The ugly Christmas sweater, once seen mostly on middle-aged women wearing mom jeans and snowflake earrings, has become, for good or ill, something of a cultural phenomenon.

Holiday revelers throw ugly Christmas sweater parties, and a fledgling company that wanted to manufacture them even appeared on the ABC reality TV show “Shark Tank” – and has had tremendous success ever since.

Now the outfit can be made complete with an ugly Christmas sweater belt.

The belts are made at the Belted Cow Co. in Yarmouth, which hires local artists to turn its design ideas into reality. In some cases, the company even reproduces large oil paintings in miniature on a belt – a “canvas” that is basically 1 inch by 40 inches – and pays the artist a royalty. Well-known Maine artist Eric Hopkins has completed about eight designs for the company, according to its founder, Jim Taylor.

“We thought, who better to help us design belts than real artists as opposed to apparel designers?” Taylor said. “Real artists would have a totally different approach to looking at color and art and subject.”

The ugly Christmas sweater belts are a new design in the company’s line of holiday-themed ribbon belts – a line that includes candy canes, wreaths, “three wise labs” and – the most popular – the “woodie and tree” that depicts a wood-paneled station wagon with a Christmas tree tied to its roof. The belts are based on actual sweaters worn by family and friends of Taylor and the company’s creative director, David Timm.

“Maybe you don’t want to wear an ugly sweater, but you can put one around your waist,” he said. “And then there are some people who love ugly sweaters – and we use that term nicely – but they’ll say the sweater’s not enough.

“I want the belt too. A a lot of our designs are like that – they’re a little bit tongue in cheek.”

The belts come in two styles, leather tab ($48) and D-ring ($37.50), in a little gift tin. The design can also be put onto a tote bag, key fob or flip-flops (which might come in handy this winter if the temperatures stay so warm). They’re available on the Belted Cow website or at its Yarmouth warehouse store, which is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.