A Belt Built to Last: The Story Behind the Burke Belt
We have had our hearts set on crafting our own leather belt for a few years. We knew what we wanted — a timeless, Australian leather, everyday belt, built to last — the goal was simple: work with the best. That led us to Eagle Belts, one of the last remaining belt manufacturers in Australia, who have been handcrafting leather goods since the 1940s.
Inside the workshop, the smell of leather hangs in the air but there’s a bittersweet feeling in the space as a long journey of belt making is slowly being dismantled around us. Leigh grew up here, helping out his dad in school holidays, learning every trade in the building. “It’s kind of in my blood,” he says. “I’d come into the factory during school holidays from the time I was about ten,” he recalls. “It started as pocket money, helping out here and there. Over time, I worked across every part of the business — sales, production, importing, exporting, supply chain, even the financial side. Eventually, I took over from my dad just before COVID.”
At its peak, Eagle Belts was producing thousands of belts a week, including designs for Lee Jeans, Wrangler and other denim giants. “It was wild,” Leigh recalls. “We’d have 50 or 60 belts in a range — experimenting with stitching, distressing, prints, whatever you could think of. It was a creative time.”
But those days have largely gone. Like many small-scale Australian manufacturers, Eagle Belts struggled to compete with the volume and pricing of offshore production. “We had a big client who eventually moved overseas, and that was it. It just wasn’t sustainable anymore,” Leigh explains. “There’s no new blood coming through the industry. People don’t want to work in factories anymore — and a lot of the family-run businesses are closing their doors.”
For us, that’s exactly why this story matters.
We want to create products with good materials, and good people - we want to make products that last. Industry in Australia has not kept up with the same progression as offshore manufacturing, it’s harder and harder to make things here - to find the skills, the people - and the ones we have worked with are often the last in their line of hands-on manufacturers. Leigh’s story fits the bill. Multi-generational craftsmen whose doors are now closing because the demand and capability for Australian manufacturing cannot compete with the development of offshore production.
Our Burke Belt is the last line of belts to be produced in Leigh’s factory. A factory his dad ran before him, and a generation of craftsmen before that. We had just 200 of the belts made as that was all there was time for before the machinery was dismantled and taken off the workshop floor. Handcrafted from full grain Australian leather, it carries with it decades of knowledge, care and design intuition. “Someone could wear that belt every day for ten years,” Leigh says. “Maybe not in the ocean — but just about anywhere else.” We reckon that’s just about as good as any guarantee you’re going to get on a belt.
There’s still immense value in things being made close to home. As Leigh puts it: “We’re not just putting crap out there into the environment. These are products built to last.”
We know the challenges facing Australian manufacturing is not something we can tackle on our own but we do hope that sharing the stories, and celebrating the people behind our products reminds people why it matters - because good things, made well, last.
