Best Belt material change

[d0uevenlift]

First, I want to say that my service experience with Best Belts has been excellent. Last year, I bought a 10mm belt from them and received it in 4 weeks. More recently, I ordered a 13mm belt and it took 3 weeks from the time I placed the order to get it to my door. I even called a day or two after placing the order to change the color, and they answered and helped me out. It wasn't Dean who answered this time, however, but a fellow named Jimmy.

At any rate, the belt is really well crafted. The carving/shaping of the belt to taper, the stitching, and everything else is very well done. You can tell someone took care to make this belt. It also has that nice broken-in feel that Best is known for, right out of the box.

I couldn't help but notice, however, that it seems like two different materials are used for the 13mm belt. One is the typical leather you'd find on quality belts, and the other seems like a layer of rubber. Our resident belt expert Cody tells me it's probably chrome-tanned leather, the cheap stuff used in Valeo belts. It has a rubbery feel and texture to it, and squishes like rubber when pressed. It isn't noticeable when you wear it, and still feels great to wear and use.

Does anyone else have a 13mm Best Belt they can examine and post photos of for comparison?

[Idlehands]

this a new thing with them?

[Cody]

this a new thing with them?

AFAIK, this is the first time I've seen this from Best.

Inzer did some outsourcing from their regular manufacturer a couple years ago where a careful observer could see the differences.

[Manveer]

^You are not a careful observer.

[Cody]

^You are not a careful observer.

Haha! Got a hearty laugh out of that. Oh, how I will not miss that old fool's condescension as a defensive mechanism.

[OCG]

Inzer did some outsourcing from their regular manufacturer a couple years ago where a careful observer could see the differences.

Regular manufacturer? I thought they were in house?

[Cody]

Inzer did some outsourcing from their regular manufacturer a couple years ago where a careful observer could see the differences.

Regular manufacturer? I thought they were in house?

Nooooooope.

[OCG]

Inzer did some outsourcing from their regular manufacturer a couple years ago where a careful observer could see the differences.

Regular manufacturer? I thought they were in house?

Nooooooope.

You fucking tease.

[Cody]

You fucking tease.

Ooooh, talk dirty to me!

This ended up being something Matt and I learned while collecting all the belts for the video series he's putting together. I don't want to spoil all the fun of the videos, so I'll keep my mouth shut for now

[d0uevenlift]

I used the belt yesterday and it obviously didn't feel terrible and it felt pretty supportive. Compared to my SBD belt, however, it definitely didn't feel as rigid, but that's also because I can get a lever belt a little tighter than a prong belt. I did like the Best for bench pressing, though--it didn't feel like it was going to murder my arch.

[TwoFoursStrohm]

When I got my best a few years back it shipped from amish country, not texas. Wonder if they've outsourced even further

[ithryn]

Bright purple omg love it

[Cody]

The legendary Dr. P sent me this of his 2012 13mm Best Belt after seeing this info. It clearly has chrome tanned leather as well.

[Allentown]

It clearly has chrome tanned leather as well.

Which is... bad?

[mgil]

The legendary Dr. P sent me this of his 2012 13mm Best Belt after seeing this info. It clearly has chrome tanned leather as well.

If we assume that both the 10mm and 13mm have the same thickness of sole leather (~6.5mm ?), then is the 13mm belt really much stronger than the 10mm?

[Cody]

If we assume that both the 10mm and 13mm have the same thickness of sole leather (~6.5mm ?), then is the 13mm belt really much stronger than the 10mm?

The 13mm will have some amount more support, but it won't be much compared to if it was all sole leather bend.

[d0uevenlift]

If we assume that both the 10mm and 13mm have the same thickness of sole leather (~6.5mm ?), then is the 13mm belt really much stronger than the 10mm?

The 13mm will have some amount more support, but it won't be much compared to if it was all sole leather bend.

This could all be in my head but when I wear my 13mm Best Belt, it doesn't *feel* as supportive as my 13mm Pioneer single prong belt. The latter took a while to break in, though.