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Unfortunately, due to vanity sizing, most people don't actually know their real waist measurement either.

IME the only places that actually stick to proper sizes on belts are places that cater more toward "working belts" - selling to people who carry guns or gear - not for fashion or "just" to hold up their pants.

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Vanity sizing isn’t the problem. The waist measurement on pants almost never matches the size on the tag, nor should it. That’s because pants usually sit below your natural waist, and your torso gets bigger the further down from the natural waist you are. However, the size on the tag is a “guess” about your natural waist size. Because everybody has a different shape, it’s not necessarily the case that pants that fit you have a tag size with your natural waist on it. That’s one of the complications with designing and buying pants: it’s rise dependent.

Tl;dr though: vanity sizing is a myth

Then why are two belts marked "36" different length?

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