In this SlideBelts review, you will learn the major features of this functional belt. As you read through, you will learn how the customers felt about SlideBelts and how frequently people searched about this product on the Internet. All combined, you will be able to make an informed purchase decision. Let’s first find out about the company.
About SlideBelts
Successful companies often have a good story to share. SlideBelts also does have a story. In 2004, Brig, the founder, received a gift from his student while teaching in Moldova. It was a unique belt that has a ratchet and ridges to hold a tab. The gift belt did not have holes that traditional belts have.
Brig, the founder, was mesmerized by the practicality. He thought that by giving stylish makeover, he could make it a big hit in the market. Since 2007, Brig and the company continued improving the products and refining the ratchet design.
Major Features
SlideBelts has two types of belts – survival and normal. In this section, I will share what major features each belt type has.
Belts
SlideBelts has a wide range of belts. Each has a different belt and buckle design. In spite of the differences, they share major features.
Dual Ratchet
This is the flagship feature of SlideBelts. Their dual ratchet makes their products different from other ordinary belts. Using the ratchet design, you don’t have to find a hole to adjust the size. You can simply tighten your belt and release it to fit the belt to your waist. It is not only about the ease of fitting the size, but also about comfort.
I sometimes wish there is another hole between two holes to fine-tune the belt size. When I choose the inner one, it becomes too fit. When I choose the outer one, it becomes not fit enough. This ratchet design will remove the discomfort you may have felt with traditional belts.
Mix and Match Buckle
The belt and buckles are detachable so you can mix and match them for various styles. Two belts and two buckles can make four different styles. In addition to style, you don’t have to change the whole belt when only a belt or a buckle is broken.
Customizable Options
When you purchase a SlideBelts belt, they offer many options. One is engraving into the buckle. You can engrave your name or other words. It can be a good option for the sense of ownership or for a gift to your family, friend, or partner.
Also, when you select a belt product, you can choose one of the various belt colors and buckle designs. Lastly, not a selectable option within a belt, but SlideBelts has adopted four types of belt materials.
- Canvas: a woven blend of polyester and cotton to give a fun and casual feel.
- Faux Leather: made out of vegan materials, which is animal friendly.
- Top Grain Leather: SlideBelts’ softest and most flexible leather.
- Full Grain Leather: highest quality leather with a refined finish.
Among the materials, Canvas-based belts have the lowest price tag and the full-grain leather ones have the highest. I’ll cover the prices in detail in a separate section.
Survival Belts
SlideBelts has another belt category – Survival. As the name implies, Survival Belts 2.0 has essential outdoor features. They include:
- Stainless steel knife
- Firestarter
- LED flashlight
- Bottle opener
These functions are embedded within the buckle. They can be useful for camping or hiking. Of course, the survival belt does come with the ratchet design like any other SlideBelts products.
Prices
The price range of SlideBelts varies depending on the material of the belt.
- Canvas: $39USD
- Faux Leather: $39USD – $42USD
- Top Grain Leather: $65USD
- Full Grain Leather: $88USD – $98USD
There is one type of Survival Belt.
- Survival Belt 2.0: $150USD
Customer Review Analysis
When you consider buying a product or using a service, you will wonder what experiences other buyers had. Investigating the reviews of other users can lead to a better decision, and it is a wise thing to do as a consumer. If people are dissatisfied with it, they will complain about it and won’t recommend it. If they are happy, they will leave positive comments and share their great experiences. If we can compile and analyze those reviews, we can have an assurance about the product or the service.
That’s what I am going to do for you. I used over 3,000 reviews that people left on TrustPilot. I summarized those data to generate easy-to-understand graphs and charts. Those visuals will allow you to understand the overall sentiments the customers had toward SlideBelts. They are also easy to understand.
Positive SlideBelts Word Cloud
In a word cloud, some words will appear bigger because those specific words were more frequently used among customers. So, the bigger the more frequent, thus, if those big words are positive, it proves that most of the customers had a positive experience. Have a look at the word cloud of SlideBelts.
The word cloud above should have given you a good impression of their products. The most frequent word that actual customers used in their reviews was “great”. Other big words are also positive – “good”, “excellent”, “love”, “quality”, “best”, and many more. Just by looking at the word cloud, we can learn that most of the people were satisfied with the belt products.
Customer Sentiments
The word cloud tells you what descriptive words people used for the product. There is another angle we can use to understand the SlideBelts customer reviews. That is by categorizing the reviews into a type of 10 sentiments. While I used the review titles for the word cloud above, I used the review contents for the sentiment analysis. The result is the graph below.
I was able to run my sentiment analysis code to find out what specific sentiments people had over SlideBelts. As we could guess from the word cloud, more than half of the review contents were positive. Of course, people shared negative experiences. I haven’t seen any review that is all positive. Despite the negative reviews, overall, people left positive comments on the ratchet belts.
SlideBelts Interest Trend
Another type of analysis I often use for a product review is using Google Trend. It is an extremely helpful service by Google that gives you a historical Google search trend. The idea is that if a product or a company can maintain or can increase its search volume over many years, it supports the quality of the product. If a product is bad, people won’t show their interest and eventually will never search for the product anymore. Then, how is the trend of SlideBelts? Plus, how has people’s interest in general been changed?
The blue line above shows the search volume of “slidebelts” on Google since March 2015. From the graph, we can see that people kept searched about the product although there is no upward or downward trend. In spite of fluctuations, SlideBelts has been able to maintain a consistent level of people’s interest.
Fashion Style Tips for Belting
This section can help those wanting to learn how to choose the right belt or when to wear a belt. For this, I referred to a Cosmopolitan post, “The Secrets to Belting Like a Style Star“.
How to Choose the Right Belt
Before choosing a belt, imagine your daily fashion look. Do you wear a white shirt and a black suit? Do you wear jeans and a casual T-shirt? Just by drawing a picture of your everyday look, you can prevent picking a wrong belt. What’s good about the SlideBelts website, you can find a model wearing a specific belt with a proper outfit. This can be a great reference for styling. Try to visit their belt product page and go into one of the products, you will see a model wearing that belt.
The second piece of advice is choosing the right width and length. On the same product page, you will be able to find a filter by width. Currently, there are three choices:
- 1.5″
- 1.25″
- 0.9″
Thick belts tend to look great for those with longer torsos because they help to make their upper bodies shorter and proportional. If you have a short waist, try a thinner one. In terms of length, all of SlideBelts can fit up to 44″ waist. When you see the inner part of the belts, there are marks that indicate waist size. You can cut the belt according to your size. My advice is don’t make it too tight.
The last advice is, consider belts as fashion items. Like a watch or jewelry, belts can be a great fashion item. A right belt can shine your fashion.
When to Wear Belts
When you untuck your top, don’t belt a top. The Cosmopolitan post warns that if you belt a top, you would look older and awkward. Use your belt when you tuck your top wear. When you wear pants, check where they rest on and if they have belt loops. If it is your hips and they don’t have the loops, don’t wear a belt. It will not properly and you will spend time trying to make it center.
Conclusion
We learned about the company and the major features of SlideBelts. From my review analysis, we discovered that most of the actual users had a positive experience with the ratcheted belts. The five-year trend showed us people consistently searched for SlideBelts. Given all these factors, I believe having SlideBelts would give you convenience, comfort, a great look, and a higher chance of survival if you chose the survival belt!
Useful Links
If you want to have an actual look at the belts and see how they work, these videos can help you.
