Equestrian British-Made Men's Belts — Voted by the Community

Belts are ancient, but British belt making belongs to a long tradition of leatherworking. In the Middle Ages, leatherworkers in English towns formed guilds that set rules for quality and training. Northampton's shoemakers set up a guild in 1401, and London's saddlers, cordwainers and leathersellers all became chartered livery companies in the same period. Between about 1680 and 1830, leather and leather goods made up one of England's most important industries after textiles. Workshops that made saddles and harness had the cutting, stitching and finishing skills that belts need, and in Walsall, when the motor car reduced demand for horse equipment, makers turned to lighter goods such as purses, wallets and bags. Belts were long part of military dress, but for most of the nineteenth century civilian men held up their high-waisted trousers with braces. Belts became common with everyday trousers in the twentieth century, after many men grew used to them in uniform during the First World War. Leather belts are still cut and stitched in British workshops today.