As a lover of high quality, made in the USA clothing and accessories, I was eager to get my hands on some of Origin’s leather goods. Unfortunately, after several months of wear, I am very disappointed.

The first thing I noticed when the belt arrived was its lack of rigidity. My standard durability test for belts is to lay the belt across my palm and squeeze my hand closed. If the belt folds under the pressure of my grip, I worry about its ability to hold up over years wear. This belt folded without much resistance when given this same test. This proved to be a problem when adding a buckle or folding knife sheath. The leather simply isn’t rigid enough to support heavier items worn on the waist.

Another thing I noticed upon first wear was the leather dye rubbing off onto everything that it came into contact with. My light wash jeans were left with a heavy, brown stain all across the waistband and belt loops after just minutes of wear. This wouldn’t concern me if the problem didn’t continue after several wears, but I am left with a similar stain each and every time I have worn this belt in the past several months. I can only imagine that this problem would worsen after a long day in the saddle.

A common problem with belts is that they begin to collapse where they make contact with the back belt loop. The Origin Raw Edge Belt fell victim to this same issue. After just a few wears, the leather began to completely fold over and lose all sense of structure in this area.

Overall, I had hoped for much better from Origin Maine, but was unfortunately left very disappointed.