Leather Wallets: Zip-Around or Snap
Three wallets, and the decision is smaller than it looks: a zip-around that closes all the way round, or a long wallet that snaps shut and keeps banknotes flat. Everything else follows from that. All three are handmade, and the leather is left with a natural finish, so it darkens where your hand and pocket touch it most.
The Three Wallets Side by Side
- Small Zipper Wallet — 5.1" × 3.5" (13 × 9 cm), $40. Zip-around. One compartment inside for folded notes, coins and receipts, and one card pocket on the front. No card slots inside: it trades organisation for thinness.
- Long Wallet — 7.5" × 4" (19 × 10 cm), $45. Snap button. Full-length bill compartments, several card slots, and an interior zip pocket for coins. This is the only one of the three with a coin zip.
- Wallet Sandrine — 8.5" × 4.3" (21.5 × 11 cm), $45. Snap button. Several card slots and one full-length bill compartment. The largest of the three, and the most room for cards; no coin pocket.
Put simply: take the Small Zipper Wallet if you carry two cards and some cash and want nothing in your pocket. Take the Long Wallet if you want coins and cards in one place. Take Sandrine if you carry a lot of cards and never carry coins.
Will Banknotes Lie Flat?
In both long wallets, yes. A US banknote is 6.14" × 2.61" (156 × 66 mm) at every denomination, so it lies flat in a 7.5" or 8.5" bill compartment instead of being folded — which is the whole reason long wallets exist. Euro notes are all narrower than a dollar and the larger ones are about a centimetre taller; both long wallets take either without folding. In the Small Zipper Wallet notes fold once, as they do in any wallet that size.
Cards, Coins and Receipts
- Cards — Sandrine holds the most, the Long Wallet is close behind, and the Small Zipper Wallet has a single front pocket for the one card you reach for constantly.
- Coins — only the Long Wallet has a dedicated zip pocket. In the Small Zipper Wallet coins share the main compartment with the notes; Sandrine has nowhere for them.
- Receipts and tickets — the two long wallets swallow them in the bill compartment. If you keep a lot of paper, the larger wallet is the honest answer.
Leather and How It Ages
All three develop a patina with everyday use, and a wallet shows it faster than anything else you own because it is handled several times a day: it goes darker and glossier at the corners, at the snap, and wherever your thumb lands. Keep it out of direct sun, and if it gets wet let it dry on its own rather than near a radiator.
Personalization
Wallets are personalized by request rather than at checkout: name or initials stamping, logo embossing, engraving, or a small symbol. Message customer support with the wallet and the marking you want before ordering, and they will confirm what is possible on that piece. This is different from the journals, where personalization is chosen on the product page.
What Goes With a Wallet
The wallets sit alongside the rest of the leather goods rather than apart from them. If you carry a notebook, an insert clips cards and cash onto the elastics of a cover and does much of a wallet's job inside the journal itself — worth knowing before you buy both. The covers are on leather journals, and the small pieces that go with them are on journal accessories.
