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I never got one as a gift I really wanted to use. Care nothing for style, but look for practicality for me. After much trial and error have found a trifold made of sailcloth to be most lasting and useful for my sloppy wallet needs.
YOU CAN BUY YOURSELF ANYTHING YOU WANT ESPECIALLY A WALLET
srry this just reads as “duh my bros is it geyy to git yerself a wallet” NO JUST BUY ONE
I know I bought my last couple of wallets from the same place, usually because I walk past the wallet display stand, see a new one that I fancy, and decide on a whim to buy it. I get good mileage out of them, and they are generally inexpensive so even if I trade in every few years, it's still nice to have a fresh wallet every now and again. I occasionally swap between bifold and trifold as well. One thing I know is I can't do the minimalist design ones, I have too much shit in my wallet that I need just often enough to warrant carrying them around all the time (lest I forget them when I actually need them) but the desire to have the slimmest and most compact shape is definitely strong too. The two forces battle each other in my mind, and I usually settle for larger size in the end for convenience rather than comfort.
I'm not sure if I've ever received a wallet as a gift before. Maybe when i was a kid, and it would have been one of those nylon ones with the zippers for pocket change and the velcro for the money section.
I think my next wallet is going to be a really fancy one. Only thing I'm hesitating on in regard to that is I think cheaper wallet brands actually have the pulse of the everyman when it comes to design, whereas the fancier leather ones are somewhat impractical with fewer card slots, or very tight tolerances for sliding cards or money in them. I have to find just the right one, but I'm in no rush to replace my current wallet.
My last 3 wallets I bought for myself. I don’t think I’ve been gifted a wallet since my teens. I’d definitely advise against anyone I knew wanting to buy me a wallet, I’m very particular in the kind I like and chances are very high I wouldn’t use the gifted wallet, or I’d try to return it.
Have a weird / old wallet and people will try to upgrade you.
I had a gaffer tape wallet for many years.... People couldn't resist trying to replace it
I had a very different reaction to my duct tape wallet. I saw a slim, front pocket design online that was exactly what I was looking for in a wallet but I was unable to find one to buy. This was around the time that front pocket wallets just started to become a fad with the mininalism community so they were still quite uncommon.
Used an old thin plastic board as a frame and duct taped the outside. One pocket for cards, one for money and a stretchy band to slip over to prevent things from accidentally falling out.
Everyone loved it because it was so unique I guess. Kept adding more tape to repair it as it aged but eventually I retired it because the old glue was smearing all over my cards and money.
I made many great memories with that wallet since it travelled with me around the world for a good number of years.
I'm into carrying the least amount of non-bulky things possible with me. I used to keep my driver's license and credit card in between my phone and phone case. When I switched phones, the form factor made it so I couldn't do that anymore. But I stumbled into a listing for a cheap elastic fabric wallet and pulled the trigger. I absolutely love it. It works perfectly for my needs, has an incredibly small footprint, and has a pull tab so that I can easily slide my card out when needed. I've had the same one for 2 years now. It goes in my pocket daily and hasn't seem to shown much signs of wear.
Mine looks like this.
There are only 2 main downsides I've found to this design.
It bends your cards over time. This doesn't bother me. It's really a cosmetic issue, imo. Cards still work fine with a slight curve in them. Once they get curved in one direction you might just want to try popping them in the other way.
If you put, for example, 5 cards in the wallet for a period of time, but you eventually want to trim down to only carrying 2 cards, you'll run into an issue. Adding more cards to the wallet stretches it out, so it may become too loose to carry less cards at some point. Once I realized this, I just figured I'd keep all of my cards in there and not trim them down. So I always have my driver's license, 2 regular payment cards, and 2 medical related cards in my wallet. One of these cards is thinner than a regular card, so it's kind of like I'm carrying 4.5 cards on me. Still far slimmer and pocketable than any other wallet I've had. Fits in women's pockets! I love it!
I don't carry cash or anything, so I don't know how well this would work for that. A wallet for cash wasn't what I was looking for, personally. I hate carrying cash.
Edit: I looked back at the listing I purchased from years ago. It looks like you can purchase it with or without the pull tab. I guess the photo I took is the one without the pull tab. The tab has been useful for me tho.
Rigid brand wallets seem nice and more durable, but they are infinitely more expensive and I don't know if it would be too rigid for comfort in my pants pockets. An elastic wallet is going to be soft and pliable.
If you want a good wallet you buy it
I don't want gift wallets, there are like 0 chances I get what I want. Sometimes even for the ones I buy by myself.
I don't know, the pockets, the flatness... everything needs to fit right.
I'm recovering from a wallet disorder. While searching for the perfect wallet I probably collected 20 or so. I've been using the same wallet now for two years so I think it's under control.
I prefer not to receive wallets as gifts.
Not for me.
I currently have three wallets, all made by Saddleback Leather^1^. They're expensive but the company's tagline is 'your kids will fight over it when you're dead'.
I have a standard bi-fold which I have actually semi-retired in this modern age of pinging payments with my phone, a classic tall, slim wallet for an inside suit jacket pocket, and my everyday carry card wallet which has three bank cards, my driving license, and £100 emergency 'shit they don't take phone pinging payment' situations.
Edit to add: I don’t anticipate ever needing to buy another wallet in my life. These are solid.
[1] Saddleback leather is owned and run by a guy called Dave Munson who is a self-described 'faith driven entrepreneur'. I don't care what the dude believes.
I use the business card holder as my wallet. I bought two at the same time, I’m still using the first one after 10 years or so, and I don’t know when I might ever have to replace it with the spare. And for anyone wondering, it stretches over time and I have about 10 credit/cards in it.
No, I saw a wallet that was exactly what I was looking for and bought it. I've carried it for years. The last time someone else bought me a wallet it was just a generic bulky one.
When I was younger, yeah.
I think wallets are for people nobody knows what to buy for. Like getting them a tie. No hobbies, no interests, no personal declarations of what they might like. Or people just don’t know them well enough to get anything other than some generic gift like a wallet.
No. My wallet is...fucking hell... 20 years old.
A friend made me a duct tape wallet in high school. My brother hated it, had won a contest, and spent some of.his winnings ona new wallet for me. It's been close to 20 years.
Wallets are good gifts until a guy is like 25-30. Then he'll buy the style he likes for himself.
Do men tend to ask for wallets as gifts? If so, it makes sense they would tend to get them as gifts then. My dad certainly did. He was very particular about brand and model, and he showed genuine appreciation when I tracked one down (especially prior to internet shopping being what it is). It made for a good gift.
I have never had a wallet bought for me. Probably wouldn't want one either, because I don't use traditional wallets, but rather a card wallet that keeps them all flat so they don't crack down the middle.
My daily carry wallet is.. Damn over 12 years old now, and was a gift ha.
i only bouhgt my current one myself
the ones before were all gifts from my grandpa, and the last one lasted 11 years and i know he would have liked the one i bought. really tried to pick one he would have gifted me :)
I bought mine
Works well as a lanyard too, ADHD would be having me leave it everywhere if it weren't strapped to my noggin
I wanted a wallet that could hold a bunch of cards as slimly as possible, and as such I got myself an All-ett almost a decade ago. It's an unusual wallet, and therefore highly unlikely that anybody gifting me one would have picked the same thing.
(It's a great wallet BTW, and I highly recommend it. It's held up perfectly over the years, which is more than I can say for any leather wallet I've owned. Unfortunately, I just saw that the new ones are RFID-blocking, which might tempt me to upgrade even though this one would continue to last...)
I got mine indeed as a gift, I think 23 years ago or so, when I lived with some other kids. Thought about replacing it with something smaller, like a card holder, but couldn't really find anything suitable for me.
Both yes and no. I've received most of my wallets was a gift, but people have crappy tastes, so I ended up buying my own.
no. i have had the same wallet since 2006
wallets are not good gifts. people want to use what they like.
I have bought most I think but I have received some as gifts too.
First two wallets I had, as a youth, were made of duct tape. The following two I had as an adult were gifts.
I got several wallets as gifts ages ago, but I got sick of carrying fat wallets and found a slim wallet to buy for myself and have used it for as long as I can remember now. I would never trade it out unless I somehow found an even skinnier one (or it gets lost or destroyed).
I keep getting wallets as gifts even though everyone knows I don't use a wallet, I have a collection of wallets that will never feel the back of my ass.
How did you know
True. I dont think I’ve ever purchased one myself
Don't know. I've had same wallet for 42 years
I made my wallet. It's just a faux leather pocket big enough to hold 4 cards
Pretty sure I have never bought a wallet myself. Out of the 2 wallets I've ever really had as far as I'm aware, they've been not necessarily gifts but were definitely bought for me.
i've actually used maybe 2 of the dozens of wallets i've been gifted.
LPT "genuine leather" is the worst grade of leather. if you actually want to gift someone a wallet that will last, insist on full grain leather
I bought myself a ridge wallet when they were basically a Kickstarter, back when they used rivets, but the rivets had a flaw where they started leaving wear marks in your jeans, so my then girlfriend bought me a new one with their screws. I still have that same wallet over 10 years later. So technically it's a gift still lol.
My brother likes my wallet but thought it was too expensive, so I bought him one as a gift. So it was technically a gift, but he would have got his own.
I bought a Ridge over a decade ago before they went all crazy political, and beyond some wear around the edges it's held up great. Which it should, it's fucking aluminum and titanium. The elastic cash band got stretched out pretty bad over time but I contacted em for a replacement last year and they just sent me one for free.
I don't think anyone's ever bought me a wallet, which tracks with my wishes for everyday carry items honestly.
I have only gotten one wallet as a gift ever, it was a family heirloom of sorts. All my other wallets I have used I have bought myself
I bought my current wallet because I was about to visit the UK and my typical Anerican sized wallet was too small for £20 and £50 notes.
That one was also self-purchased; it was made out of paper-thin plastic and dye-sublimated with a slightly oversized image of a KRW50000 note.
I clearly care what other peoole think of my choice of accessories.
I got a Sekrid card holder from my wife which I still use. Ive bought wallets to actually use but I've also used wallets I've received.
I have never bought a wallet for myself. Someone in my life has always gifted me one when it gets raggedy. I was thinking of taking up leather working as a hobby to make my own, but it looks hard.
