It's either faulty assembly or poor design, but one of the main criteria for a belt is the ability to fit the end of the belt through the buckle. Even twisting the end to cross over wasn't enough, you had to slide it through the buckle. I could try trimming the leather end a bit on both sides, but then the stretched part would rub. They should have made the buckle just 1/8" wider and that would have been great. I suspect they bought the buckles in bulk and tried to get them to work but it didn't work.