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.
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.
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.
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.
I always buy mine, and I would never ever tell anyone to buy me a wallet. I am pretty picky these days on what I want for a wallet. My wife is the closest person that could go buy me wallet and generally get the right kind, even then she'll run it by me before pulling the trigger on such a purchase, to make sure I would use it
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.
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 currently have three wallets, all made by Saddleback Leather1. 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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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 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.
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 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.
The only time I was gifted a wallet was by my dad as a young child and I had that wallet up until I got my first job and every wallet since has been one I’ve purchased. It was also his old wallet, not a brand new one.
I kind of wish someone would now because I’ve been looking for a new one for the past 6 months on and off again but nothing seems to fit my needs. I guess that is a reason I should be buying my own since I have specific needs for one.
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.
Wallet preferences don't tend to come up in conversation so I'm not sure how anyone would know what to buy. Plus I get a new wallet maybe every 10 or more years, so it seems like an odd gift.
I bought my last one, but this was true for my whole life up until that point. I'll replace it since it's made of leather. I'm hoping to find one I like with RFID blocking next.
Pretty much the way it has gone with me. I don't think that I have ever bought a wallet myself, nor requested one as a present, but nonetheless I have never had a shortage of them.
My current one does what I want it to, and has lasted for probably a decade or so so far. Still going strong too.
Always bought my own wallets. And used it to oblivion, now that I think about it. And now that I think about that as well, I really should look into buying another, because the current is threatning to fall apart any moment.
I dunno, it tends to happen more when people are forced/tricked/want to provide a gift without really knowing what to get.
It's a reliable generic gift because wallets wear out, and there's usually room to switch between several.
It gets less common as you age, but it still happens unless you have the habit of refusing to switch wallets, or have talked about exactly what you want in a wallet and people realize they're better off going a different route.
I'm really particular about my wallets. Right size, right pocket configuration, right materials. I want my wallets the be able to be pulled out and I can find what I need blindfolded because of decades of familiarity. I like a licence window. I want durable materials over pretty materials, when the choice is necessary.
So, I buy my own damn wallets when one is wearing out. Nobody buys me wallets any more because I show the new ones off. Since I'm also known for saying "oh man, that's a nice wallet, that'll be what I use when this one wears out", it kinda makes it a disappointing gift to give, even though I would never say that and it not be true.
Big wallet with passport, foreign currency and other things that I need while on the go. Plenty of room for extra papers such as visa printouts, etc. Gift from a former employer.
Small wallet with the cards I use every day and some unfiled receipts. Gift from my GF after she heard me whining about how my big wallet was too big for normal everyday use.
I tend to be particular about my everyday carry equipment and so I think I've killed that kind of gift out of my circle. My current wallet is entering its 12th year of service in surprisingly good condition. A Big Skinny L-shape. I'm not in the habit of carrying all my airman certificates around with me anymore so if I were to replace it I'd just go with their basic nylon bifold.
Seems to be a cool company; when I bought my wallet in early 2013 the price was $26, it's now $30. I think that's slower than inflation.
Yes, and a new one is on my Christmas wish list. I might have bought one for myself my entire life
First it was my mom, then my ex, now I’m hoping my teens will take it up. This is the transition one: if I get one mud, I don’t need to think about it for another 5-10 years and they’ll be full adults by then
I was taken to the store by my step father and he made me spend my money on a wallet that I no longer had money to put inside of. I have bought all of my wallets myself.
Like most other gifts, it's only acceptable if you put a specific one on a wish list and they bought that one. Who wants a random wallet? That's like buying a random watch, or cologne, or belt. Any accessory should be picked out by the person wearing/using it.
I don't receive/want many gifts in general, but I'm rather particular about my wallets. My current one is out of cork, has RFID blocking, a coin pocket that folds open wide and a transparent card slot for my public transport ticket. The chance that a gift gets close to that is rather slim, so I'd rather just buy it myself...
This tracks, I've always had fancy wallets and I'm sure as shit not one for fashion. I feel like if you've been in relationships semi-regularly for most of your life, it's just an easy gift idea.
My dad bought me a wallet from walmart when i was in 8th grade. I still use it im 31 now. I was once gifted an alligator skin wallet that my aunt bought in india while traveling. It fell apart in a matter of weeks.
I wouldn't want a random gift of a wallet (with a probable exception of an obscenely expensive high quality leather that's really well hand crafted, maybe.) You don't know me well enough to know what I'd consider an upgrade.
I intend to eventually add a couple pockets to my ereader sleeve so that serves double duty and I don't need a separate wallet. But until then I just want it out of my way.
i bought mine. The ones I was gifted were too big and I always ended up accumulating a bunch of useless stuff in there. So I bought the smallest one that would fit the essentials. that worked.
I'm pretty sure I bought my first one or two wallets, but they were low quality. I got a good/name brand wallet as a gift 20 years ago that I'm still using.
Considering I have a very specific and uncommon (within normal people day to day) type of wallet, no I would not agree. I have been using this style of wallet for almost a decade. No idea if I'm representative though.
In my family, it's something you choose for yourself because if someone else does it, they'll choose wrong. To give a wallet in my family is like saying "I know how to organize your pockets for you better than you do." The man will smile and say thank you and maybe even use it for a day or two until they get home from Christmas but they'll switch back or get their own.
I'm way to special about how the things that go in my pockets physically feel and work for anyone (unless they know me really well, which is like two people lol) to ever get me a gift like a wallet.