Engearment

Arcade Belts – Keep Your Pants On

When we first arranged to meet with Cody Townsend to talk about the Line of the Year, we expected to meet a cool dude with large cojones.  We didn’t realize that his cojones were so large that he and some friends had developed their own line of belts – the Arcade Belt Company – to make sure those cojones stayed covered.

(Disclaimer: We really don’t know how big they are or whether the belts are necessary to keep them from being exposed and taking over the world.)

After years of skiing with belts that had large, hard buckles and no give, Cody, along with his friends David and Tristan, went off on walkabout in search of a better solution.  Belts were never the right size, didn’t move with you, and kept letting snow into your pants.  To paraphrase Green Velvet: “This is not the thing to do!”

The three searched for a material that would be extremely durable, weather-proof, machine washable, and, most of all, super comfortable.  Oddly enough, they found it in the suspender straps of fishing waders.  But, it looked like crap.  No one wants to look like crap.  So they went out and sourced their own, much more stylish version of the nylon-blend stretch webbing.

But, stretch and style aren’t the only moonshots Cody, David and Tristan pursued.  They also wanted infinite adjustability and a low profile buckle that wouldn’t perform an appendectomy on you if you took a digger.  They created the Arcade LockFit Speed Buckle to do just that.  Made out of commercial grade acetal polymer, the buckles are low profile and keep your belt securely fastened.  Bonus – most of Arcade Belts have no metal parts, so you don’t have to remove them to go through airport security.

Arcade has grown organically since its inception in 2010.  They work closely with their manufacturers overseas to ensure quality and consistency.  We even gave David a few pointers for his upcoming trip to visit their factory!

But, the real excitement came when Cody surprised us with belts to try out.  We’ve been wearing the Arcade Belts Hemingway everywhere for the last two weeks.  It’s been holding up our pants everywhere from the backcountry to nights out on the town to the courtroom (We didn’t get into any trouble on those nights out.  Dave is a lawyer sometimes.)

Bottom line – Arcade Belts are comfortable, durable, look good and work great.  Plus, they are made by really great people.  Our kind of people.  Grab a belt or two and keep your pants up.