Belts vs galluses and braces (suspenders)

[Tuolumne Lawman]

I know in the 1870s, belts were seldom, if ever, used to hold up your britches.  They were used to hold knives and handguns, but braces held up the trousers.  Does anyone know at what point it became common to use a belt to hold up your pants.  I have heard that it was around the period between the Spanish-American and World War I that trouser belts started to show up.

Jeans are easier, since Levi Strauss in San Francisco introduced canvas pants in the mines in the mid-1850s, and introducing the pocket stitch pattern and denim fabric in 1873.

[St. George]

Why no pant's belts in the west?
« Reply #1 on: January 12, 2006, 03:14:39 pm »     

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We've covered this before and there's more in the back pages - but once more - we'll re-visit.

Though 'belts' have been around - 'trouser' belts haven't, since there were no trouser loops.

They're essentially a turn of the century invention.

Braces, galluses, or suspenders - all were used during the time - as were the high-waisted trousers.

They were effectively 'hidden' - both from view and from entanglement - by vests and coats - and 'all' men wore those as working dress.

If you didn't like wearing a pair - for reasons best known to yourself - then the adjustment belt was available at the rear and could be tightened as needed.

Many men did this - using friction to hold their pants in place.

The sewn trouser loop wouldn't become a 'staple' of men's furnishings for many years - despite what's seen in the 'John Ford Reference Library'...

I 'do' like this quote from the Dodge City Live Stock Journal:

"A fashion item says that leather belts are in favor.
They were in favor here at one time.
Perhaps there was a difference in them.
Ours were studded with cartridges, and were very popular..."

Vaya,

Scouts Out!

[Tuolumne Lawman]

Thanks!  I had scrolled back looking for a thread, but didn't find it. Pretty much what I thought.  I have several old Sears catalogs from pre-1900, and none of the pants have belt loops.  The high waist with the buckle on the back works pretty well if you don't have weight in the pockets.

[Delmonico]

One note I recently discovered is baseball uniforms had belts back into the 1880's.  These are all from the 1880's:















But I've never seen them on anyone else in pictures.

[Tuolumne Lawman]

As a History teacher, I know that mainstream society catches "fads" often from sports or military.  We may infer a hypothesis that belts were used as uniform item for baseball, and as popularity spread, the concept of trouser belts may have in part transferred from baseball.  Something to think about.  New fashions start somewhere.  And America's national obsession could be a start in this case.

[Delmonico]

Just another item that seems to have not been noted, but what fun would it be if we knew everything.

[Will Ketchum]

Jim Boeke, of River Junction Traders, told me years ago that only baseball players wore pants with belt loops and belts and since most men didn't want to be know as baseball players, which apparently were held in some disfavor, they wouldn't buy pants with belt  loops.  This may have been because men worked hard from first light to dark and didn't respect those who wasted their time frivolously. 

Will Ketchum