Hey everyone! Does anyone know if Hanks Belts has changed ownership? I know it has changed names about 3 times in the past 5 years, but I didn’t think their quality would go down the tank with it.

I have had my brown hanks “The Everyday” belt for about 6 or 7 years and absolutely love it. It has been chewed on by a dog, gotten run through the washing machine and dryer by my wife, and been work as my work belt 5 days a week since I bought it. It is approximately .230” thick, and was probably slightly thicker when new.

Fast forward, now I need a black one for my work uniform. I ordered it directly from Hanks, just like the last one. When it arrived, it looks like a completely different belt. It is roughly 4” shorter, way thinner (.175”), the leather quality appears to be junk (lots of gashing), has way larger buckle holes, the stamp is different, and it has rivets you can’t really tighten, as one side is smooth.

Has anyone else experienced this? Any other brands that have Hanks old quality? I have not called them yet, as they are close over the weekend, but I hope this is some mistake. If I didn’t get it directly from them, I would think it was a fake.

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I decided to splurge on a hanks belt after seeing all the reviews done on them on various websites, about how they’re super high quality and how they’re invincible. When I got it, the leather finish looked terrible, as I show here(please don’t mind the mess, cleaning day). I didn’t expect it to be perfect of course, it’s a full grain leather belt, but I didn’t expect it to be in worse shape than one found at a thrift store.

Anyways, I decided to give them the benefit of the doubt and emailed customer service about it and see if that was normal and if I was just being picky(which I’m probably not but then again I don’t own anything else that is full grain leather).

Now this is the real kicker. When they got back to me after showing them the pictures, they said “I am sorry but that is not out belt. Our holes do not have a long hole in it and I do not see the Hanks belt stamp. I am sorry I cannot help you further. Have a nice day!”. Not seeing the stamp? Okay fair enough, they’re terrible pictures I guess. But claiming that you don’t have a long hole? Where you insert the buckle? You know, like what practically every other belt made in existence has? I don’t know if they’re just bullshitting me or if they’re just that stupid, how do you work for a belt company and not know the buckle hole is long?

I’ve replied to them anyways showing them the stamp and informing them that it’s the buckle hole, so I’ll update this if anything changes. For now, I’ll leave this review to make sure people know. I might be the one in a million, or I could be overreacting, but either way I’m still pissed off and down nearly 80 bucks.

Per some posts that have been made here before for a BIFL belt, I really like the stuff at hanksbelts.com. Unfortunately, however, not only do they not ship to Canada, they even go so far as to void the warranty if the belt is "exported" outside the U.S. Can anyone recommend something equivalent for the Canadian market? I like the heavy-duty/BIFL nature of gun belts, but this I'm guessing is complicated by the fact that the Canadian market for gun belts is probably infinitesimal compared to the U.S for obvious reasons.

Thanks!