Have you ever looked at a pile of waste and thought to yourself, "I could make something with that!"? I know I certainly have and quite often, too. If you're anything like me the phrase "craft materials" can come to mind whenever looking at a large supply of random stuff. This happened to me recently while at the climbing gym.

The Life of a Climbing Rope

Ropes for rock climbing are manufactured using a number of methods but in the beginning they all come from raw plastic stock. Made from polymers like polyamide (nylon) and polyester, ropes can last a long time and unfortunately do not biodegrade after use. However, like many plastic items today, the useful working life of a climbing rope is much shorter than the overall lifespan of its constituent materials. Unfortunately, the fine fibers in ropes (and other synthetic textiles) take a long time to break down and when they do they contribute to the microplastic problem.

In many cases, a rope may be rendered unsafe to climb on after only a couple seasons of use when climbing outdoors due to the demanding requirements of the rope. Ingress of water and dirt, as well as natural abrasion caused when passing over rock faces and through safety devices can all lead to rope failure. Even a brand new rope should be replaced immediately, following an extreme fall or other dynamic loading event. Completely unused ropes should still be replaced every 10 years due to natural polymer degradation processes.

With all the reasons to replace a rope, wonderful 'rope recycling receptacles' in climbing gyms and outdoors outfitters often fill up relatively quickly, often even with long lengths of rope that show little to no obvious external signs of wear. This is a great untapped potential source of craft supplies.

What is a (Climbing) Rope?

You probably already know what ropes are, but only specific types of rope are regularly used for climbing in 2025. The demands of climbing ropes are so high and today's standards so strict that all manufacturers have converged on variations of essentially the same universal design, the kernmantle rope. The construction consists of two primary elements, the 'kern' (core/inside) and the 'mantle' (sheath/outside).

The kern is often made of long, twisted, continuous strands, either parallel or loosely braided. Typically, an equal quantity of right-chiral and left-chiral helixes are combined in the kern to counteract one another under tension so that the rope as a whole does not spontaneously twist when loaded. The majority of the rope's strength and ability to bear loads comes from the integrity of the kern at the core of the rope. The mantle serves as a protective barrier against the ingress of dust, moisture, and other foreign objects that might weaken or damage the kern; the kern is weak to abrasion, especially under load, while the mantle is designed for abrasion resistance.

Making Belts

Many ropes are retired for concerns around the integrity of the kern, which leaves much of the mantle still usable for crafts. To give some of these climbing ropes a second life, the mantle can be separated from the kern and then repurposed; in this case, to make some bright, colorful belts!

How to Acquire Rope

Many locations that feature rope recycling receptacles (like climbing gyms and outdoor sports stores) do so as a free service to the community and often do not profit off the practice. If you are polite and ask nicely, staff may let you take rope for free! Just be sure to explain that you will be repurposing the rope for crafts, as you should NEVER climb on retired rope. Often, the greatest concern is around liability, so make your crafting intentions clear up-front and you should be good.

Selecting Lengths of Rope

Since the kern is of no concern for this project, select continuous lengths of rope where the condition of the mantle is as nice as possible. Many ropes, like these 9mm ones, have colorful mantles that slide easily past the kern (by design, for rope flexibility). When the kern is removed and the mantle is flattened, they will be about 12-13mm wide, so it is easy to sew multiple ropes side-by-side to make thicker belts. Cut multiple similar lengths of rope from either the same rope or color combinations you like.

Rope like this can be easily cut with a razor blade box cutter or similar replaceable-blade cutting tool. I do not recommend using nice scissors or shears, as any abrasive grit picked up by the rope during use in the field will quickly dull a blade. Make sure to measure out enough rope for the desired belt length; 85cm of rope will not make a belt for an 85cm waist, give yourself an extra 20cm or more on top of what you already think you will need.

De-kerning the Rope

Once the rope is cut, the end will almost immediately begin to fray. this is because usually the ends or ropes are melted and sealed or otherwise bound to prevent fraying and kern/mantle separation, but in this case that is exactly what we want.

Once you tease the kern out a bit, it is typically a simple task to just progressively work it out of the mantle. Be aware that the longer the length of rope, the harder it is to remove the kern. It is likely impossible to remove the kern from an entire 60m rope all at once, thus the cutting-to-length step comes first. The kern at this point may either be kept for future projects or discarded/re-recycled.

Cleaning the Rope

Now, we have a bunch of colorful yet somewhat dirty mantle material. The grime acquired during normal use actually greatly desaturates the color of the rope, in many cases. It is best to clean the rope before going any further.

I found washing by hand, in a pot of hot water, using laundry detergent and a lot of scrubbing to be effective. Simply wet the rope in a ball, apply soap, then knead the entire mass, rubbing strands against one another. Rinse in the hot water and repeat several times until the rinse water begins to run clear. You may be surprised at how much filth comes out of the rope; doesn't it feel so much better, now, to be working with clean craft materials?

Drying Rope

The rope is now quite wet (so much for any of those purported "dry-treatments" and waterproofing!) and needs to be rid of water. In dry climates, it can be left out on racks to dry, if you have the time. If you are impatient, however, and have a washing machine, try using a spin-only cycle; this can get rid of most of the water pretty quickly. I do not recommend using a clothes dryer however as the heat and tumbling can easily fray ends, set kinks, and just create a tangled mass.

Flattening the Rope

With nothing but the mantle left, the rope may be flattened using a simple laundry iron and ironing board. In certain cases, the washing and drying steps may have introduced unwanted kinks, so forcing something long and slim with a taper (like a pencil or disposable chopstick) down the length of the mantle may help with opening it back up so it is easier to set into a desired flattened configuration.

Make sure there is no twist to the mantle during this step as the heat from the iron will lock in creases and a twist now will make the final belt crooked, later.

Sewing the Belts

By using a zig-zag stitch, we can easily sew a butt seam all the way down the middle of the belt, joining two strips of mantle side-by-side without overlapping them. Butt seams can be difficult for beginners, however, the thickness of the mantle material makes the seam easier. Because the flattened strips of mantle are approximately the same width all along their length, this also makes the job easier.

Line up the two ends of the rope, then sew this seam all the way down until you reach the end, and you should have a strip of material about 25mm (1in) wide. Since buckles are often designed in 1/2-in increments (1in, 1-1/2in, 2in) it is easy to obtain an appropriately-sized buckle online. For instance, I found these on Amazon.

Be careful with this seam not to stray too far off to either side of center, as the seam must engage both ropes equally to prevent odd curvature of the final product.

Fastening The Buckles

At this point, with the ropes washed, it is okay to use sewing shears on the material. Cut one end of the belt material cleanly using a hot knife or with scissors, followed by a flame to polish the end. Don't burn it, but let the fibers melt and fuse together; this prevents them from unraveling.

Next, thread it through the belt buckle and fold it back over. Now you can use the sewing machine (still in zig-zag mode) to go over the end of the belt several times to lock in the stitching and hide the end beneath the seam. While my machine handles this operation okay, it definitely struggles with the thickness at this point. It is probably at the operational limit for my machine, so your mileage here may vary. You may need to sew this one part by hand.

Now, at the other end of the belt, make a clean cut with scissors to get both ends of each rope even with one another. Do another zig-zag seam across the belt several times to lock in the fibers. The belt can now be frayed manually by hand or naturally through the course of use, though fraying will stop at this seam.

Once you have the end finished off, it is as simple as threading the end through the other side of the adjustable buckle. I first chose these set-and-forget buckles, where you slide one end to adjust it until you find the right size and then you don't need to touch it too often unless it slips. I like the tactical appearance of this style.

Going Further

The concepts here may be extended and applied to other buckle styles and products. For instance, I think they would also make cool camera straps, though I haven't made any. I did make a belt by sewing three ropes together; it used a traditional double-through-hole belt buckle and interruptions in the butt seam created the belt "holes" for the pins to pass through. I also finished the end of this belt in a V shape. It was a lot more labor-intensive than the other style, however. The most basic buckle style that would work for this kind of belt is a classic D-ring.

Gallery

I've made over 10 belts, at this point. Here are a few.

This was one of my most recent micro-obsessions, as you can see that I really played around with the concept a lot, trying out different patterns, construction methods, and combinations. I hope this inspires some similar recycling/upcycling ideas in your life, if you don't end up trying this project, outright. As always, I would love to hear from anyone with any questions about these or similar projects; I can be contacted here.

As always, thanks to all those who read to the end!

Happy Crafting,
~Joseph