Poor quality leather ruins this otherwise brilliant belt.  I find the slide mechanism very useful because my weight bounces around and because I have trousers that rest a different places on my stomach and hips.  I have bought two of these belts, one at the standard grade of leather and another with premium leather.  The premium leather is clearly superior, but still looks and feels cheap.  Even the premium leather looks like Wal-Mart's third best.  I wore these belts so seldom that I cannot offer an opinion on the durability.