The belt is basically doing what I was talking about, adding an edge rather than having the hexagons just suddenly end, which isn't how fabrics work.
If it's supposed to look like a metal mesh around the leg (ignoring that it'd have to be flexible) the stretching on the forward knee ruins that illusion. You'd also get sharper edges around the crotch, etc.
If the metal mesh look is what you're going for try dropping your opacity map into the displacement slot and cranking that up (you might need to invert it as well) and see if that gives you some fake depth.