military officer and police belts

[dutchguy]

I like wide and heavy leather belts such as worn by military and police officers. One of my favourite belts is a 2,25" wide sam browne police belt. I do have a couple of those in both black and brown, and like to wear them in my jeans. G-star jeans for example have belt loops that take such a wide belt. I also have some 2 - 2,5" wide European officer belts with a two claw buckle.
Anybody else who likes the same type of belts? What do you think about wearing wider belts? Do you think it is appropriate to wear this belt and does it look OK to you?
I attached a picture with a sam browne belt I wear for casual use.

 

[NoVaguy]

that's a really big belt. where do you get jeans with those size loops?

 

[dutchguy]

I always try to find jeans that have belt loops that are big enough to take such a big belt. 'G-star' and 'Chasin' have some models that take belts up to 6 cm or 2.25 inches, so a police or sam browne belt fits and fills up the whole belt loops. Here in Europe there seems to be a trend for jeans with wider belt loops again. However most casual belts for guys aren't wider than about 1.75" or so.
Belt loops on levis and many other brands are smaller, the widest belt that fits in my 501 is a 2 inches wide officer belt.

 

[Get Smart]

My Levis Capital E 'stacked skinny' have some of the tallest loops I've seen so far, around 2.5"

 

[JLibourel]

Wide black "garrison" (aka "cycle") belts had a certain vogue at my prep school almost 50 years ago.

Western belts with large, garish buckles have a following among devotees of Western wear.

I have a slew of River belts and similar gunbelts. Wearing a belt of this type to keep the trousers up strikes me as very bizarre and eccentric. Customarily, such belts are worn outside the belt used to keep the trousers up and are secured to the latter with keepers.

IMO, for town wear, any belt wider than 1 3/8 inches starts to look pretty eccentric. I don't care for any narrower than 1 inch unless you are striving for a "retro" (late 50s, early 60s)look.
For outdoor wear, particularly if you're packing a gun, sheath knife, etc., wider belts have their utility.

 

[dutchguy]

Referring to JLibourel, it may look eccentric, but if jeans have very wide belt loops there must be a purpose for them. And I personally like the look of a wider and heavier belt. You don't really find any civil belts that are wide then 1 3/4 inches. I think today it is quite normal to wear something eccentric.
I agree, for outdoor use those belts have their purpose. I normally wear a Sam Browne belt for outdoor activities, outside, secured with beltkeepers with flashlight, a knive and some other tools.

By the way, this discussion was posted in two diferent categories, let's continue here: http://www.styleforum.net/showthread.php?t=15494