Leather sporran strap etiquette

[OC Richard]

Good gracious me! Do people actually use those D-ring things with a leather strap? I wear a leather strap with the sporran probably 99.9 percent of the time and the leather strap just slides through the leather “loop” attached to the sporran. On the rare occasion that I wear a sporran chain these days then I do wear the D-ring thingy as the sporran chain clips require them.

Sorry for me not being clear, what I meant was that for many years I only wore a plain leather strap, which of course goes through the leather slot-tab thing stitched to the back of the sporran.

Those double D-ring adapter things appear to be a fairly recent invention.

Because up through WWII Evening Dress sporrans had rings soldered on the back for the chains to clip to:



But in the post-WWII years makers were going away from the old style with a leather flapped pocket in back, to sporrans that opened. Once the cantles no longer had a back-plate an alternate way of attaching the chain had to be found.

I am reminded of a discussion of the D- link thingy with a friend who has been wearing the kilt a tad longer than I have and he has always used a sporran chain for all occasions who had no idea what The D - links were for and he just clips the two clips together and places them quite comfortably in the leather “loop” on the one sporran he owns. Well alright, it works for him!

Yes I know of pipers who, when they can't find their D-adapter, just join the ends together. The only problem with that is it slips out of the leather tab more easily, so the sporran goes off-centre.

I was having that issue even with the D-adapter! So I had to made a wider fatter adapter that stays put.

[Tobus]

Those double D-ring adapter things appear to be a fairly recent invention.

Because up through WWII Evening Dress sporrans had rings soldered on the back for the chains to clip to:

Hmm, I have an older horse hair sporran (pretty sure it's pre-WWII, my guess was late 1800s to early 1900s) which still has the back pocket but no soldered rings. Just leather belt loops. As you can see, the previous owner hastily cobbled together a make-do version of a D-ring adapter to attach the chain.

I figure this sporran hails from a time when these were still considered daywear, and a plain leather strap would have sufficed. That may explain the absence of soldered fixed rings for a chain.