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Yesterday, we reviewed a pair of pants that are great for the office, and offer plenty of stretch (you can see that here). While I am definitely a fan of pants and shorts that have a bit of stretch, if you pair them with a standard leather belt, you lose some of the freedom of movement that the stretch provides at the waist. That’s where a belt like the Arcade Lookout Belt comes in.
If you remember, we brought you a roundup of some of the offerings from Arcade Belts earlier this summer (seen here). Since then, we’ve had their Lookout belt (in grey) in for review, and I’ve been putting it through the paces. By that, I mean I’ve put it on with both shorts and pants, and just gone about my day. Well, at first you do need to adjust things to get to your perfect fit, but once that’s done, you don’t need to deal with it. You just clip it on, or unclip it, and then the sizing is there for you. With the belt clipped in place, there’s enough tension there to easily keep your shorts or pants held up, but it’s not so tight that it’s binding.
In fact, as you go about your day, you’ll likely not even notice the Arcade Lookout Belt. This is for a few reasons. First, of course, is the stretch built right into the belt, allowing the belt to move and adjust with you as you move and go about your day. The second reason is just how thin the belt is. The woven layer is definitely thinner than just about any leather belt you might have (aside from dress belts), and the buckle is the thinnest I’ve ever experience. That means your belt buckle isn’t getting caught on anything, and you’re just moving freely.
The buckle was the one weird spot for me with the Arcade Lookout Belt. It has a very shiny cover on it, which puts a bit of gloss on a belt that is otherwise a very matte look. It almost looks like you could open it and slip your own design in there, but I didn’t see any way to do that. The buckle is also the potential weak spot in the belt as the years go by. Just like the clips on your backpack can fail down the road (from use), the clip will no doubt end up failing. How long that takes, I don’t know, but it doesn’t seem like it’s a replaceable component. Then again, if it’s 5-10 years down the line, you might just be ready to drop yours for recycling and pick up a new one.
If you want to free up how you move about your day, you can pick up the Arcade Lookout Belt for $39.95, in three colors, and two widths (narrow or regular; we reviewed the regular). Then again, if this isn’t the weave you’re looking for, they’ve got quite a number of different options, from plainer monochromes to colorful and vibrant patterns. Check out the full range over at arcadebelts.com
