its a belt and it holds my pants up. the issues i have found on this though, the buckle gets way too snug and tight sometimes and if you're really needing to go to the restroom, it may take awhile to unhook the buckle because of it getting stuck. this is not an issue with me but i know someone mentioned how the buckle is black and the end of the belt is silver colored, so that might be an issue with some folks. in my case, i have custom buckles that are silver and do not get stuck like the one provided, so it was easy for me to deal with that issue.