How to Size a Belt for Pants

The simplest way of measuring for belt size is to wrap a flexible measuring tape around your middle where the waistband of your pants normally sits, then read the measurement off in inches and round up to the nearest even numbered inch. If you're trying to surprise someone with a new belt to fit his pants, however, you don't want to give your plan away by wrapping a tape around his middle; instead, get your hands on a pair of his pants and measure those, instead.

Things You'll Need

• Flexible measuring tape

Instructions

1. Check inside the waistband of the pants. Usually, the waist measurement of the pants will be on a tag inside the waistband. Round up to the nearest even numbered inch for your belt size. For example, if your pants have a 35-inch waist, round up to a 36-inch belt. If you can't find where the measurement is noted down inside the pants, go on to Step 2.

2. Zip and buckle, button or otherwise fasten the pants so that the waistband is secure. If there's more than one option for fastening the pants---say, more than one button to choose from at the waistband---put the pants on and determine which fastener is most comfortable, then remove the pants and fasten them again.

3. Wrap a flexible measuring tape around the inside of the pants' waistband. Start wrapping where the pants fasten in front, then pinch the tape against the waistband, all the way around the waist until you get back to where you started, to ensure you get an accurate measurement.

4. Read the measurement off the tape, in inches, and round up to the nearest even numbered inch. So, for example, if the tape measurement was 32.5, 33 or 33.5 inches you would round up to 34 inches. This is the appropriate belt length for the pair of pants in question.

5. Measure from the inside bottom to the inside top of one of the pants' belt loops and note this down as the widest possible belt you can wear with the pants in question.

References

• ExecStyle: Men's Sizing