During travel, your bag can be lost, your wallet picked and your jewelry snatched. Regardless of what happens, the belt around your waist seems to be the only part of your gear that no one will ever bother to swipe. So why not keep your valuables there? That’s exactly what the Patagonia Travel Belt does, keeping your cash and other important swag in an interior zippered pocket.
From the outside, the fashion accessory looks like a regular nylon belt doing nothing more than holding up your pants a little too high. It’s hardly a looker either, so we doubt even the most thorough mugger will bother going after it (hey, criminals can have good taste, too).
The Patagonia Travel Belt is made from 1.5-inch quick-dry nylon webbing, with a no-slip anodized aluminum buckle with a non-corrosive finish. Designed for heavy duty performance, it can double as a lashing strap for cargo, too – which should give you a better idea about it’s lack of attractiveness.
Hidden on the inner side of the belt is a 19-inch long zippered pocket that runs the length of the band, allowing you a secret place to stash items you want to keep safe. Granted, you’ll have to remove the belt every time you need to retrieve something (so it’s probably smarter to keep the emergency knife in your pocket), but it will make for a nice area to hide cash you’re not intending to spend for the day, among other seldom-used valuables.
If that’s not awesome enough, you should also be able to fill it with marbles for use as a potentially deadly weapon you can whip out in seconds. Ain’t that grand? The Patagonia Travel Belt is available for $29.