ? the optimal one ? isn’t an option unless you gain or lose an inch.
- Lastly, and most esoterically, there are heirloom-quality buckles out there: buckles made of sterling, solid gold, and platinum, for example. But it’s hard to justify investing in a beautiful, quality buckle that will last two lifetimes if it’s unclear what the strap roadmap looks like. If you spend $500 on a buckle, you want to be able to wear it with more than one strap.
We feel your pain.
Starting in late September, On The Fly will have a wall of 85 different belt straps from W. Kleinberg, a design house in Atlanta, Georgia. They’ve been crafting belts and buckles, with an emphasis on exotic skins, since 1984. Our strap collection will include:
- Italian calf in 14 colors, with tonal or contrast stitching, making for 28 unique calf dress belts
- Italian shoulder in three colors
- Pebbled grain in four colors
- Embossed calf in three colors
- Suede in six colors, with a contrast stitching option for three of those colors, for a total of nine suede options
- Lizard in 10 colors including forest, orange, purple and red
- South African ostrich in four colors
- Tingus crocodile in three colors
- Glazed American alligator in nine colors
- Matte American alligator in five colors
- Hornback alligator (pictured above) in four colors
- American bison in three colors
- Genuine shark in black or chocolate (Great White was not an option!)
- South Beach colors for the bold & the beautiful (think magenta, yellow, cobalt, lime)
More importantly, we will have a selection of buckles that will work with every strap. Every purchase of a strap will include a nickel buckle and a brass buckle. In addition, we’ll have a healthy selection of traditional and contemporary, frame-style and plaque, polished and brushed buckles all available in sterling silver or nickel, with plating options in rhodium, platinum, gold, rose-gold and gunmetal.
The beauty of this program, if it’s not obvious yet, is that once you own, say, four straps and two buckles, you actually have eight different belts you can wear. Add just one more buckle and you now have 12 belt combinations.
As the seasons change, we’ll introduce limited edition straps and buckles for those that want something extraordinary. The first limited edition strap and buckle will be announced in early 2012.
We haven’t figured out what we’re going to call this system yet, so for now, we’ll just say Prepare for The System…
August 11, 2011 at 10:57 am
I need some belts! Can’t wait.