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),