Tiger Belt

A tiger belt gathers its whole design into a single piece at the front: the buckle. Every belt in this collection is built around a tiger sculpted in relief, whether a head set inside a round ring of stones, a face set in a medallion, a whole animal crouching inside an open frame or a roaring head on a military-style plate. Behind the buckle, the straps range from black and brown with a crocodile-style grain to reddish brown embossed with scrollwork, and a woven strap in green camouflage.

Gold-tone tiger heads with a sparkle

The Antique Golden Tiger Belt sets a sculpted tiger head with blue eyes at the center of a round gold-tone buckle. A ring of small clear stones circles the head, and a stepped, ridged rim frames the whole disc, so from a distance the buckle reads as a bright gold medallion. The strap shown is black with a crocodile-style grain, a brown strap is offered as well, and the belt comes in sizes from 105cm to 125cm.

The Luxury Rhinestone Tiger Belt goes further with the sparkle. Its tiger head is covered in small clear stones, with blue stones for eyes, and two more rows of stones line the top and bottom edges of the gold-tone buckle. It is shown on a brown strap with a crocodile-style grain and stitched edges, and it comes in brown with gold, black with gold, or black with silver.

Medallions inside a key-pattern border

A second family of buckles frames the tiger like a coin. On the Bengal Tiger Belt Roar, a brass-toned rectangular plate holds a round medallion with the tiger's face in high relief, mouth open and tongue showing, inside a squared key-pattern border. Scaled, curling forms with flame-like edges rise up both sides of the plate, and the strap is black with a pebbled grain. Another belt in the collection follows the same layout with the tiger roaring and its fangs bared, above a black strap with a crocodile-style grain.

The key pattern itself, a continuous line that turns back on itself at right angles, appears in ancient Greek ornament as well as on Chinese bronzes, which gives these buckles a classical, almost architectural look around the snarling face.

A whole tiger, and a tiger in profile

The Tiger Head Belt Savage shows more of the animal than its name suggests. Inside an open, rectangular gold-tone frame, a whole tiger crouches low with its head down and its tail curling up the side of the frame. The strap is as decorated as the buckle: the one pictured is reddish brown, embossed along its length with flowing floral scrollwork inside a beaded border, and finished with a pointed, patterned tip. It is offered with a black or a red strap and a gold or a silver buckle.

Another buckle leaves the frame out altogether. The tiger's head itself forms the buckle, finished in an antique brass tone and seen in profile with its jaws wide and its fangs bared, the fur swept back in deep ridges over a black strap with a crocodile-style grain. It is the most sculptural tiger belt buckle in the range.

Camouflage webbing and a gunmetal plate

The Army Camo Tiger Belt & Buckle takes its cue from military webbing belts. The strap is woven fabric in a green camouflage, and the brushed, gunmetal-gray plate buckle carries a roaring tiger head in relief, with the word TIGERS running down its side. It is sold by belt size, from 110 cm (43.31 inches) up to 160 cm (62.99 inches), the longest sizes in the collection.

Tiger belt sizes: waist or length

The belts are sized in two different ways. Some, such as the Bengal Tiger Belt Roar and the Luxury Rhinestone Tiger Belt, are listed by waist size, from 38-39 to 46-47, which refers to the trousers the belt goes around. Others carry a belt size in centimeters or inches: 105cm to 125cm on the Antique Golden Tiger Belt, 43.3 inches to 51.2 inches on the Tiger Head Belt Savage, and both units side by side on the camouflage belt. A belt size of this kind usually describes the strap, which overlaps itself to close and so runs longer than the waist it fits, which is why a waist size and a belt size with similar numbers do not describe the same fit.

Gold, brass, silver and gunmetal

Gold tones run through most of the collection, from the bright polish of the round stone-set buckle to the brass and antique brass of the medallions and the profile head. Silver appears as an option on the Luxury Rhinestone Tiger Belt and the Tiger Head Belt Savage, and the camouflage belt has its gunmetal plate. Straps come in black, brown or red depending on the model, and the textures vary as much as the colors: crocodile-style grain, a finer pebbled grain, embossed scrollwork and woven webbing.

An old place for a tiger

Animals on the belt are nothing new. Bronze belt plaques showing tigers and other beasts, often locked in combat, were worn on the steppes of Central Asia and northern China more than two thousand years ago. In Chinese tradition the tiger stands for courage and protection: it is one of the twelve animals of the zodiac and, as the White Tiger, the guardian of the west, and it is often paired with the dragon in art. A buckle at the center of the body is a natural place for an emblem of that kind.

From the belt to a cap and a jacket

These belts belong to our wider tiger clothes collection. A tiger cap moves the motif to the front of the crown, with embroidered patches, cartoon tigers and camouflage designs. A tiger jacket carries a much bigger animal, from bombers with a large tiger embroidered across the back to a parka printed in tiger stripe camouflage, in the same military spirit as the camo belt.

Questions about these belts

Which belt offers the most color combinations?

The Tiger Head Belt Savage, with a black or red strap and a gold or silver buckle. The Luxury Rhinestone Tiger Belt follows with brown and gold, black and gold, or black and silver.

Is there a belt with a fabric strap?

Yes. The Army Camo Tiger Belt & Buckle has a woven strap in green camouflage, while the others have grained or embossed straps.

Which buckles are set with stones?

The Antique Golden Tiger Belt has a ring of small clear stones around the tiger head, and the Luxury Rhinestone Tiger Belt covers the head itself in them, with blue stones for the eyes.