The Best Apple Watch Bands and Straps for 2021
The Apple Watch Series 6continues Apple’s streak as the maker of one of the most versatile wearables on the market today, with both flexibility of features and applications. In a market space where aesthetics rule, the ability to swap bands with a diversity of designs and materials brings the Apple Watch firmly into fashion territory. While Apple provides a number of quality bands, the third-party world of Apple Watch bands stretches from budget bands to French fashion houses.
We picked a variety of bands and straps with different styles and prices to add some pizzazz to the Apple Watch on your wrist. Regardless of which generation of Apple Watch you own, these bands will fit your device because Apple made the band-to-watch connection backward-compatible.
For more Apple Watch information, check our curated list of the best Apple Watch screen protectors.
Our favorite official Apple Straps
Let’s start with the multitude of bands Apple markets for its own watch. This small sampling reveals the depth and variety of Apple’s watch accessories.
Apple Nike Sport Band
The Nike Sport Band was once available only if you purchased a Nike Apple Watch, but now these sporty, colorful straps are available for any Apple Watch. The circular vents ensure you don’t get sweaty while running or exercising, and the bright colors easily match or coordinate with your Nike sneakers. Like the Apple Sport Band, the Nike versions are soft and flexible, and they’re very comfortable to wear. The sporty style is best suited to casual outfits, though. It’s available in both 40mm and 44mm sizes and a variety of colors. Best of all, in the pack are two sizes, meaning the strap is suitable for all wrists right out of the box.
Apple Braided Solo Loop
Apple always seems to find a way to bring the stylish and the practical together. With the Apple Braided Solo Loop, you’ll be wearing a durable strap made from stretchable recycled yarn, interwoven with silicone threads. What this translates into is an incredibly comfortable but durable band that fits comfortably without moving around your wrist.
Apple Sport Loop
We love the look and feel of the Apple Sport Loop band. The nylon material is so soft, doesn’t get hot and sweaty, and the varying colors are all a lot more dramatic and eye-catching in real life than in pictures. Rather than the pin-and-tuck system on the Sport band, the Sport Loop uses hook-and-eye for an infinitely adjustable fit that suits everyone. Great for the gym, office, and casual wear, it’s the Apple Watch band to choose when you first buy your watch.
Apple Garnet Modern Buckle
In the past, Apple’s in-house offerings for leather bands have lived somewhere between untraditionally futuristic-looking or a cheap imitation of luxury leather bands. With the new Garnet modern buckle leather band, Apple has a true traditional, sleek, and luxurious leather band to match your elegant outfits and special events. This is a great choice for a quality leather band without shelling out for the high-priced Hermés band.
Apple Milanese Loop
If metal is more your style, Apple has you covered. The company’s stunning Milanese Loop, a modern interpretation of a design developed in Milan at the end of the 19th century, touts a stainless-steel design, wraps around your wrist, and adjusts with the help of magnets. Apple’s Link Bracelet, meanwhile, features butterfly closure folds within the bracelet, allowing for a clean look. The onboard release button also makes it easy to add or remove links without special tools.
The Apple Watch Studio
The Apple Watch Studio is a buying plan introduced with the Series 5 Apple Watch, and it’s a great way to get the exact band and watch combination you want the first time. Instead of buying an off-the-shelf Apple Watch and strap combination, you choose each aspect yourself, including the case size and material and the strap. If you want a 44mm aluminum Watch in silver with a Space Gray Milanese Loop strap, you can have it. It doesn’t cost any more, and it’s easy and fun to create your own watch on Apple’s website.
Our favorite third-party bands
Despite the many gorgeous and specialty watch straps Apple offers for its watch, the company knows its customers and that their tastes are not confined to the company store. So Apple encouraged third-party vendors to get in on the action. Here are some favorites from independent vendors.
Nomad Modern Strap
There are a few Nomad straps on this list, and for good reason. They’re exceptionally high-quality and stylish. The Modern is a slimmer variant of its Modern Strap in a beautiful camel color. This vegetable-tanned leather strap comes from Horween, a reputable tannery in Chicago, and it develops a gorgeous patina the longer it’s worn. Nomad uses stainless steel on the buckles and the adapter that connects to the Apple Watch. It’s delightfully lightweight and comfortable on the wrist, and the buckle design means it’s dead simple to put on in a jiffy. The catch? It’s only available for the smaller 40mm or 38mm Apple Watch sizes.
Kades Stainless Steel Band
The Kades Apple Watch band offers an affordable way to sport a stainless-steel band. Like most stainless-steel watch bands, it features a double clasp in a butterfly style and is easily adjustable via removable links. It comes in both silver-colored stainless steel and black.
Meridio Suede Band
Tired of the usual old leather bands and silicone straps for your Apple Watch? Take a look at Meridio’s suede bands, which are different than other bands out there yet still neatly fit in with casual and smart outfits. Meridio is an Italian brand with over a decade of experience in fashion and leather goods. The suede band is soft to the touch, supple, and comfortable to wear. There is enough of a nap on the strap for it to catch the light, while the thickness tapers off toward the tip, making it more wearable.
Dassari Carbon Fiber Strap
If you crave a unique but sporty look, consider Dassari’s very cool carbon fiber strap. The carbon weave effect is subtle, with less shine and reflection than you may expect, making it more wearable on a daily basis. It’s matched to very soft leather and is incredibly comfortable. It’s refreshing to see the strap matched with Apple’s bar-style hardware, too. The strap only comes in black, but it is available for both the 38mm/42mm and the 40mm/44mm Apple Watch. The style and dark color slim down the Apple Watch a lot, so if you find that many straps make the watch look too large, this does the opposite.
Nomad Sport Strap
To accompany its Rugged Strap, Nomad offers the Sport Strap, a silicone band with built-in lugs that extend all the way across the watch’s body, a strong stud-and-hole fixing, and a design similar to that of Nike’s Apple Watch straps. Nomad’s offering is made of soft LSR silicone, which comes in a two-tone color scheme — either black and gray or black and green. It is hypoallergenic and sweat-resistant, and it feels cool underneath thanks to a channel for airflow. It’s well-suited for fitness aficionados and is quite a large, statement-making strap. It’s only available for the 42mm/44mm watch sizes.
Burkley Holo Strap
Burkley’s Holo Strap is perfect for weekends in your sports car with the top down, headed toward the coast — or, at the very least, those times when you’re imagining doing that. The strap’s classic styling makes it a beauty, while the soft, padded leather renders it both lightweight and comfortable. We love the little design touches, too, such as the Burkley logo, which is stamped directly on the strap loop. It comes in several colors.
Southern Straps Nato Strap
A textured nylon strap, the Southern Straps band features stitching running down each section, giving it a unique look. It feels very hard-wearing and has been double-bonded and heat-sealed to make sure it doesn’t fall apart under tough conditions. We love the khaki and red version, which comes with a choice of colors for the Apple Watch connectors in either 38mm/42mm or 42mm/44mm sizes. We were let down slightly by the strap loop, which sometimes pinches wrist hair.
Nyloon Watch Band
Nyloon’s nylon watchband feels like it will last a while and withstand some rough treatment, which is just what you need from this popular style. We’ve been wearing the Napier design, which comes in navy blue and red, and we find it comfortable and stylish. The shiny hardware is attractive, and the Apple Watch adapter pieces have spring-loaded bars, so you can swap out the strap for another 20mm or 22m version of your own choice.
Nomad Leather Strap
Nomad’s classic leather strap now sports a sleeker, flatter look. We particularly love Nomad’s straps due to the custom-designed watch adapters, which change the look of the watch’s face considerably. Both the adapters and the buckle have a matte finish and also come in black, ready to match your watch model. It’s still quite a masculine design, but plenty of women like that chunky look, too. The Horween leather is wonderfully supple out of the box and needs only a few hours to feel lived-in.
Pad & Quill Pilot Leather Band
Pad & Quill’s Pilot Leather Strap is another quality entry from a popular smart device accessory maker. The full-grain leather band harkens back to the early days of flight as it sets out to mimic a classic pilot’s watch leather strap. The band is reinforced with real rivets, and the stitching is marine-grade, the kind used in parachutes. This band should truly last a while.
Ullu Apple Watch Band
This beautiful band is handcrafted from high-quality stingray leather. Available in an assortment of colors, the Ullu stingray band pairs perfectly with the larger 42mm Apple Watch case.
The Strap Smith Baseball Glove Strap ($230)
Handcrafted from vintage baseball gloves, this band is perfect for the sports enthusiast. This band is not only stylish but durable as well. If you’re more of a football fan, the Strap Smith also makes a custom football band. Just be aware you have to pay an extra $25 if you want the necessary hardware fitted to attach the strap to the watch. Bonus: You can choose the color to match your choice of watch case.
Pad & Quill Lowry Leather Cuff
Renowned for its high-quality, great-looking leather Apple accessories, Pad & Quill makes three different straps for the Apple Watch, but we’ve singled out the Lowry Leather Cuff. Made from full-grain leather in black, chestnut, or tan, with hand-finished stitching and nickel buckles, the look is rugged yet classy. Suede on the underside of the strap makes it comfortable to wear. The one problem? It’s only for the 42mm/44mm Apple Watch.
Luxeora Element Band 42 Onyx
The Element Band 42 Onyx is an incredible two-toned leather band that fits 42mm/44mm Apple Watch cases. This band features a highly polished stainless-steel buckle with matching lugs. The white needle stitching creates a beautiful contrast.
Form Function Form Button Stud Band
If you’re angling for something a bit different, have a look at Form Function Form’s funky Button Stud strap, which does away with any type of buckle or clasp. Instead, it has a stainless steel stud that holds a long leather band in place. You can order the stud and adaptor in a color that suits your Apple Watch, including options like Veg Tan, Ultra-Thin Horse Front, Horween Chromexcel, and Latigo. Just make sure you check the length to ensure the overall fit is correct. The company even provides lifetime free size adjustments if you buy one.
Coach Apple Watch Strap with Tea Rose Appliqué
We think there’s plenty of appeal to the Coach Apple Watch Strap with Tea Rose Appliqué because it’s a balanced combination of whimsy and elegance for the 42mm and 44mm Apple Watch cases. The hand-finished leather band is supple, luxurious, and classy, and it comes with a delicate flower design that adorns the strap.This Apple Watch strap’s design is expensive-looking, polished, and sleek, making it perfect for a business professional in a high-end setting. As you would expect from a Coach product, this strap is incredibly durable.
Arrow & Board Triple Tour Strap
Apple and fashion house Hermespartnered to make the double tour-style strap popular. But the genuine version is quite expensive, making it out of reach for most consumers. Arrow & Board created a much more reasonably priced option that includes a split strap that converts into three different configurations.This brand makes its Arrow & Board Triple Tour Straps to order, and the bands are finished in tanned leather with hand-stitched features, brass loops, and a buckle to keep everything in place. This strap is part of their artisan collection, and the brand makes the straps in small batches. It’s impressive that you can get a handmade, high-quality strap at this price.
Editors’ Recommendations
