First, the picture is a little misleading, the buckle on the belt is not gold, like the main picture. Its more of a dark carbon color (pretty similar to the black version of this belt). Which that was fine with me, the gold buckle was one of the reason's i hesitated on this item, but I was needing a brown belt bad enough and the price was right. I was pleasantly surprised with the difference. I feel like it's true to size, but I feel like belts run small sometimes - so maybe this one runs big. I ordered the XX and I wear a 18-20 in dress pants and jeans if that helps. The belt itself is a little stiff, but its real leather, so I can deal with a break-in period if that means it will look nicer, longer.