"Men usually don't buy wallets, they receive them as gifts", is it true in your experience?
Apparently it's a trend that most men just receive wallets rather than buying them
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.
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.
I didn’t know people getting their wallets replaced by other people was such a universal thing. Every ten years or so my wallet will start to get all stringy and fall apart and my wife or BiL will just hand me a new one. I thought they were just weird wallet snobs until this thread
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.
Are there any interesting or unique wallets that you’ve come across? I’ve been needing a wallet for some time but I never enjoyed the look of a plain/boring slim wallet or the classic fat plain leather ones.
There are a lot of different styles for sure. I use a Pockt card wallet now and it's perfect... for me. There's one wallet that is two metal plates you put your cards between and they're held together with paracord. That one has a bottle opener. A search for minimalist wallet on Amazon or similar will let you see what's out there.
Not for me.
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.
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.
Wallets are good gifts until a guy is like 25-30. Then he'll buy the style he likes for himself.
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.
I made some amazing tape wallets back in the day. One of them was so well made it lasted more than 1 year.
Funny enough I recently ended up finding a brand that makes paper "leather" slim wallets. Mine is lredy a few years old https://www.andersundkomisch.de/
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.
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 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 :)
My daily carry wallet is.. Damn over 12 years old now, and was a gift ha.
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 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 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 bought mine
Works well as a lanyard too, ADHD would be having me leave it everywhere if it weren't strapped to my noggin
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.
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.
wallets are not good gifts. people want to use what they like.
I've never bought a wallet for myself
I really should get a new one. I think I bought one when I was 16, and another at 20. 15 years later it is falling apart but still have the same one. I wonder if that means I haven't had a good friend or family member to buy me a wallet for 15 years. Sobering thought haha
How did you know
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 checked out of curiosity, its an Allet Original (was called classic leather when I bought it) and I've had it for 9 years. Its still in great condition, but apparently they cost almost twice as much now (I paid $35, they're $66 now).
What's it look like that makes it thin? I don't have a change pocket or such, but I still think my wallet is larger than needed. Tri fold wallets I never liked because they are thick as well.
Its a very thin layer of leather on the outside and very thin layers of fabric on the inside. It is 2 credit cards tall, so depending on how many cards you have, you distribute them across 4 pockets. The billfold section is split into a shallow and a deep compartment, so you can arrange things at 2 levels, if you want. I rarely carry cash, so that part usually just has some small notes or receipts or nothing at all.
So it is partly the layout and partly the materials that keeps it thin. "Nice" wallets are usually all leather or mostly leather, which makes them much thicker and tri-folds are the worst.
First two wallets I had, as a youth, were made of duct tape. The following two I had as an adult were gifts.
True. I dont think I’ve ever purchased one myself
no. i have had the same wallet since 2006
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 made my wallet. It's just a faux leather pocket big enough to hold 4 cards
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 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.
I found leather working to be relatively easy and fun. I guess it depends on what your goals are. I'm planning to get back into it during the holiday break.
Cutting, gluing, and sewing are the basics. After that, you can get into fun stuff like dying and embossing.
And compared to what nice finished leather sells for, it's cheap.
Could be fun, thanks for the reply.
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 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'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 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 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.
Don't know. I've had same wallet for 42 years
I have bought most I think but I have received some as gifts too.
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.
Might be a stupid question but what needs can someone have for a wallet? I mean it's just a wallet right?
2 fold or 3 fold? How many card holders? ID window? Cash sleeve? Coin purse? External card holder? RFID blocking? Color? Material? Engraving?
People have different preferences for capacity, thickness, arrangement of card slots, need for a transparent ID card window, etc., apart from the aesthetics. I find the idea of a tri-fold to be absurd, and even then more than half the time I just go with a magsafe cardholder on my phone.
I'm 45 and I bought every wallet I've ever owned.
So "no" ?
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 bought a wallet online and liked it a lot. I then bought two more of the same model as a gift for my father and a (female) friend. So IDK.
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.
I got tired of replacing wallets and just bought a quality saddleback one probably a decade ago. Been through the wash multiple times and still holding up great. Probably last me the rest of my life as long as I don't lose it.
My last 2 wallets were gifts.
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...
Haven't had a wallet in years. It's all on the phone now
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.
Only when I was a kid.
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.
Yes, my family gifted me my first and second wallet.
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.
Yes, all of my wallets have been gifts, except my current one which I inherited.
I've only ever been gifted wallets lol. Except for the one I actually use which is one of those card clips, I don't use cash.
I've never gotten a wallet as a gift and have always had to buy my own. Even when I was a kid with my first wallet.
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.
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.
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 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.
I've definitely gotten more as gifts than I have bought for myself (I'm a guy in his mid-40s).
I’ve bought every wallet I've ever had.
I have two wallets that I use:
So it holds true for me, at least.
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.
For me atleast yeah. I've gotten exactly one wallet as a gift and it's the only one I've ever used. 12 years strong
Not for the one I actually use.
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.
I use my pocket as a wallet. It's as slim as you can get. The last wallet I had I bought myself. It was a nice two fold leather one.
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.
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.
Anecdotal I know but I’ve purchased probably 95% of the wallets I’ve owned through the years (I’m old so it’s a lot)
I put my wallet on my Christmas list a decade ago and still have the same wallet, so yes it does get gifted a lot but lots of people buy them
I bought small a Herschel Charlie Cardholder Wallet
Its all I need.
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 have one I made and two more I received as gifts. I've never bought a wallet.
This is likely the case for a lot of items that the common guy wouldn't give a second thought about.
Me? Bought the one before, wife gave me the present one. The third one down the line might have been a gift from my boss. Clearly some truth there.
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.
As an adult? Never as a gift
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.
I've received one. I've bought three, one of which was a custom made leather dealie. Ymmv
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.
It's a belief, not a trend.
I think I have purchased all mine. My current Ridge wallet, literally changed my life.
How so?
Must be the payouts they get from shilling for it on social media.
For the first 50+ years of my life I was a back pocket wallet guy. My wife's a Soldier, so we move a lot, and drive a lot. I always found myself hurting with the back pocket wallet, so I started taking it out of my pocket on road trips. That meant I ended up forgetting it a lot also.
I saw an ad for the Ridge and thought WTF, might as well give it a whirl. My wife saw it and said, "that elastic won't last a year."
I've had mine since 2018. It kinda looks like it's been through a war. Because it's front pocket, I don't end up sitting on it, and because it's slim, I no longer collect the cruft I used to collect. And because I don't have to remove it from my pocket, I don't lose it as often.
I see some folk who think I'm shilling for Ridge. Couldn't be further from the truth. I was at a farmer's market over the summer and some of the vendors there were selling Ridge-alikes with some entertaining patterns and sayings. They will likely serve you just as well as the real thing.
Also, I'm still on my first elastic band. And we're six years in.
I've done or had both, so results unclear.
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.