I voted nylon in the poll because it asked about the duty belt. My favorite rig had an Uncle Mikes duty belt that looked like plain smooth leather, ( I don't remember what it was called.), but the holsters I wore were custom made leather and you couldn't tell they weren't made of the same material.

Most accessorites were leather if available, smooth nylon or plastic if not, depending on what was available. I did have a second rig for bicycle patrol which was all nylon but it wasn't loaded down as much as the other one and I carried a semi auto on bike patrol.

One way to ease the weight problem is to balance the belt out as much as possible from one side to the other, and never put anything in the back if you ride in a car. One nice thing about being a fat cop is that you have more belt to put more junk on. That keeps more pockets empty to hold your donuts.