How to patch: Get a mother/aunt/grandmother and some fabric squares.
Make the break into a hole and sew the fabric behind (maybe in two sheets for warmth+strength.

voila!

(just be sure you do it with the fabric on the inside and also don't use a sewing machine unless you can get it to not sew your jeans shut.

I have a pair I made into hippie jeans after the beltloops gave out. I'm forever hitching my pants out, so I've had like belt loops on four different pairs give way, two of them on the pair I'm currently wearing.