I despise big wallets. Early in college I had what some referred to as the George Castanza wallet. I was 145 pounds and six feet even. And my wallet was quite literally bigger than my posterior. Needless to say, my wallet jutted out from my khakis like someone who overstuffed their bottom lip with Skoal. Thus began my search for slimmer wallets.
The prototype of my Steadfast minimalistic wallet/card holder.
I've researched a thousand minimalistic wallets. Some are excellent and others I simply wouldn't buy. My main concern, and I doubt that I am alone, revolves around structure. Plastic cards, by themselves, are flat and flimsy. The back pocket of my jeans could be the worse placed to store them. Every time I sit, I place dozens of pounds of pressure on the wallet with all sorts of torque occuring. In essense, when my cards are stacked unevely, like the vertical scaffolding in the standard bi-fold, my cards crease and break along those stack points.
I want my cards to sit flushly atop one another to provide structural integrity. In this regards, I LOVE the design of those aluminum wallets. In essense, I want an aluminum card holder that looks and feels like leather.
Here the cards stack atop one another with very little overlap at the corners.
Some designs out there use a lot of folding and riveting. These designs are typically attractive, but they can create extra bulk. There is simple no room for bulk here. It holds 5 to 6 cards (which constitue nearly 98% of my card use) and is made of 3 oz Horween Chromexcel.
Horween Chromexcel in Butterscoth is EXACTLY the same shade as my favorite spectacles.
I bought a half-hide of Horween Chromexcel in Butterscotch. I pulled off a small strip and created a new TIMEX Weekender watch strap. I said to Sam, "This stuff would be great for wallets." The butterscotch blends with almost all types of leather (except for the really dark stuff). The lighter shades are butterscotch, but the darker shades are a ruddy brown. Furthermore, Chromexcel is buttery smooth with a great pull-up effect of the lighter tones and a very slight waxy finish (very slight).
Best materials - Simple Design = Steadfast
When I made the prototype, I turned to Sam and questioned why I would mess around with a more complex design. I used arguably one of the best leather available. My thread is 1.0mm waxed polyester (the same that one might use in parachutes or boat sails). It is UV resistant, weather resistant, and has a tensile strength in the hundreds. All four corners are double saddle stitched. And I can make the wallet in just under half an hour from start to finish. Steadfast. If you are interested, please let me know. I should have some basic 5-6 card wallets on Etsy soon.