The Belt?

Baseball belts are not as iconic as the stirrups for baseball socks or the celebrated ball cap. And while the cap has become ubiquitous in activewear and no other sport utilizes the stirrup oversock, somewhere in between lies the humble belt.

What Other Sport?

Football is the one sport that comes to mind when thinking of belts. The elastic waistband that suits even the most active sports like basketball is insufficient for football. Tackles, falls, slides all necessitate stronger support than elastic can provide. Interesting note, the aggressive nature of physical contact makes the convention buckle dangerous; football belts secure using d-rings.

Time honored sports like cricket, tennis, rugby, lacrosse all have abandoned the belt for the elastic waistband. Fencing uses suspenders. Not so for officiating uniforms though. Most referees’ uniform pants are belted. One sport that uses the belt, unbeknownst to the spectator? Hockey!

Wait, what?

Baseball socks have the classic stirrup or two-in-one false stirrup stripe. Lacrosse has, and soccer can have, over the knee socks that protect the legs. Hockey also has over the knee socks for leg protection, but their socks tend to be a little looser, so to secure them hockey players use -- a garter belt. That’s right, those rough-and-tumble ice sliders who always have time to stop a game for a bit of slip and slide fisticuffs wear garters to hold up their socks.

So when asked about iconic sports uniform elements most will certainly answer baseball socks or caps before belts, and not many other sports use them. When looking for customizable outfits, few will need to consider the belt as opposed to jerseys or even custom socks. But if you do need to outfit your baseball team with uniform belts, Socks Rock offers matching belt and sock combos for your convenience.