Once Upon a Belt in summary

A family run online belt shop based in Bournemouth, Dorset in the UK since 2009 - selling belts worldwide and offering a superior personal service which can be rare in these modern times but we pride ourselves on it - we really do care about what you are trying to achieve with your outfit or gift and each customer is treated as an individual. We simply treat as we would like to be treated and we love having the delighted customers that result from this company ethos.

About our belts range, how to buy a quality belt and chicken!

The belts are sourced mainly from UK companies using European suppliers to ensure the higest standards of quality. Often the belts are from full grain 100% Italian leather or are suede split but lined with nubuck, unlike the belts you find on the High Street (except a few mid to high end shops where we swoon at their leathers on their £40+ jeans belts) which although they can say 'genuine leather' often have very little leather in them using a thin split of hide joined to another cheap material, some cardboard bonded in between - or they may be reconstituted leather. They look dull, flat (no character or variation found in full grain leather) and will often break quite quickly. It's a bit like the difference between producing chicken nuggets versus a free-range organic chicken gourmet meal your friends will admire!

We like to deal with not just quality leathers but premium materials that make us ooh and aah when we open the box - we highly recommend our own brand and Stephen Collins belts for that! For longevity and the beauty that comes from being fabulous real leather and without a sweatshop in the chain, expect to pay two to three times more so a skinny belt and buckle start at £20 and hip belts £45 (x1.5 or x2 if in a high street chain, catalogue or department store as their initial mark ups are often much higher to allow them to sell items off in sales at up to 70% off). We have a few options under that price mark but the quality is not comparable and we are moving away from them - we hate to deal with anything less than perfection and don't like it when we have to send faulty belts back to suppliers.

Finding belts that ticked all the boxes was so difficult we ended up creating our own belt brand to fill the void, with quality leather belts made just for us in the UK which means we can be really competitive on price when it comes to fabulous quality belts as we sell them direct to you. Stephen Collins Belts also make some belts exclusively for us. Just when you thought gorgeous could not be more gorgeous, we take it up a notch.

We have a selection that is hard to beat when it comes to choice, quality and good value. We understand just how hard it is to find the perfect belt.

OUAB and the planet

Meleniak Ltd is always looking for ways to limit its environmental footprint. The company has a policy to avoid all waste and therefore:
- We reuse all packaging that comes through the door such as polystyrene chips etc. Customers collecting from the office get a pre-used carrier bag.
- We encourage customers to use the same packaging for returns.
- Are currently trialling packaging produced from 97% recycled materials, with the remaining 3% obtained from sustainable sources.
- We automatically power down servers every evening to save energy.
- The website is hosted with Memset - the UK's first Carbon Neutral® Web host.
- Our travel is limited so they have a limited carbon footprint there and when going to tradeshows or to see suppliers in London they choose to use public transport where possible.

Your wrapping and parcel filling may not be brand new but we figure as it is will end up in the rubbish bin or better still recycling, it is better to save a few trees wherever possible - plus Womble fashion we just can't bear to throw out things which can be reused.

Who we are

Legal spiel

onceuponabelt.com (also referred to as ‘OUAB’, 'Once Upon A Belt', and 'onceuponabelt' on this Website and in our literature) is a trading name of Meleniak Ltd. Meleniak Ltd is registered in England under no. 04557395. The registered office is 141a New Road, Ascot, Berkshire, SL5 8QA, United Kingdom but please note the office address for all correspondence and returns is Teal House, 51 Irving Road, Bournemouth, BH6 5BH, United Kingdom. VAT registration number is GB 945 0809 14.