Order up! The makers say to, and all the advice says to, and I still ordered waist size (I buy pants in a 30 or 32" waist, and ordered a 32" belt, I think) and I can only get about three notches fatter before I run out of belt. Especially when it first arrived and was still stiff, I thought I'd have to order another one. If I were ordering again I'd order at least two sizes up. You can always punch another hole if you lose a lot of weight, but you can't add length! That said, after a few wears the belt relaxed into the shape of the buckle so I stopped sweating as much.

I got mine from River Ridge Leather in Ohio only about a year ago, but it definitely seems like something that'll last forever.