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How to Keep Your Pants Up Without a Belt: 10 Tips

Fact checked by Andrew Carnegie

how to keep your pants up without a belt

How to keep your pants up without a belt? This is a common question asked by fashionistas who want to create a new look for their outfits. Plus, it’s a matter of concern to many consumers buying pants too big in the waist.

If you are one of them, this helpful post featuring an extensive list of methods to tighten your pants without using a belt will come in handy. All you need to do is pick the most suitable one and try it immediately.

Effective Tricks to Keep Your Pants Up Without a Belt

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1. Buy a pant with an elastic waistband

Nowadays, many new fashion trends are created by talented designers. Aside from traditional pants having belt loops to tighten them with a belt, people can also find stylish elastic band jeans or trousers on the market.

Pants that come with elastic and flexible waistbands will give a comfortable feeling while wearing. Furthermore, it’s simple to adjust the pant’s size by stretching or tightening the waistline instead of using a belt.

Besides purchasing elastic band pants at clothing stores, you can put elastic in the waistband with these simple steps below:

What you need

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  • An elastic that is shorter than your waist size
  • A sharp knife

Step 1: From the inside of the waistband, use the knife to cut 2 small holes on both sides of the pants.

Step 2: Thread the elastic from one hole to the other using a pin.

2. Keep pants from falling down with suspenders

Keep-Pants-Up-with-suspenders

Wearing suspenders is another trick I often use instead of a belt to secure my pants. Furthermore, colorful suspenders are hip accessories, giving your outfit a classy and elegant look. 

Commonly, all manufacturers make their suspenders from a flexible and elastic material to bring a highly comfortable feeling to users. Also, their styles and designs are super diverse to meet the various preferences of customers.

Wearing suspenders is super simple, as you just need to put their ends to the belt loops in the front and back of your pants. Then, pull the straps over your shoulder to stop the jeans or trousers from dropping.

In case you would like to hide the suspenders, you can wear them under your shirt or T-shirt. Plus, hidden suspenders are commonly used in jeans designed with a button closure.

3. Use clips

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Using a binder clip, clasps, or clothespin is an effective, cheap, and quick method to tighten pants without belt. I highly recommend choosing durable and small clips that have suitable colors and designs for your pants.

In addition, you should remember that this trick only works well for informal styles because you must wear a long shirt, sweater, or T-shirt to hide the clips.

How to clip your pants:

Step 1:  Put your jeans or trousers on.

Step 2: Gather the fabric around your waistband to one side (left or right, depending on your preference) so that it fits your waist.

Step 3: Clip the gathered fabric to tighten your pants.

4. Use a string or shoelace as a diy belt alternative

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When you are sick of traditional and inconvenient belts, multicolor strings, stylish fabrics, or shoelaces are possible alternatives to a belt. When included in comparisons, these makeshift belts are significantly cheaper than commercial ones.

You just need to thread the prepared string or shoelace through the belt loops around the waistband. Then, tighten your stretchy pants with hair tie or other fabric by creating a knot with 2 ends of the string.

A downside of using a string is that it may be more uncomfortable than regular belts, since its edge is sharper. Furthermore, your outfit won’t look as polished, so it’s better to apply this method if you don’t much care about the aesthetic.

5. Shrink your pants

Shrinking is one of the awesome and practical hacks to keep pants up with no belt you should keep in mind. It’s a common solution to make oversized denim smaller.

What to prepare:

Shrink-pants-to-Keep-Pants-Up

  • A big pot
  • Water
  • Tongs
  • Dryer

Step 1: Boil water in a big pot.

Step 2: Put the pants into the hot water with tongs.

Step 3: Wait for about 20 minutes.

Step 4: Take the pants out of the pot with tongs and leave them somewhere to drip and cool down.

Step 5: Use a dryer to dry your pants completely.

Note: Some people often wear their pants while taking a shower with hot water to shrink their jeans. You can try this tip if you don’t mind cleaning and drying your legs after.

6. Make pants stay up with safety pin

Whenever you like to wear jeans without belt, tightening the waistband with a safety pin is a must-try method. It’s effortless to pin your pants with the steps below.

What to prepare

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  • Small and unobtrusive pins

Step 1: Turn the pants inside out.

Step 2: Gather the fabric of the waistband to make a rear fold.

Step 3: Pin the fold with a binder pin, paper pin, etc.

7. Tuck multiple layers into your pants

Tuck-multiple-layers-into-your-pants-to-Keep-Pants-Up

What to do if you don’t have a belt on hand? Tucking layers of clothes into your pants is a smart trick to make pants tighter without belt. Besides stopping your pants from falling down, this trick makes you feel warmer on cold days.

In addition, you can still look fashionable if you mix the undershirt, puffier shirt, T-shirt, sweater, or tank top with various colors and styles appropriately. Otherwise, wearing shorts or leggings under the pants is another perfect tip.

8. Button it to make jeans stay up

What to prepare

Keep-Pants-Up-with-Button

  • Scissors
  • A needle
  • A button that matches the pants’ color
  • Chalk
  • Thread

Step 1: Prepare a piece of thread and run it through a needle.

Step 2: Tie the thread off at one end.

Step 3: Put your pants on and identify the position to install a button so that the pants fit your waist.

Step 4: Mark the position with chalk.

Step 5: Put the button on this position and poke the needle through the button’s hole. Pull the needle through the fabric until the knot catches the waistband.

Step 6: Thread the needle through another hole on the button to temporarily secure the stud.

Step 7: Repeat step 5 and 6 until the button is firmly fixed.

Step 8: Don’t forget to make a knot before cutting the thread to keep the button from falling off.

9. Tight your pants with side-tab adjusters

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Sometimes, women want to keep their pants up without suspenders, belts, or strings, and side-tab adjusters are wonderful replacements prioritized by them. Plus, this accessory is super suitable for business and formal outfits.

By using the side-tab adjusters, users can adjust the waistband from the sides to make it fit their waist. In addition, the adjusters give your pants an elegant, stylish, and sophisticated look.

10. Hold your pants in place with belt bros

Keep-Pants-Up-with-belt-bros

Another alternative that is highly recommended for stopping women’s pants from dropping is belt bros. Normally, belt bros are produced from elastic and soft materials like polyester and nylon so that users feel comfortable wearing them.

To tighten your big waistband with belt bros, you just need to install the elastic band into 2 belt loops and adjust it to fit your body. Honestly, for an affordable cost, belt bros are worth trying.

You can read this guide to tighten pants without belt loops.

Make Your Own Pants

If you find that keeping your pants up without a belt is tricky, why don’t you buy right-fit trousers at the beginning? Indeed, it’s sometimes hard to get the best pants because standard designs do not cater to our body shapes.

However, everything can be resolved by providing specific measurements of your waist and legs for tailors to design your pants. I call this fantastic method, “Make your own pants”. By the way, this option is a helpful idea for people with big belly.

Why Won’t My Pants Stay Up

factors-causing-jeans-or-trousers-to-feel-loose

Are you curious about the reason why pants won’t stay up? Below are some factors causing jeans or trousers to feel loose.

  • Body shape: Indeed, irregular body shapes are a major cause of your pants falling. A guy with a big belly and small hips will often have to use his hands to hold his pants, as bigger sizes may be too loose while smaller ones feel too tight.
  • Pants’ size: If you purchase loose pants with a massive waistband or a size larger than your body, they will definitely drop down after you put them on. Not only that, too-small pants can’t stay in place either, since their waistband might be under your hip.
  • The cut: When buying jeans, slacks, joggers, or sweatpants, I highly suggest picking ones that have a cut higher than your hips. Low-cut designs tend to stretch out at the waistband earlier, in my experience.

Frequently Asked Questions

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Can suspenders be worn with any type of pants?

Suspenders can work perfectly with any kind of trousers and jeans, especially no-belt loops ones, for an elegant and casual style.

How do I choose the right waistband extender for my pants?

A waistband extender matching the color and fastening of your pants is the product you have to bring home. See how many inches the extender adds before purchasing, such as ½, 1, or 2 inches.

What types of pants are best for keeping up without a belt?

To keep your pants staying up without a belt, you should buy jeans or trousers designed with adjustable, flexible, and elastic waistbands.

Conclusion

Do you now know how to keep your pants up without a belt after reading this article? I believe that the tricks I have shown above will help you make use of the oversize and loose pants in your wardrobe easily.

So, don’t rush to throw them away. Feel free to satisfy your passion for fashion by designing hip and stylish outfits with them. Finally, remember to leave some other tricks you have ever used in the comment section before leaving.

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