While I like to discuss a particular belt buckle theme and present many examples of buckles within the category, I also want my readers to find just the right belt buckles.

To that end, I long ago created the Men’s Belt Buckles aStore: an on-line store that offers belt buckles from Amazon.com and the vendors who sell there. You can visit the Men’s Belt Buckles aStore by clicking the image under the title in the right margin of this page (scroll down if you don’t see it there).

More Sources of Men’s Belt Buckles

Of course, there are far more sources for men’s belt buckles on the Internet than Amazon.com. So, I’ve tracked down a few belt buckle stores and added links to them in the sidebar. So far, I’ve included The Belt Buckle Shop, Hot Buckles, eBlade Store, and Belt Buckle Knife, but I plan to add even more in the near future.

If you haven’t found what moves you in any of my posts—or in my aStore—I hope you’ll visit these other vendors; maybe they have what you’re looking for.

Technorati Tags: belt buckle stores, buy belt buckles, buy mens belt buckles, mens belt buckle stores

What does football have to do with men’s belt buckles? Well… with football season underway here in the United States, many of us look forward to three or four successive days each week of spectatorship: Friday evenings, we gather for games at our local high schools; Saturdays, we watch college ball; and on Sundays and Mondays we watch pro football. Diehard fans hold season tickets to home games, and you’ll find them tailgating in the parking lot and cheering in the stadium.

These dedicated fans usually wear their teams’ colors. They have tee shirts, sweat shirts, hats, jackets, stadium blankets, and coolers sporting team logos. Some paint their faces, and some strip down and paint their chests—even when temperatures dip below freezing.

As decked out as a fan may be, he (or she) often overlooks his (or her) belt buckle. The typical fan simply isn’t aware that there is at least one style of officially-licensed belt buckle bearing the team logo… and for the particular fan, there are usually several styles from which to choose.

NFL Men’s Belt Buckles

A local high school could have promotional belt buckles made, but these would be sold locally as fundraisers. Many college teams have promotional belt buckles, typically sold in college stores—though some are available through other commercial channels. Of course, NFL belt buckles have broad distribution. To boot, there is a variety of styles of officially-licensed NFL buckles with team logos. Oddly, team logo men’s belt buckles of each style aren’t available for all NFL teams. In fact, in certain styles, only a handful of teams are represented. Here are descriptions and examples of the styles of licensed NFL belt buckles:

The simplest of the men’s belt buckles for NFL fans is no more than a team’s official logo with a bale and a hook on the back. Most of these have the same shape as the logo itself. These vary in size considerably as a logo’s design dictates a buckle’s proportions—a wide logo works well as a relatively small belt buckle, but a narrow logo results in a taller buckle—otherwise the buckle simply wouldn’t be wide enough. Consider these from New England, Dallas, and Minnesota:

A second style of NFL buckle is a medallion that has a standardized look: a football player on the buckle’s right side, and a team logo on the buckle’s left… these are, perhaps, the most subtle of the designs; it takes a close look to see what the buckle represents. These buckles are each 2.5 inches high by 3.5 inches wide:

Perhaps the most ambitious of the NFL team logo belt buckle designs are the “limited edition” series. These designs combine the logo with several related elements in striking relief. For example, the NY Jets buckle in this series shows a bit of the NYC skyline and the Statue of Liberty, while the St Louis Rams buckle shows some city skyline and the Gateway Arch. Running about 2 and 3/8 inches high and 3 inches across, this series of NFL men’s belt buckles offers the greatest variety of designs:

The NFL team logo men’s belt buckle most clearly designed with the tailgating fan in mind is more than just a means to hold up your pants; it’s also a bottle opener. These are surprisingly low-profile; one isn’t likely to draw attention until you use it to open a beer:

There is a line of “oversized” NFL team logo buckles. These have a standardized design with the team name on raised borders around an oval that holds the team logo. The oversized buckles are quite large—3 and 3/8 inches tall by 4 inches wide—and they look very sharp; people will know which team you favor when you wear one of these big boys.

Perhaps the flashiest of the licensed NFL men’s belt buckles are in the Gold and Silver series. These are large oval buckles with a standardized, formal design in a gold tone raised against a silver background; the team logo appears centered in the oval:

Classic NFL Men’s Belt Buckles

The belt buckles I’ve described are licensed product lines that are available now. There have been other officially-licensed NFL belt buckles that are no longer available except from private owners and collectors. If you frequent yard sales and flea markets, you might stumble across some of these older buckles from time-to-time—and many are available through on-line auction sites and belt buckle stores. Here are examples of vintage NFL men’s belt buckles:

Follow this link, or click the Buckle Store link in the margin of this page to see more men’s belt buckles officially licensed by the NFL.

Other NFL Gear

If a team belt buckle isn’t enough, check out the web sites listed below for other NFL-branded items to express your team affiliation:

Technorati Tags: football, NFL, sports