Category: News

  • Flash Sale! And what shall come from it.

    Flash Sale! And what shall come from it.

    Today, I launch a flash sale, in hopes of raising capital and awareness for the brand, to pave the way for some important steps toward turning this into a full time business.

    Over the last year, I have put my available energy into the backend, like the website, product photography, graphic design (especially for advertising), and more. I began to scramble when I saw a declining sales trend. Although it’s traceable to Etsy algorithm changes mostly, I had to confront myself in this process, accepting criticism and feedback, looking objectively at my presentation (from photography to packaging) and where it needs improvement. I’m still in the midst of the process.

    I have been wearing my Held belts every day since 2009. At first, I only had the Classic black belt, and it was my everything belt: work, play, and formal wear. After taking over the brand in 2022, I absorbed four different designs that I rotate for all occasions. I certainly believe that you should only sell a product you stand by, and use for yourself.

    Over these last two years, I have sold about one hundred units online, earning more 5-star reviews on Etsy. Dozens more have sold at markets.

    I really haven’t been receiving negative feedback. Sometimes silence is what you pay attention to for implicit feedback. In other words, I want more positive reviews, and I will do what it takes.

    I keep this brand going because I receive orders from customers going back more than a decade, finally replacing their first belt. Shark-like business-people will say that’s terrible, you can’t make a product that people won’t replace for ten years.

    I don’t care. I will wait for you. Sometimes your silence is a good thing.

    I have learned a great number of lessons about business, marketing, presentation, design, and competition. I didn’t realize how many fashion brands were out there hoping to become the next big thing. Either that, or someone has no passion for design and durability, they just want a no-name entity to pump out cheaply made product that nobody will ever never seek out a replacement for. These brands will position their products in places where shop owners, who also have no passion for style or quality, will just buy it because it’s cheap and immediate and they know they can move it.

    The principle of Held Gear is to make a product you remember, that you keep and care about. That idea is to be extended far beyond belts, if successful. It doesn’t matter how long it takes, I’m just taking it all one step at a time.

    With a successful clearance sale, I want to order some new materials for new designs, and spend on marketing. However, I have a few more steps to take to improve the design and presentation. When all of these preparations are made, I hope to find new customers with some cleverly targeted advertising.

    I believe this can be a full-time business, one that employs a handful of people, and stimulates American manufacturing.

    Let’s start with this flash sale.

    Please take advantage of these deals now and find your new favorite belt today!

  • Bitcoin and Crypto Payments Now Available

    Durability is one of the pillars of the Held brand. Cryptocurrencies are a new frontier that people can use toward a more durable future. Coinbase is an American publicly traded company that provides the most trustworthy solution for a range of crypto payments.

    As of now, none of the online retailers that we have stores with offer a cryptocurrency payment solution.

    Held Gear dot com is hosted by a small Oregon-based company with longstanding values in security and privacy. This website is powered by open source and free software including WooCommerce and Coinbase Commerce. These systems provide all the solutions Held needs for the scaled growth of the brand, without compromising the privacy and security of its customers.

    Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, Shiba Inu, and many more units are accepted at checkout. Just shop and before using fiat, select the crypto payment box and use your CoinBase account to complete the order. Please contact if you have any questions.

  • Fashion Show Friday!

    Fashion Show Friday!

    For the first time in many years, Held Gear is participating in a fashion show. This August 12, we will be combining forces with two artists to show the range of styles that these products coordinate with.

    Leaning toward the hip hop and street clothes fashion, we’re working with Bullshitforsale. The brand is humorous, the name is tongue and cheek. He cuts up thrift shop scores into complete one-of-a-kind pieces, and our Mammoth and Snow Ermine straps will cut through the mosaic styles he crafts.

    Swinging toward goth and punk with a twist of dark magic, Cult Ties will be presenting one ensemble and is modeling the black strap known as “classic.” She produces hand knit apparel and more crafts.

    To be determined at rehearsal, other models will sport the Auroch and Summer Sky sets.

    Standardizing a belt, cuff, and collar set for every primary Held strap, while showing them in a runway setting is a milestone for this brand. The sets have always been there, but presented like an ensemble, it hasn’t been done yet.

    Micah and I were there in Portland, Oregon when it was young, gritty limitlessly creative, and I haven’t felt that energy for over a decade, until now in Philadelphia. Held Gear is lucky to be here.

    The show is produced by Bigbootybotanist, a Temple University student making the most of her summer. It is her first fashion show but she is determined to keep on with event production.

    -Sean

  • New Products, Old Ideas Revised

    Clearance sales on Mammoth and Snow Ermine are in effect. This is to accelerate plans to improve those designs. In fact, Ermine is a new design based on a strap used in the past. The cut on this strap came out 1/16″ too wide, but it still fits through the buckle, just a little tight.

    Mammoth is our most expensive, chic, standard belt. Yet, it has the same design as the classic, with the roller buckle and single snap. We found a chic modern western style buckle for it. It requires a double snap and a slightly tighter loop to house the buckle, so all previously built Mammoths must go.

    The gradual rollout of Held’s mainstay catalogue has been going steadily.

    Any products listed at HeldGear.com are considered ongoing inventory with no discontinuation in sight. These are not recycled products and they are built from new components.

    Etsy will continue for now as the exclusive listing site for prototypes, limited issues, and units built from recycled materials.

    Held products reduce waste even when they are newly sourced, because they are the most durable belt strap outside of pure raw hide leather. “Genuine Leather” is nonsense. That stuff is either a composite of junk leather ground into particles, mixed with other junk, then bound together by toxic adhesives.

    Most people that buy a cheap standard black belt for their job don’t even realize that they are wearing a vegan belt. However, it is made from a weak strap, junk buckles, made in poor working conditions, and is not meant to last a year.

    Held offers an affordable alternative. Our retail prices are in the same range as inferior products at major department stores. We offer something that can be put to the test day in and out, for years to come.

    The goal of standardizing mainstay products with completely American-made components is within reach, and getting closer with every sale. As our supply chain works right now, we already support small American companies every step of the way.

    So many possibilities are at our fingertips springing from the belt design. The reversible snap strap allows for customization options like different buckles, and more conceptual designs and color combinations. Building that into the shop is a little complex, but it’s almost here.

    Cuffs, collars, and new belt designs are coming out right now.

    HELD is a supplement to the whole American manufacturing apparatus that uses conveyor belting in their process. We support the continued sales of these manufacturers even during a recession.

    We are also a punk rock company, man, this is all indie as it gets. That’s why, eventually people will say, we’re the only brand that matters.