The perfect cotton belt, and its more affordable knockoff

Lacoste Cotton Belt – $42.90 ($65) | Toneka Cotton Solid & Striped Belts – $12.90 ($19.50)

Cotton, web, and grossgrain belts can be great.  They can also be maddening.  Find one that just doesn’t have enough friction between belt and buckle, and you’ll be readjusting the damn thing all day.  Get one that’s too loud in color, and you’ll have to stash it for 8 months out of the year in the back of your closet.

Lacoste’s cotton belt solves both of those problems.  They come in toned down solids that deliver contrast by way of either the leather accents, silver tone rivets, or both.  And those rivets guarantee you won’t have to re-cinch every hour or so.  Rumor has it a similar model (without the roller or reenforced rivets) can be found at discount stores like TJ Maxx and Marshalls for around $25.  See the comments section over here for more on that.

At a third of the cost and without any logo (which despite the croc’s coolness, many have a zero tolerance for logos in general), Nordstrom’s Toneka cotton belts are basically the same thing.  The hardware is matte black, and the buckle isn’t as streamlined, but you still get the rivets, roller, and leather accents.  Plus stripes if you’d like.

All but the white based can be worn year round.  The black/khaki striped option will look extremely sharp this fall.  Especially if you pair it up with this guy.