Extendible belt

#Garment belts typically include a buckle for adjusting length of the belt to a wearer's waist size. The buckle may provide a number of discrete positions for fastening the belt or may include a mechanism for adjustment along a continuous length of the belt. In any case, the length of the belt is fixed once the belt is placed about a wearer's waist and the buckle is fastened. As a significant disadvantage, fixed-length belts such as these will not adapt to changes in a user's waistline, which may occur when a user is active, when a user changes from a standing to a sitting position, or simply when a user eats an ample meal.

#One approach to this problem is to fashion a belt from a pliable material that can extend during use, such as rubber or certain woven strapping materials. However, this approach cannot accommodate the use of familiar and aesthetically pleasing materials, such as finished leather, for a belt.

#There remains a need for a belt fashioned from a non-extendible material that can adapt to variations in a wearer's waistline while in use.

#The foregoing and other objects and advantages of the invention will be appreciated more fully from the following further description thereof, with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

#FIG. 1 shows a belt including an extendible insert;

#FIG. 2 shows an insert;

#To provide an overall understanding of the invention, certain illustrative embodiments will now be described, including a leather belt with a rubber insert stitched along the length thereof. However, it will be understood that the systems and methods described herein may be usefully applied to any garment belt or other belt where a range of extendibility is desired for an otherwise non-extendible belt material. All such belts are intended to fall within the scope of the systems described herein.

#FIG. 1 shows a belt including an extendible insert. A belt 100 may include a buckle 102, a first length of non-extendible material 104, an extendible insert 106, and a second length of non-extendible material 108 having a free end 110 adapted to be fastened by the buckle 102.

#The buckle 102 and the free end 110 may be of any conventional manufacture for securing a belt, and may include snaps, clasps, pins, sliders, or any other connecting mechanisms. The buckle 102 may be formed of metal, plastic, or any other materials, or combinations thereof, having adequate strength to secure a belt around a waist of a belt wearer. In the depicted embodiment, the buckle 102 is secured through holes in the free end 110 of the belt 100. In another embodiment, the buckle 102 may comprise a loop (not shown), and the free end 110 may include VELCRO, buttons, or some other mechanism for allowing the free end 110 to be threaded through the loop of the buckle 102 and attached to itself in a secure manner.