There were a number of different economy patterns of belt produced during the Second World War, including this example we looked at a few years ago with a webbing keeper and steel hooks on the rear of the belt. This wasn’t the only pattern of belt produced under economy conditions and today we are looking at an alternative method of reducing production costs:

Whilst this belt has the full set of brass fittings, the loops on the rear used for size adjustment and to attach the pouches to are not woven into the belt itself, but are formed from a separate piece of thin webbing sewn on, with lines of stitching to create the pockets:

As the belt does not need pockets the whole length, only at the ends where it is adjusted in size and pouches are fitted, the strip of thin webbing is sewn here, but not across the back part:

This belt is another piece of the story of 1937 pattern production and there is now only one major variant of economy belt I am looking for- one made up of belt offcuts sewn together.