Beltoe and Beltie are belts made from recycled bicycle tyres. Each one is an individual, and handmade, with its own history. The tread bears the scars of every mile travelled, and every unauthorised skid. We like the idea of recycling and making full use of the discarded and the superfluous, ending up with something that already has its own character.
Belties are made from front tyres, which get less wear, so still have plenty of tread left. Beltoes are made from back tyres, which work harder and carry more weight, so they`re kinda threadbare.
Christian who made the original re-tyred belts is passionate about bikes, working on his own and local kids' bikes, and looking for old parts to make repairs with . After having been involved in a bicycle recycling project in Berne for years, he was thinking, 'what can we do with all the unusable leftovers?' Looking at old tyres, with their scars and bruises, the idea came up to make belts out of them.
'Tyres can be tired but don’t have to retire, that’s why they are re-tyred'
Design and concept: Christian Baumgartner / Bettina Galizzi.
Health and Safety Alert: be aware that all belts have done their time on real roads, so may contain real stones, thorns, flakes or possibly even nuts. And they’re made of rubber.
Thanks to: all the bicycle shops who save worn out tyres for 'the tyre magpies' - especially Brixton Cycles, Two Wheels Good, Velorution, and London Fields. Also, Brick Lane Bikes, Mosquito, Fluid Cycles, Hatfield Cycles, and Bicycle Magic. Thanks also to Howies, the third largest clothing company in Cardigan, who stock the best stuff in the world. Check here for good bicycle-related stories. All belts have been cleaned in my partners' washing machine. . . oops, should I have admitted to that?! Obviously, with Ecover washing powder.
Find our belts in the following stores:
LCB Surf Store, 121, Bethnal Green Road, London E2 7DG
Brixton Cycles Co-op, 145 Stockwell Road, London, SW9 9TN
Velorution, 18 Great Titchfield St,
London, W1W 8BD
Frau Wunder, Wuppertal, Deutschland
Bothsie, 57 Bank Street, Glasgow, Scotland
Oyster Clothing, 28 Castle Arcade, Cardiff City Centre, CF10 1BW
and at
