Hard cases, soft cases, simple screen protectors, sleeves—iPhone cases come in a mind-numbing variety of shapes and styles. Rivet’s Loop is a stylish leather case for those of you who like sleeve cases and enjoy carrying things on your belt.

In stylish reddish-orange and dark grey leather, the Rivet Loop is eye-catching and classy without being loud.

The Loop’s white stitching presents a fine contrast to the distressed black and burnt orange-red of the case, which almost looks as if it belongs on the belt of a Texas Longhorns fan.

The Rivet Loop just oozes Texas style.

In the unlikely event that the Loop is too loose, there’s a Velcro tab over the opening to hold your iPhone securely in place. I say “unlikely” because the case is quite a snug fit for the phone and, for most people, it’s probably going to take several weeks of daily use to break it in. The leather should eventually stretch to be more accommodating, but until it does, retrieving the phone from the Loop is tougher than it should be, and fully inserting the phone into the case is similarly difficult.

This is the view your phone sees just before it’s inserted into the sleeve.

The level of protection offered is quite good, though the tightness of the Loop prevents its use as a belt holster for a cased iPhone. About the only secondary protection you’d be able to use is a stick-on screen protector, and even that might start to work its way off after a few trips in and out of the Loop.

These holes appear to be audio ports or liquid drains. They’re useless in both departments.

Cut-outs near the top of the case allow for easy access to the silent switch, the power button, and the headphone jack, while the perforations at the bottom allow sound to travel from the speaker and to the microphone. Their inclusion, however, seems to be almost purely stylistic, because I can’t imagine how you would carry on a conversation with the phone in the case and the screen completely inaccessible. Yes, you can use the phone as an iPod while in the case with no perceptible loss of fidelity, but I’m not convinced the perforations make any difference, and the screen remains inaccessible.

Only a small portion of the top of the iPhone is exposed when fully inserted into the Loop.

A $25 price tag is on par with other leather cases, so you’re getting good value if the Loop appeals to you. I prefer not feeling like a carpenter or a police officer or Batman when I’m walking around, so I’m not a huge fan of the belt-mounted cases. If I were, however, the Rivet Loop is one of the more stylish ones I’ve seen and would be on my short list. I just wish it didn’t require a break-in period to loosen up enough for easy use.

You can insert the iPhone facing outwards, as shown, or inwards. Facing the screen toward your body makes the phone fit slightly better.

Copyright © 2009 Chris Lawson. Reviewing in ATPM is open to anyone. If you’re interested, write to us at reviews@atpm.com.