Reviews - Mission Canvas Belts

[iacas]

Newport Cup Participants Review

Mission Canvas Belts

Product Name: Mission Canvas Belts
Product Type: Belt (Apparel)
Product Website/URL: https://missionbelt.com/collections/canvas-collection
Cost: Varies

Below, twelve members of the 2017 Newport Cup squad will write thorough, in-depth reviews of Mission Canvas Belts (as seen on Shark Tank!), complete with photos, an occasional video, and a wealth of opinion and information. They're encouraged to be as honest as possible. We'd like to thank the sponsors for the gear, apparel, equipment, and goodies, and we chose them largely because they produce quality products, but they know we value honesty and integrity in reviews as well.

[DeadMan]

Ratings (out of 5):
Quality: 4
Value: 4
Effectiveness: 4
Aesthetic Appeal: 5

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My Review:

Mission Belts were not something I would pick out to get on my own, but after getting two of them and wearing them pretty extensively, I came away pretty impressed. I am not a big fancy belt guy on the course. I prefer function over form. These belts check all of the boxes. They are not too fancy and still very functional.

(The belts)

These are not your normal belts. The belts work in an eccentric way. If you watch Shark Tank, you may have seen these belts on there. There aren’t any holes on the belt, so it doesn’t buckle in the way you’re used to. The belts have what I’ll call teeth on the back of them, and the buckle works by grabbing onto the teeth. It might seem like there would be an issue with slipping with this design, but I haven’t had any problems with it. I am a bit skeptical it would hold up to daily use after a while, but that's just me speculating. The buckle has a little release lever to loosen the belt when you want to. That release lever was a little stiff at first, but no issues after I got used to it.

(The “teeth” on the back of the belt)

(Looking inside the belt buckle, with the locking mechanism engaged)

(Looking inside the belt buckle, with the locking mechanism disengaged by holding onto the release lever)

(The rear of the buckle)

Functionally, they’re great. I had no problems adjusting them to the proper setting, and once you click the belt in, it doesn’t move. They would be great belts for Thanksgiving, too, because it’s really easy to change the size of the belt (in case, say, you scarfed down 2 hot dogs at the turn or ate your weight in gravy). I have no issues holding up the pants and there are no plumbers butt issues wearing these belts. If I need to tighten it up, there’s no awkward looks while you undo your belt and grab around your crotch. Same with loosening it. And with the teeth, you aren’t stuck with holes that are an inch or two apart. You can make the belt as comfortable as you want. Or you can make it as supportive as you want.

The form is great, too. The canvas belts we got look very nice, as you can see in the photo below. The gray belt will go with almost anything, and I would feel completely comfortable wearing it to work or to most events. A red belt is a little flashy for my golf wardrobe. I tend to be pretty simple, solid colors, black, brown, or grey belt. But I liked the belts so much that I think it would be a crime not to show them off more. The red belt will definitely make it into my golf outfits often.  

(Me and Kyle wearing our grey Mission Belts)

The belts themselves seem to be very durable. The belts we got are canvas, although you can also get leather belts through Mission Belts, too. The belts themselves come in one size fits all, and then you can trim down the belt so you don’t have a foot of belt hanging out. It was really easy to cut the belts down to size. I used a kitchen knife to cut the belt. No problem. And if you do mess up cutting down the belt at all, the cut off end snaps into the belt buckle. That means if you screw up, nobody will know. The end of the belt snaps into the buckle snugly, so you don’t have to worry about that end of the belt slipping out either.

Another bonus of these belts is the Newport Cup logo on them. I personally like flashier belt buckles. I think they can sizzle up an outfit. The buckle and the logo are really nice, and they make the belts a lot more interesting than a normal belt.

(Newport Cup logos)

Overall, I didn’t expect to like the belts as much as I did. They will be a feature of my golf wardrobe for a while to come.

Edited November 6, 2017 by DeadMan

[iacas]

9 hours ago, DeadMan said:

I am a bit skeptical it would hold up to daily use after a while, but that's just me speculating.

The teeth last. I wear only Mission belts (leather until this year), and I've never replaced anything or had anything fail. The Newport Cup 2015 guys can talk about their belts, too, as they got some leather ones that they still wear frequently.

The only thing is that sometimes the logo rubs or wears off a bit. But they may have changed their methods there, so maybe these will last a bit more.

[billchao]

14 hours ago, DeadMan said:

I am a bit skeptical it would hold up to daily use after a while, but that's just me speculating.

I have two Mission Belts. I have worn at least one of them daily since 2015 and the mechanism is still fine. I'm not particularly gentle on my belts, either.

5 hours ago, iacas said:

The only thing is that sometimes the logo rubs or wears off a bit. But they may have changed their methods there, so maybe these will last a bit more.

Yes, unfortunately the logos on both of my buckles have come off in various spots.

[DeadMan]

Good to know my speculation was wrong! 

[David in FL]

I love the functionality of mine. My only issue is with the weight of the buckle itself.  Let's just say, it's substantial...

[phillyk]

Ratings (out of 5):
Quality: 5
Value: 4
Effectiveness: 5
Functionality: 4.9

My Review - 

@DeadMan's review has a lot of pictures, so I'll just add my own thoughts.

Belts are a weird thing.  I never really think about replacing a belt until I see the leather start to permanently bend or the fake leathers start getting cracks.  Even then it's some time before I go to the store to get some cheapo belt that'll work.  They've never been something I seriously looked into.

One thing that has bothered me the most about belts is having holes a inch apart or more.  These Mission canvas belts have nearly solved that problem.  There is still about a centimeter between clicks and is why I rate it 4.9/5 for function.  Your bloated for whatever reason, and it's super easy to hit the button to release a tiny bit of pressure without your pants falling off.

The quality of the material feels great.  These two belts will probably stick with me for a while, and I'm planning on buying my own black one to go with the set.  Value is tough for me to rate, because of my lack of experience with buying belts, but the price does seem high.  But I'd assume it's because of the custom designs, etc.  I can't rate on durability as I've only had one for a couple weeks.

Dan did a great job of explaining how the belt works in terms of the pieces and having to cut the belt down.  But, I wanted to add this picture to show the teeth of the clip and how it clamps the canvas.  So, you can see that the canvas is going to stay put unless something drastic happens.  I never thought that I'd wear a red belt, but I have a lot of red polos now, so it works 

Conclusion:  Definitely worth looking into, even for those people like me.  The price is higher than I'd normally pay for a belt but the function of the belt makes the purchase worth it.

[jsgolfer]

Ratings (out of 5):
Quality: 5
Value: 5
Effectiveness: 5
Durability: 5
Aesthetic Appeal: 5

My Review - 

I've been wearing a black leather Mission Belt for well over a year, so I'm already biased towards them. I would expect the canvas belts to last a long time just like the leather one I'm wearing while I'm typing this.  @DeadManhas lots of good pictures, so I'll just add a couple of mine for the difference in colors.  I believe they are Midnight Blue and Stone Grey.  They are both very nice looking and I have already worn them to work and the colors work well with pretty much everything I wear on the golf course.  Functionally they are perfect, I love the ease with which to loosen or tighten depending on how thin or fat I feel at the time.  They are extremely easy to cut to size (leave a little slack though, just in case you gain a little weight).  We used a box cutter I had in my car to cut most of the blue teams belts to size.  They are a little more expensive than some of the other belts, but well worth it in my opinion.  

[coachjimsc]

Ratings (out of 5):
Quality: 5
Value: 4.5
Effectiveness: 5
Durability: 5
Esthetic Appeal: 5

The Mission Canvas Belts is the item I have used the most of all the goodies we received at the Newport Cup. The blue team received two canvas belts, one a gray color and the other one slate blue. I have worn one of the two almost daily since then. TST logo was a nice added touch.

They are great belts. The ratchetting design system of the belt is something I have never used before. I always seem to be caught between two holes of other belts I own. This system allows you to find the correct tightness for your current needs. A little snug in the morning or a little looser after a hefty lunch.

 

These are high quality belts that look great.. The ratchetting mechanism is well made. The only down vote I could give it is the release button doesn’t always work smoothly when trying to release it. Most of the time is works well. Maybe because it is still relatively new and it will work itself out down the road.

I really like the Mission Belts. So much so that I am going to order another color for myself and I will be getting one for my dad and my son for Christmas.

[mchepp]

Because of my connections (mainly @iacas) I was able to get my hands one some of the early versions of the Mission Belts that came out. They became an immediate part of my wardrobe. In fact until I got my first one I rarely, if ever, wore a belt. I hated them, mainly because I would struggle to find one that fit because the holes would be spaced either too far apart or even worst begin to wear and then tear the hole that the belt loop would go into. 

With the Mission Belts there are no holes and the belts fit perfectly. The "teeth" are spaced very near to each other making fine adjustments very easily, especially after a big meal, if you know what I mean. Additionally because there are no holes the belts last forever. I have two that I got from @iacas nearly 3 years ago and they perform like new, and I use them at least 1-2 times a week. That means over 200 days of service and they are like new. 

At the Newport Cup we received the new model which adds canvas into the fold. I really liked the leather so I probably wouldn't have bought the canvas unless well they had been given to us at the Newport Cup and that was a major miscalculation on my part. Now I'm not sure I would buy a leather one again. The canvas are AWESOME. They have the structure of the leather versions I've had before but still look very stylish and a slightly but professionally more casual than the leather counterparts. 

This image shows the contrast of the red belt the West Coast team got that really looks great with jeans. The buckle is bright but not overwhelming. 

The way that the buckle works is the same as the previous models. On the bottom there is a lever that must be pulled back to release the lever which catches on the teeth which are sewn into the belt itself. I will say this process does take some time to figure out when you first get your Mission Belt. But now after a couple of years of having them I can get them off and in place in a few seconds. The ease of the lever system really starts to grow on you. 

With the Mission Belt you can cut the belt itself to fit you. The excellent Talamore suites that we stayed in did not have a pair of scissors but because of the canvas material we could cut the belt with a kitchen knife. You then plug the cut end into the bottom of the buckle and lock it into place. The biggest change I noticed on the canvas version was the fitting guide on the backside of the belt. With the leather you could size it yourself and then cut, but the measuring guide on the canvas made it easy know know what size you were cutting the belt too.  You can see an image of the sizing guide here.

The things that I will be looking for with the canvas will be the durability of the stitching and also the canvas material itself. The leather is extremely durable but one would likely expect that with leather. The stitching has also been durable but that is stitched into leather so I will be interested to see how the belt holds to the beating I am likely to give it because of how much I like it. My red and grey belts are likely to get a enormous amount of use so it will be interesting to see how they hold up over time. 

[kpaulhus]

Ratings (out of 5):
Quality: 5
Value: 5
Effectiveness: 5
Aesthetic Appeal: 5

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My Review:

I’m a huge fan of Mission Belts. Not only do they donate some proceeds to charity, they put out quality, affordable, innovative belts. The new Red & Gray canvas belts I received at this year’s Newport Cup where my 5^th and 6^th belt. I have bought a few on my own and have one from the 2015 Newport Cup. Below you can see that the buckles standard finishes hold up well. The gold and silver ones do show wear, but I’ve had these for over 3-4 years and wear them daily. Not too many sub $40 belts can do what these have done.

I love that if I have a big weekend and am a bit full I can wear the belt no problem. Same goes for when I diet for months and lose 10-15lbs. Same belt no matter what. It always fits!

The new canvas material is really cool. It doesn’t scratch like leather and feels pretty nice as well. I recommend these belts to all my friends and anyone who is reading this. You won’t be disappointed. 

[Pretzel]

The Ratings (out of 5):
Quality: 5
Value: 5
Effectiveness: 5
Aesthetic Appeal: 4.5

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The Review:

When I first saw the Mission belt my initial thought was, "There's no way that belt is going to fit me, it's about 10 inches too long!" This first impression was confirmed at first when I attempted to put the belt on, only to find the tightest notch was still too long for me. It was around this time that my Newport Cup teammates all were in the kitchen cutting their own belts to length, which was the reason that these belts ship so long.

The belts, handily enough, actually have markings along the back of the belt to help you determine how short to cut the belt based on the waist size of the pants you wear. My pants are usually a 32 inch waist, so I trimmed to between the 34 and 36 markings thinking it would give me a 35 inch belt. Had I read the directions included in the packaging, I would've realized that knowing my preferred belt size was unnecessary for properly fitting the Mission Belt. It came out quite a bit longer than I expected, and that's when I realized that you're meant to trim the belt down to the marking of your waist size to have a properly fitted belt.

It's actually a pretty intuitive system for trimming the belt, and it leaves the belt still a little bit on the longer side when you wear it so you don't need to worry about whether it will be too short should you end up growing a few sizes and, due to the length of the plastic strip where the belt can latch, you can even lose a few sizes and have the belt work just fine without adjustment. To trim the belt itself you end up taking the buckle off and trimming the edge that will be hidden inside of the buckle. I've had belts in the past with removable buckles, and a couple of those belts had a system that meant the buckle was pretty loosely or flimsily attached to the belt itself. I don't have such concerns with this belt wiggling or shifting at all inside the buckle, which gets annoying, because it actually has some fairly substantial teeth that sink into the belt near where you trim it.

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The teeth do actually puncture almost entirely through the thickness of the belt and they hold it very securely in place, as opposed to the designs where it just kind of clamps the belt when you shut the latch. Those other clamp type designs can sometimes allow the belt to slip or slide inside the buckle, which can leave your buckle less attached than you might expect (I had a buckle fall off on a cheap belt with that system once) or slightly askew relative to the belt itself. One thing to note though is that, with the teeth, you should make sure that you have your belt the right way around when you clamp it down in the buckle since it would be a shame to accidentally puncture the wrong end of the belt by putting it in backwards (which I almost did, but that's my fault entirely). 

The little lever that you see up the top right corner of the buckle in the above photo is the release lever for the belt. When you have to undo your belt, most frequently for restroom events, you can just hook a finger under the lever to gently lift it and the belt will slide smoothly out of the buckle. The way that this latching system works is shown more clearly in the picture below.

As you can see, there are little triangle raised wedges on the belt itself, and a metal finger on the buckle. As you slide the belt into the buckle (move it towards the viewer in the picture above) the finger will slide up and over the wedges, but it can't go back the other way due to the shape. Interesting enough, the latch has no springs that could wear out and render your belt useless because the spring tension would no longer hold the finger against the wedges. The little circular Misison logo you see at the top of this picture is actually a magnet, and it holds the rear of the finger up with simple magnetic attraction. This is a nice little perk since you don't have to worry about any springs wearing over time, and the other components are robust enough that the only way I could see you wearing them out or breaking them is if you regularly beat your belt buckles against a slab a concrete. If dry humping concrete daily is your jam, this belt is not for you, but it should hold up for everyone else out there. 

That being said, my only "eh" feelings about the belt is one small preference that I have when it comes to belts.I prefer a leather belt over a canvas belt. Nothing against canvas, it's just a personal preference about the look and feel of the belt. Of the canvas belts I've held I would greatly prefer this one, since it's not the loose floppy canvas you often see but actually is stiffer like a traditional belt, but I would still personally choose leather. That said I have since worn the grey canvas belt with some of my black pairs of slacks since it provides a nice contrast without being as stark as a white belt, so this minor preference is only worth 1/2 a point for the aesthetics of the product in my book.

I do, however, plan to purchase another Mission belt in the next month or so since I do like the operation of this belt and the look it has without holes or a buckle. I'll probably purchase the Unobtainium buckle with either the Mocha or Chocolate colored leather belt, a color combination that most closely matches the belt I currently wear every day (but is in need of replacement soon after almost 3 years of daily use). It'll be nice to not have the buckle permanently mar the belt like my current belt (below) has had happen to it, and to not have any issues with stretched holes.

Edited November 13, 2017 by Pretzel

[Golfingdad]

The Ratings (out of 5):
Quality: 5
Value: 5
Effectiveness: 4
Aesthetic Appeal: 5

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The Review:

My first introduction to Mission Belts was on this website, sometime in 2014 or 2015.  @iacas made a special offer for Mission belts with the TST logo, and being a supporter of the site, and in need of a new belt, I bought a couple of them.  In the 3 or 4 years since, I have acquired a couple of more and, quite literally, Mission belts are the only belts I wear ... and I wear one just about every day.  I own 4 or 5 leather belts and 3 or 4 buckles prior to receiving the new canvas belts and Newport Cup logo buckles last month.  I love the look and feel of the canvas and have been wearing only that belt since.

For those that don't know, the belts are "one size fits most" in the sense that they give you a 42-44" or so length belt and allow you to cut the back end to fit to your desire.  It's very easy to do with a pair of scissors, or if you don't have any on hand as we learned at the Newport Cup, even a steak knife will do the trick on a pinch. 

The buckle mechanism is very simple to use, once you learn where the release lever is located.  (I recall back to my first belt, it was stuck for a minute while I learned how to release it)  My only small qualm with the belt is that I have noticed that sometimes the buckle doesn't "catch" when I'm tightening it.  But that's a silly little thing, possibly caused by my belly pushing on the lever or something dumb like that, and it's never an issue once I get it to catch.

In the past, I have had two buckles fail on me, and both failed in the same way; one of the small pins at the buckle hinge has fallen out.  With the first one, I contacted Mission and they sent me a new buckle very quickly.  With the second one, I didn't bother because I have like 4 other buckles, but I imagine they'd have sent me another if I wanted.  Their customer service was fantastic.

I'm a big fan of these belts.

[cipher]

The Ratings (out of 5):
Quality: 5
Value: 5
Effectiveness: 5
Aesthetic Appeal: 5

https://missionbelt.com/collections/canvas-collection

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The Review:

I have also been a big fan of Mission belts for many years now. I purchased a couple a number of years ago. I had a white one and a black one. I wore the black one every day to work.  I love how you just slide the end of the belt into the buckle and it is adjustable in very small increments to make the perfect fit due to the track like system on the bottom of the belt. I don't have any problems with the release function as I quickly learned to put a little pressure on the belt towards the buckle before pushing the release mechanism.  

I love the look of these new canvas belts. I think they look even better than my old leather ones. I would like to order the Pitch Black color also for my every day use. I like how the Newport Cup logo turned out on these as well.  

Release button for the buckle shown above.

Above is the underside of the buckle and the clasp which holds the buckle.  I love the design and the look of this.

Trimming the belt is now made easy with the guide on the underside of the belt.  I really like this feature as it was not something on the original belts I had.  

Show above is the underside of the belt where the track system starts and allows for the the micro adjustable feature. This is what I love the most about these belts, no holes and the belt is never too loose or too tight.  

The only issue I have ever had with these belts is the same as @Golfingdad where one of the pins either broke off or came loose that hold the buckle together. It took a long time for that to happen, probably at least a year of every day use. It happened on my black belt first and then I took the buckle off the white belt and put it onto the black belt and used that one until the buckle broke as well. I am not very concerned about it though with the new belts.  They are probably aware and have likely made some adjustments. As reasonably priced as these are I have no worries about it. The quality, design and time of use with these belts is worth more than what you pay for it. I won't be using anything else for my golf belts or every day belt. They are simply the most comfortable belt I have ever used. 

[bkuehn1952]

The Ratings (out of 5):
Quality: 5
Value: 5
Effectiveness: 5
Aesthetic Appeal: 5

A standard belt has 3/4 to 1 inch between the belt "holes".  Frankly, at times when I have lost or gained a bit of weight, cinching up a standard belt to a comfortable position is impossible.  Mission Bets have no "holes" and adjust to whatever size my growing (or hopefully shrinking) waistline requires.  These are excellent!

 

Standard Belt

[DaveP043]

 

Ratings (out of 5):
Quality: 5
Value: 5
Effectiveness: 5
Looks: 5

I became familiar with Mission belts at the 2015 Newport Cup, where we were provided with a very nice gray leather belt. This year, our gift package included two Mission belts, this time in medium gray and dark blue canvas. As the others have all said, the Mission belts use a pretty ingenious ratchet system, with a “ladder” embedded in the back of the tongue, and a latch in the buckle itself. This allows you to change the length by as little as about ¼ inch at a time, as compared to a full inch for traditional belts. Because the ratchet is on the back of the belt, and so closely adjustable, the belt itself will wear very well, no stretching at the holes like normal belts. The Newport Cup logo on the buckle looks great, and the buckle itself is sturdy and works perfectly. Another great feature is that the belts can be trimmed to fit any size, from the young slender gentlemen of the West team, to myself at the other end of the spectrum. I've shown a photo of the nasty-looking teeth that attach the trimmed end of the belt into the buckle, this is NOT going to come loose. Another minor benefit, you can order belts without the buckles, if you choose to expand your color scheme, and don't want the (pretty minor) cost of getting a new buckle too. All in all, these are my favorite belts to wear.  Many thanks to Mission for sponsoring the Newport Cup!

[NCGolfer]

The Ratings (out of 5):
Quality: 5
Value: 5
Effectiveness: 5
Aesthetic Appeal: 5

I had not previously had any sort of exposure to Mission belts.  I had heard about them in passing but did not know what to expect.  My only curiosity was that there wasn't a "size".  I'd find out what others have talked about previously...basically that they give you a belt that will fit a very large person and can be easily cut and sized down to fit anyone.  The great thing is that they provide places for you to cut based on your waist size.  The questions are 1) is it easy to cut and 2) does it fit well?  Happy to report positively on both.

As others have said you can cut these belts pretty easy with basic knives (including ones found at a rented condo) and also scissors.  Might require a little elbow grease but not much.  As for the fit, I cut right on the 34 line and it fit great.  The latch system mentioned before works absolutely flawlessly.  It took a little practice to get hang of the release mechanism to loosen the belt but after a few practices the process was easy.

I also love the look of the belts.  The two we received were a dark blue and grey.  Both were the canvas material that others have talked about.  The texture and look was really, cool.  I've already scoped out a couple other belts that I'm going to snag the next time I need to replace my normal, leather belt I wear to work.  The Gun Metal and Alloy belts look really, really sweet.  Mission has made a new fan out of me!