Looking for a beltless concealed carry holster options? These options below allow for more flexible clothing options and are also great for carrying in the summer. One of the most important things to remember on your concealed carry journey is that it's good to have options with holsters. It makes dressing around carrying concealed easier and less stressful. A lot of women feel that they cannot carry with their current wardrobe, but that doesn’t have to be the case. There are an increasing number of on-body holster options that can accommodate nearly any wardrobe. It's important to be open and take the time to look at all your options. 

Kydex-style holsters are arguably the most popular holsters on the market, but they typically require a belt. They need something strong and sturdy to clip to that will maintain retention while drawing. As women, we don’t always want to wear a belt—and some of our pants aren’t always compatible with wearing a belt.

Luckily, there is a growing market of beltless holster options to help solve this problem. 

Kydex-style holsters that offer a beltless option rely on certain types of clips. The clips are the part of the holster that attach your concealed carry setup to your belt/pants. There are several different types of clips on the market. They can be made of metal or plastic. The clips are what can take a regular Kydex holster from requiring a belt to beltless. 

The two most popular types of clips that can make a Kydex holster beltless are the UltiClip and the Fabriclip.

One important factor to note is that even though these clips work without a belt you have to keep in mind what you are clipping them to. The foundation of your concealed carry setup plays an important role in enabling you to carry confidently and consistently. When using a beltless clip option, the structure of your pants plays a bigger role and must be given extra consideration. The purpose of a belt is not only to keep your holster setup in place on your waist, but it also helps to keep it close to your body. The belt helps to prevent any sagging so if you choose to wear a garment with a thinner fabric the belt will pick up the slack. Without a belt, you will be relying only on the fabric and fit to help prevent the sag. When using beltless clips with pants that aren’t snug around the waist or the fabric weight isn’t strong enough, the grip of the firearm could tip forward and away from your body. If you are going to use a beltless holster clip, you must take some time to test it out with your wardrobe and make sure that your pants can hold the weight of the firearm and holster.

Kydex Clip Options for Beltless Carry

UltiClip

The UltiClip is a steel clip that works by combining an outer clamp and an inner u-shaped clip that attaches to your clothing. You slip your waistband in between the u-shaped piece and the back of the clip, then press down on the outer clamp to create a strong retention. That strong clamp presses the inner clip to your clothing and the small u-shaped hook is what grabs onto your clothing when you draw your firearm.

READ MORE: The Best 3 Types of Gun Holsters for Women

What is great about the Ulticlip is that you can basically clip your holster to almost any bottom you're wearing. Changing out the standard clips on a Kydex holster for UltiClips can significantly reduce the bulk of your entire setup. The retention on the UltiClip is so strong that, as long as your bottoms fit properly, your holster won’t budge if you do have to draw your firearm. The UltiClip can give you some greater flexibility with your clothing choices; especially when you want to be a bit more casual.

When choosing the UltiClip you will find that it takes up very little real estate on your waistband, which is not only helpful to reduce printing but is much less noticeable than your standard holster clips. So you can tuck in your shirt behind the clip and maintain concealability. You can also wear a fashionable belt over the Ulticlip and the clip won’t be seen. 

Fabriclip

The Fabriclip is a rigid plastic clip that can attach to any number of fabrics. It works by locking a section of fabric between the inner and outer layer of the clip. As with the UltiClip, the Fabriclip works better with bottoms that are more fitted around the waist. 

The Fabriclip takes up a decent amount of space on the waistband which can make concealment difficult. However, it doesn’t look like a traditional holster clip, so anyone who notices it won’t automatically assume it’s a holster—but it could draw the eye to your waistband or any potential printing. Because of the way the Fabriclip locks onto fabrics, it works well with thinner fabrics like leggings. Just remember that your bottom will still need to be able to support the weight of the firearm.

With the Fabriclip you can also tuck your shirt in behind the clip and also choose to wear a belt. However, the clip doesn’t disappear behind the belt like the UltiClip since the surface area of the clip is much larger.

SHOP: Shop Emily’s Holsters and Everday Carry Items

When choosing between the UltiClip and the Fabriclip, neither is better or worse. It all depends on your personal preference, your wardrobe, and your daily activities while concealed carrying. Since both of these clips grip to the fabric, you might notice some wear on your bottoms especially when using delicate, less structured fabrics.

Discreet Carry Concepts Clip

Another type of clip that deserves a mention is the Discreet Carry Concepts holster clips. While these aren’t technically marketed for beltless concealed carry, they are similar to the UltiClip in that they are a very strong metal clip, and if your pants are rigid enough they can be used without a belt. One of the advantages of the Discreet Carry Concepts clips is that they come in a wide variety of sizes and heights, so you have many options to adjust your carry position to best meet your needs.  

READ MORE: The Women’s Ultimate Guide to Dressing for Concealed Carry

Other Beltless Holster Options

Since the typical woman’s wardrobe consists of pants, shorts, and skirts with various style waistbands that means not all will have belt loops. While you can choose to change out your clips on a standard Kydex holster, there are other holster options that specifically address the beltless capability.

PHLster Enigma

The PHLster Enigma is a new, innovative design; described as “Not a holster. Or a belt. Or a belly band. Or any other device you’ve encountered.” While PHLster doesn’t actually describe it as such, in its simplest and easy-to-describe form, it’s a belt-style holster that you wear around your midsection. 

It has a fabric belt attached to a solid faceplate. This faceplate is what the Kydex holster attaches to. It also has a soft strap (known as the “leg leash”) that is worn around your upper thigh to hold the setup in place if you must draw your firearm. The whole setup is meant to be worn under your clothes.

The Enigma offers great versatility in this type of belt-style holster. Since this is attached directly to your body, it does not require the use of clips, and more importantly, it does not require that your pants be a certain weight type or fabric. You can wear this holster with any style of pants, skirts, or shorts.

Can Can Concealment Hip Hugger

The Can Can Concealment Hip Hugger holster is a strong elastic band that goes around the waist. It has holster “pockets” and utilizes a hook & eye closure to keep it secure around the waist. It also has a pocket to carry a spare magazine or something else like a flashlight, pocketknife, or even lipstick. The front holster position also uses strong magnets sewn between the fabric to help keep the firearm in place. This holster has non-slip silicone on the back to prevent it from slipping and moving. 

Something to keep in mind with a “soft holster” like this is that there is not a hard trigger guard. While the trigger is completely covered with a thick fabric, there isn’t a hard piece of Kydex that acts as a trigger guard.  

Since this holster is worn wrapped around your midsection, you can adjust the positioning. If you want to wear it higher up on the waist or lower on the hips you have that option because the hook & eye closures have different positions, so you can adjust how tight it is. 

The Can Can Concealment Hip Hugger is great for wearing with pants and skirts, especially if you work in a business casual environment. There is no bulky belt or odd clips exposed so you can wear a nice blouse tucked into your pants and still concealed carry. 

 If you prefer to wear a dress (depending on the style), you could still use the Can Can Concealment Hip Hugger worn around the waist. Your immediate thought might be that you would be flashing everyone around to get to your firearm by lifting up your dress but honestly, if there is a threat does that even matter?! Not really. The best part though about this holster is that it gives you options. Options with your clothing and options with the self-defense tool you want to carry. It can fit your firearm, Kimber Pepper Blaster, TASER Pulse, and other non-lethal self-defense tools you want to have on your body.

STYLE INSPO & TIPS: See how the Can Can Concealment Hip Hugger is Styled

Sticky Holster

The Sticky Holster is definitely a holster you have to see and use to really understand how it works and that it actually does work. The intriguing part about the Sticky Holster is that it doesn’t require a belt, nor does it actually clip to any part of your clothing. 

What makes this holster stay in place is that the outer fabric is slip-resistant. Because the outside fabric is a non-slip material it stays in place when positioned snug between two items (like your pants and your stomach). The non-slip material is supposed to work with the friction and the pressure of the items the holster is sandwiched between. Even though the material on the inside isn’t tacky like the outside, the retention is still excellent.

Reholstering with the Sticky Holster requires a different technique than what you’re probably used to with your standard Kydex holster. In order to reholster your gun you have to remove the sticky holster and slide your firearm back into the slip pocket. Then you can place it back in your designated carry position.  As far as retention goes on the Sticky Holster, while the inside of the holster does not have the same non-slip material as the outside, the gun doesn't budge until you draw. Even when the holster (with the firearm) is turned upside down and held by the edge of the holster, the gun doesn't fall out. It needs a good jolt of the arm to get the firearm to fall out.

The Sticky Holster comes in different sizes versus specific firearm make and models. This means if you have multiple sub-compact firearms they could all be used in one Sticky Holster. It’s also a great option for the TASER Pulse.

Some women also choose the Sticky Holster for purse carry. The key to that is to use a CCW purse or make sure your purse has a pocket that will apply enough pressure to the holster to keep your firearm secure and keep your holster in place should you have to draw your firearm.

Final Thoughts

You don’t always need a belt to carry concealed and there are options available to accommodate almost any clothing style including pants, leggings, shorts, skirts, and dresses. You should be able to carry your firearm confidently and consistently. Having holster options will help you do just that. Just remember to consider the fit and fabric of the bottom you’re going to be wearing (unless you’re using a belly band style holster) when choosing a holster that does not require a belt. The fit and fabric will need to be able to handle the additional weight of the holster and firearm.