How to measure your belt size: a guide to sizes 30 to 44 in Pakistan

Most belt returns are a size problem, and almost all of them come from one mistake: ordering your trouser size. A belt wraps outside the trousers, so it needs to be bigger than the waist printed on the label. Here are three ways to get the number right, in order of how reliable they are.

Method one: measure a belt you already wear

This is the most accurate way, because it measures how you actually wear a belt rather than how a tape sits on your skin.

1. Lay a belt you wear daily flat on a table, with the hole you normally fasten facing up.
2. Measure in inches from the buckle bar, where the strap meets the buckle, to the hole you use. Do not measure from the tip and do not include the buckle.
3. Round to the nearest even number. That is your Stagr size.
4. Between two sizes, take the larger one. Leather gives a little with wear; holes do not move.

A Stagr size is that distance: a 34 fastens comfortably at 34 inches, with holes either side for a heavier meal or a thinner month.

Method two: measure your waist with a tape

Put on the trousers you wear most, thread a soft tape through the loops and pull it to how tight you like a belt. Read the number in inches and round up to the next even size. Measuring over the trousers is the whole trick; a tape against bare skin will read one to two inches small.

Method three: add two to your trouser size

If you have no tape and no belt to hand, take the waist size on your trouser label and add two. A size 32 trouser usually needs a 34 belt. This works for most men but it depends on the brand's labelling, so use it as a guess and confirm with one of the other methods when you can.

Which hole should a belt fasten on?

The middle hole. Stagr belts have five holes, so a belt that fits fastens on the third, leaving two tighter and two looser. If a new belt only fits on the last hole, it is a size too small; if it fits on the first, a size too big. Buying so the middle hole fits means the belt still works a year on, whichever way your waist moves.

Sizes 30 to 44 and who they fit

• 30 and 32: trouser sizes 28 to 30, slim builds.
• 34 and 36: trouser sizes 32 to 34, the most common sizes we send out.
• 38 and 40: trouser sizes 36 to 38.
• 42 and 44: trouser sizes 40 to 42.

Belts are made in even sizes only. If your measurement lands on an odd number, go up.

Shalwar kameez, kurta and formal trousers

If you wear a belt mainly with formal trousers, measure with those trousers, because they often sit higher on the waist than jeans and need a slightly larger belt. For a belt that will be worn with both, size for the formal trousers and use the tighter holes with jeans.

Can a leather belt be shortened?

Yes, from the buckle end. Stagr buckles sit on a removable screw post, so a tailor or any leather shop can cut the strap at the buckle end and move the post, keeping the finished tip. It is a ten minute job. Cutting from the tip is a mistake because it removes the shaped end and the burnished edge. Adding holes is also fine, but a belt that needs holes added beyond the fifth was the wrong size to begin with.

Sizing a belt as a gift

Ask for a trouser size or sneak a measurement from a belt in the wardrobe, using method one. If you cannot find out, order the size that matches the trouser size plus two and keep the box; unused belts can be returned within 7 days, and delivery across Pakistan is Rs 299, cash on delivery. All four Stagr belts, the reversible Nova, the Outlaw, the Regent and the Monarch, come in sizes 30 to 44 and are cut from 3.5 mm full grain crazy horse leather, which is covered in this guide.