Men's Accessories
Buy and sell men’s accessories in Guatemala.
A belt woven on a highland loom, with a short leather tip and a metal buckle, is as Guatemalan as anything a man wears, and it sits here beside the plain leather belt, the leather wallet and the tie. Accessories come up new and pre-owned, from a crazy-horse leather belt to a pop-up card wallet or a silk tie worn to a single wedding. Watches, sunglasses, caps and cufflinks each have their own page further down. With belts, length decides everything, so ask for the measurement before you go to see one.
Watches, sunglasses, caps and cufflinks, one level down:
a used watch is bought on its movement and its caseback, so men’s watches sit apart. So do men’s sunglasses, where the lens matters more than the frame, and men’s hats and caps, from club caps to palm-leaf hats. Cufflinks come out for weddings and graduations and spend the rest of the year in their box.
Woven belts from the highland looms:
a woven belt is a band of cotton cloth with leather at both ends, a tab that holds the buckle and a short tip that carries the holes. The cloth comes off the same foot looms that weave the wrap-skirt fabric of highland dress, and stalls at the Thursday and Sunday market in Chichicastenango sell the belts beside woven blouses and head cloths. Two things set them apart from a leather strap. The holes are only in the tip, so the belt fits a narrow range of waists and cannot be cut down the way leather can. And bright hand-dyed cotton can run when it gets soaked, which matters over a pale shirt.
Leather belts, crazy horse and the tactical belt:
on an everyday belt the choice is mostly the leather. Crazy horse is oiled and waxed, so it lightens wherever it is scratched or bent, and people buy it for exactly that worn look. A reversible belt gives you black on one face and brown on the other, and the glue line between them is what goes first. The tactical belt is nylon webbing with a metal quick-release buckle, and it adjusts anywhere along its length instead of by holes. Belts are often sold by letter, S to XL, and the same letter means a different length from one maker to the next, so measure a belt you already wear rather than trusting it.
Shelf price, market stall and a belt’s second owner:
a new leather belt runs from about Q150 for plain crazy horse to around Q500 for a branded reversible or a tactical belt, and a leather wallet from about Q200 to Q450. Used, an everyday belt loses its value fast: it was cheap new, and the hole the last owner wore is stretched into an oval that stays visible. What holds up is the unworn piece, a heavy buckle that screws onto a new strap, and occasion items such as a silk tie or boxed cufflinks that went out once.
Stitching, edges and pop-up wallets on a used piece:
on a woven belt, look first at the seam where cloth meets leather. That line takes the pull every time the belt is fastened, and a loose thread there spreads. Frayed edges on the cloth only get worse. On leather, bend the strap at the most-used hole and look for cracks, then run a thumb along the edge: a painted edge peels and shows a layered core underneath. Scratches on crazy horse are normal and rub back with a finger. A pop-up card wallet lives or dies by its lever. Fire it a dozen times with cards inside; a slow or sticking push means a tired spring. On a tie, the knot area tells the story: shine, a crease that will not hang out, or a stain where it was tied.
A belt, wallet or tie ready for a buyer from Cobán or Mazatenango:
for a belt, give the distance from the buckle pin to the first and the last hole, because that span is the range of waists it will close on. For a woven one, say where it came from and whether it has been washed. Open a wallet flat and photograph every slot, and with a pop-up, say whether the lever still fires cleanly. Photograph ties with the label showing. A tie worn to one wedding or a set of cufflinks still boxed from a graduation is worth more than one worn every week, so say how many times it went out.