I bought 2 of these belts. To be honest I thought this was a great price for leather belts and I needed brown and black so I got one of each. I have followed the instructions. and bought the recommended size. The belt was longer than I expected. After reading more about it, I sat down with some household tools and disassembled the belt. In my case, I measured and marked about 2 inches from the rectangular end that fits the buckle. Using a single-edged blade (a utility knife or similar will do), I trim off the excess skin. Then, using the piece I took as a reference, I drilled a small hole in the belt and then assembled it. It worked great! Now the strap fits perfectly and shows no signs of being adjusted. Being able to remove the bolt and disassemble the belt made this change fairly easy if needed. The quality of the leather and construction is good and I think it was good value for money and I would buy it again. Although I would probably have bought a size down If you are unsure of the size I suggest you follow the recommendations and end up getting something that may be larger than expected. Modifications to make the belt smaller and more perfect are very easy to do without much experience or tools.