The Horween California Belt

This belt is a departure from our past offerings. As a company, we’re proud of our California heritage, and we wanted to showcase that here. Using vintage plates from the 1970’s with an eighty year old printing press machine, we’re able to emboss these belts with a pretty slick design incorporating our roots. Accentuating the California stamp are reminders of the place we call home - the mountains of Yosemite from which we’ve watched the sunrise to the towering redwoods we’ve looked up to while hiking. We love the feelings this design evokes and we think you will too.

We start with a 100% vegetable tanned horsehide leather from Horween. These are strips cut from just above the "shell" of the horse (where shell cordovan comes from). Although this leather is thinner than most single layer belts, this horsehide is extremely dense and has almost no stretch to it. This unique thinner, stronger leather makes for a durable, long lasting belt without the bulk of a heavier belt.

Rather than keeping the leather natural on these, we're lightly hand-oiling them to bring out the richness in the tan color of the leather. We pay special attention to the finish as we do on all our products. The strap is edged, burnished with beeswax, and finished with a traditional English point. We use a custom-made solid brass center bar buckle that gets tumbled to subtly tarnish the nickel finish. It’s secured with two solid rivets, and the back of the belt is stamped with both a Gustin and a Horween stamp.