The belt looks like real leather and smells like real leather. The quality of the buckle is excellent; solid and solid. Really nice. The finish of the belt feels superficial and was one of two reasons I never wore this belt outside of the first try. The finish immediately looked like it would tear when the bend was introduced and the leather appears lighter in color from that point forward. And judging by the looks, I have a feeling that this very thin surface can peel off. My last complaint is the number of holes. In hindsight it's obvious from the photos but I wasn't thinking about the number of holes but the buckle and the color of the leather. This belt has 7 holes. Typical straps are 5. The extra holes just struck me as odd and a little cheap when I tried them on. Finally, if you see many, many Vine reviews, tread carefully. Most reviews were Vine reviews. I paid $36 for this belt on February 6, 2022.