About Our Leather Goods

I was in college studying for my MFA in Sculpture when one day I decided I needed a belt. I knew exactly what I didn't want - a normal, boring leather belt just like every other one I had ever worn. I was looking for something different and exciting, but I didn't have much money to spend. I decided to put my sculpture skills to use and make my own. I used some aluminum I had leftover from a sculpture project to make the original Excalibur belt. It had a smooth shape and a locking pin design, totally different from other belts.

I wore my handmade belt to a few parties to show it off. Friends and family started to ask me to make them cool belts too, and after about a year of making them as a fun side project, I decided to start a company. I officially began my adventure with Obscure Belts in 2005. Since then, we have created 37 unique mechanical belt buckle designs and counting, three successful Kickstarter projects, traveled all over America showing off our awesome belts in 35 cities across 21 states and helped countless people keep their pants up.

Meet Your Belt Makers

Obscure Belts is a small team of two people - me and my partner Cristina. We take great pride in our leather goods to make sure each and every leather belt we make is of high quality.

  • Bryan Schultz, the owner and founder of Obscure Belts. Artisan Belt Maker

    Bryan

    Chief Creative Thinker, Tinkerer, and Belt Maker

  • Cristina Carrera, partner in Obscure Belts. Web Designer and Problem Solver

    Cristina

    Chief Problem Solver, Organizer, and Web Designer

diagram showing how obscure belts are different than any other sort of belt buckle, even those made by montana silversmiths

What is an Obscure Belt?

An Obscure Belt is a completely new type of belt buckle. Our awesome belt buckles use a metal sizing stud that screws into the leather belt holes. To adjust your size, just unscrew the stud by hand and move it to a different belt hole.

When we say we made a completely new type of belt buckle, we mean it! We were awarded two US patents for our unique designs. Each buckle is a little wearable lock that uses a hook, steel, and a magnet to open and close. This results in less wear and tear on the leather.

Head over to our collections page to shop for new accessories to add to your cart.

Shop Our Belts
Fractal 2.0 magnet click belt buckle durability tester machine. Push the button to open, let go to lock our cool mens belt buckles

Rigorous product testing

We put all of our products through rigorous testing to make sure everything works perfectly. For our newest belt buckle, the Fractal 2.0, we created a machine to stress test the design and ensure it could stand up to the rigors of long-term daily wear. We set it up to perform more than 73,000 open/close cycles, simulating roughly ten years of use. For more information head over to the Fractal's product page.

Shop Fractal 2.0 Belts
Hands demonstrating our patented belt buckle design. Unscrew a special screw from the belt's hole to adjust your size. The leather tucks behind the buckle so you don't have a floppy belt strap.

A better buckle design

Our unique belt buckles have two main advantages over traditional belts:

1. The belt does not bend in half every time you put it on. This prevents the leather from deforming, cracking, and stretching out where the holes are. Your belt will look better and last longer than a normal belt.

2. The flap on the end of the belt tucks behind the buckle and inside your belt loops. It lays flat while you wear it and doesn’t flop around looking sloppy and getting in the way.

Great buckles need the best leather belts

We are very lucky to live near Seidel Tanning, a specialty leather tannery with over 75 years of experience making custom bridle leather, harness leather, and other high-quality leather items. We have worked with Seidel and their R&D department since we started making belts in 2005. They are true leather experts that help us perfect the recipe for our vegetable tanned leather. And it really is a recipe, with step-by-step instructions to guide the hides through the tanning process to get the right balance of thickness, texture, and color for our belts. Most other brands can't compete with the quality leather we use.

Obscure Belts Bryan and Cristina inspecting a full grain leather cow hide at Seidel Tannery in Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Awesome handmade leather belts

We take great pride in making our handmade belts with the best leather possible. Check out our blog to read about our journey as makers of the coolest belt buckles.

Read The Belt Blog
Bryan and Cristina accepting an award for their unique belts.

Award winning leather goods

We are honored to have exhibited our leather goods at some of the top fine art and craft festivals in the United States, including the Smithsonian Craft ShowPhiladelphia Museum of Craft Contemporary Art ShowMain Street Fort Worth Arts Festival, and Cherry Creek Arts Festival.

Even though traveling for events is on pause right now, we can't wait to get on the road again to share our modern belt buckles with America.

Find Us At An Event