A few years back I got a couple sides of heavy 1/4" cowhide. Had the wild idea I'd build a saddle, hehehe. So far, I've made a couple of saddle scabbards that will, I'm sure, last for hundreds of years with a little attention. Two full-flap cavalry holsters for Single Sevens, with another open-top in the works, also guaranteed forever. That 1/4" stuff makes great, stiff, sturdy belts, as well. As others have said, finding buckles that will hold up to cranking on a belt that's a quarter-inch thick is challenging. I have one commercial gun belt, carved and dyed, nice and stiff with a metal liner I use for formal occasions (one wedding in fifteen years) I got at a gun shop in Loveland, CO. I've since quit smoking and grown out of that belt. Sigh.
Belts and holsters are incredibly easy to make with tools you most likely already have. I like to leave mine plain, as if I get to stamping and carving it just looks hokey and amateurish. No dyes, either. Over years of use and judicial applications of Black Rock, the leather takes on a natural mellow glow that just can't be duplicated with dyes and colors. I have a holster, my first one, made in 1974, still in use with a Colt NF Buntline it was made for. Carried that sucker for decades and miles and miles. The pattern for that first one has served to cut out many more. I mean, if I can do it...