jcrew:

a firsthand look at how our beloved belts are made, courtesy of our accessories guru, Liv

Buckle up:

 Circa is the name of the factory where most of our belts are made—it’s located in San Francisco and has been around since 1967. It operates like a family-owned business, and most of the workers have been there for years. They’re all very hands-on, which is quite lovely to see—I was lucky enough to go out there in September to witness all of the inner workings.

1. Whirl around: This is a tumbling drum, used to give the belts an aged or vintage look. Belts can go around and around on these machines for up to 120 minutes, depending on how worn we want them to appear. The drum pictured here is actually about 60 years old; Circa purchased it a decade or so ago at an auction in Italy.

2. To die for: The die shop is where all of the belt designs start to take shape—literally! “Die” refers to the metal stencil cutters, which are used to create the patterns and shapes for each of our belts (especially a perforated or cutout design), and every die that Circa uses is made out of recycled metals. The two guys in charge of this process at Circa, Porforio and Julien, have been at the factory for over a quarter of a century. 

3. Leather library: This is just a small snapshot of some of the fun, bright leathers that I discovered while at Circa.

4. Sew perfect: Keow Tan has been sewing Circa’s samples by hand for over 35 years! Watching her work in person made me really appreciate the detail that goes into making one little belt.

Check out all of our belts at jcrew.com.

As usual, J.Crew can do no wrong. Even especially when it comes to belts.