How To Choose The Best Wallet For Men

Though it’s just a small piece and not exposed often in publicity, a wallet plays an important and unreplaceable role in protecting your valuable stuff such as cards, important receipts and bills.

Never underestimate the power of a wallet!

To choose the right piece, there are a lot of features to consider, from the wallet type to suit your loads, your demands and requirements to the material – which one fits most to your taste, or even the color, if you believe in Feng-shui.

So, in this article, I will share you all-in-all instruction, tips and tricks to help you choose the best men’s wallet in the easiest and fastest way. Without further ado, let’s get straight into it!

i. Consider types of wallet first

Bifold

First up is the most common – the bifold wallet!

Simple design, free for your money, there’re places for your credit cards and usually have a slot for your ID. Usually, bifold wallet comes in very simple and classic silhouette as well as also the most popular type of wallet being used out there.

However, I don’t say that you have to stick to just a plain classic simple black or brown. There are a lot of variations of the bifold with a bunch of colorways, materials and sizes.

Like this RFID Bifold Leather wallet, can’t believe that in such a small piece measured by 4.3 inches long and 3.6 inches wide, it can fit up to 10-12 cards, plus an ID alongside with a lot of bills.

But the best thing about bifold is that it can be foldable to stay neatly in your back pocket, yet still keep your paper money straightly and nicely. Some bifold even comes up with two separate bill compartments so that you can have your currencies better organized.

If you intend to choose a brand-new one, have a look at my collection of the best bifold wallets which I’m pretty sure that you will find out AT LEAST one perfect piece matching your style.

Trifold

The trifold wallet is very similar to the bifold, except there’s one extra fold making the square a bit smaller than the bifold.

However, that extra flap or extra fold does have a tendency to make this wallet a little bit bulkier and thicker. Thus, make sure to pick up the best trifold wallet with clever design that doesn’t overloaded with extra cards and receipts and you’ll just great.

Coat wallet

It is designed to be carried on the inside pocket of your coat or jacket. The construction is a little bit more rectangular and longer. You open these coat wallets up and there are multiple slots for credit cards, cash and IDs.

With this kind of wallet, you will have more chances to keep paper money better as they won’t be folded many times. Along with that, when opening it up, all of your cards will be presented clearly one-by-one for easy access.

However, you should not carry it in your back pocket because it will stick out, making it much easier for pickpockets to steal your stuff.

Chain wallet

This wallet became popular back in the 1970s by bikers, more specifically, the Hell Angels. Chain wallets are typically a trifold wallet with snaps that go in your back pocket. Meanwhile, the chain is attached to a little snap that goes on your belt or belt loop.

Nobody’s stealing this kind of wallet from you! It is a very casual look as well as there are different chains to buy, such as stainless steel or leather chain, to express your individual style.

Above are three common wallets that go in your back pocket or inside coat pocket, but there are options for front pocket as well. Let’s go over them!

Money clip

This is the picture of a very simple design from CL Carbonlife. You use it to keep all your bills together and typically carry it in your front pocket.

But, they are doing a lot of great things with money clip. Check out this cool one from Lethnic!

You can see that it is a perfect compromise of a small bifold wallet and a money clip plus outstanding crocodile embossed genuine leather. Look cool yet luxurious, right? The best thing about this piece is that it provides extra space to keep your belongings better, neater and more streamline whereas slim down your wallet profile significantly.

There are also a lot of different designs of money clip out there on the market, which if you want to try some, don’t miss this article about the top money clip wallets with cool and unique outlook. (Actually, those two products above are taken from this collection, too!)

Card holder

Another option is the sleek and stylish credit card carrying case which is perfect for storing IDs, bank cards, member cards and stuff like that.

The only issue with this is carrying your cash and accessing that cash because you have to fold up the cash and stick it down into the box. It is a little bit tougher to access than the money clip or regular wallets.

But one day, they create one of the most incredible inventions ever – the money clip credit card holder – the union of one perfect creation.

You may concern :

Top Card Holder Wallets For Men

Zippered wallet

This type of wallet is usually though to be used for women, but in fact, there are a lot of nice designs for men, too.

This is the most basic silhouette of a men’s zippered wallet. The best thing about this kind of design is its better security and closure, which you can feel ease in mind to keep your coins, keys and other small stuff like that.

On top of that, if you are fed up with your bifold wallet always opening in your backpack, this is going to solve the problem easily. Just zip it up and your wallet will stay in shape, neat and closure all the time.

From years to years, due to higher demands, there are a lot of variations of zippered wallets, such as the combination of the traditional bifold and the zippered wallet, or a mix between credit card case and zipper to meet different requirements and needs.

My article about the Top Popular Men’s Zippered Wallets also list out some cool designs, too, which you can consult if getting interested in it.

Minimalist wallet

Many people think that this wallet is a newbie, but, it doesn’t. Actually, minimalist wallets have come to Earth many years ago, but just in recent time when minimal lifestyle becomes trends, they become more and more popular.

And yes, as its name defines, this kind of wallet arrives in very simple construction and small dimensions. Here is a typical image of a minimalist wallet:

As you can see, the easiest-to-recognize feature is its minimal structure. It doesn’t have well-organized or streamline construction with many different slots and compartments for stuff. It usually has 1-3 rooms with tendency to keep all essentials in one place.

In fact, minimalist wallet is perfectly suitable for those who love carrying less, like just a few regular cards and some cash (or even no cash at all). This kind of wallet is commonly used as a daily piece to carry slim, neat and convenient. You can place it either in your back pocket or the front pocket, even your chest pocket without bulk. That’s the biggest great thing about minimalist wallet!

Apart from various designs and silhouettes, men’s wallets also come in different material, each of which might be suitable for some specific situations, tastes, needs and even your characteristics.

ii. Next, materials

When it comes to the material of men’s wallets, chances will many people think about leather or canvas. Yes, they are two most common kinds of material that have been appeared on this Earth for a long, long time.

Leather

In terms of durable material, leather is king. It can last for decades, even a century with less wears and tears. Some premium leather gets better with time.

Talking about leather, there are two major kinds: the genuine and the faux. I know that many people don’t think good about the faux and I myself don’t say that faux leather is bad. It’s actually a manmade material to mimic real leather. In fact, some high-end faux leather comes in really good quality with greatly sophisticated embossing.

Its biggest advantages are affordable price and easier to maintain.

If you have some knowledge about leather, might you understand that real leather is longevity but it requires complicating care and maintenance, especially if you decide to drop your money on an expensive leather wallet. The obvious and must-do thing after that is spending some more on specialized leather caring products.

That’s why I usually say that genuine leather wallet is mostly for patient and delicate men.

However, in turns, leather wallet will bring up to you the best luxury look that rarely can other materials do. It’s always the top choice when you want to show up some of your luxe, class and social status to the publicity, usually a business meeting or important occasions.

Canvas

Canvas is, on the contrary, the best option for a casual wallet. It’s durable, easy to take care and affordable. For men, those military canvas wallets will cool you down with masculine and powerful feeling. On top of that, the more wears and tears, the better. It adds a lot of soul to the product, which is the best thing I have found in the canvas.

However, the downside of them is lack of water resistance, if not saying that it’s very easy and fast to absorb water or moisture, which might damage your belongings seriously, especially your cash or important receipts.

Thus, once you decide to try this material as an every day carry, bear on mind to prevent it against water or moisture.

Alongside with those two common materials for men’s wallets, nowadays, there are some new kinds of material to vary our demands and taste, such as metal and nylon.

Metal

You don’t hear it wrongly, there are exactly metal wallets!

The most popular kinds of metal used in wallets are aluminum, titanium and stainless steel.

In comparison to the hardness, it’s respectively titanium, stainless steel and aluminum. Mostly, titanium and stainless steel are utilized for tactical wallets or a carrying piece for outdoor activities such as camping, hiking, etc. Because of the great hardness, they are perfect to attach some more functional gears alongside, for example mini saw, ruler, bottle opener, and so on. Besides, they give better protection to your essentials, even under hard force.

Aluminum, on the contrary, can be deform if you put a heavy load on it or under strong force. However, it’s the most common choice when it comes to metal wallet. Why?

Firstly, it’s the cheapest material among three and secondly, its beautiful shine does deliver an outstanding luxurious look. Another good thing is that it’s not kind of so hard to feel uncomfortable when putting inside your pockets.

By the way, one thing you should never forget when using a metal wallet, don’t ever sit on it! Also, if you intend to stick it in your pocket usually, go for the curved-corner wallet so that it won’t hurt your clothes as well as your skin.

Nylon

Another good choice for a casual wallet – the nylon.

The greatest feature about this lightweight and flexible material is it overcoming the big drawback of canvas wallets – water resistance.

This kind of wallet is even more suitable to use in such tropical climate when it’s usually rainy on summer or even during a year. High-end nylon wallets can deliver ultimate security against moisture and water, even under downpour rains.

However, in turns, its durability is lower than canvas.

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iii. Other features to consider

Wallet types, materials and now, you should think about some more other features to choose the best carrying piece.

The third thing is dimensions

Usually, you should opt for a wallet with true size fitting your pocket. If it’s going to be used as a back-pocket wallet, go for the one that fits the biggest back pocket of your pants.

The same thing when it comes to a front pocket or coat pocket wallet!

Besides, you should consider the size of card slots and bill compartments as well. Though bank cards, IDs and driver license usually have the same dimensions, member cards don’t. Some of them are truly too big to fit normal-size slots.

About paper money, there are obviously many kinds of currencies with different sizes such as Yen, US dollars, Europe and Pounds. Some wallets are design to only fit with US dollars, while others can fit all.

From that point, let’s take it into consideration when choosing a wallet.

Next up is color

Two most popular colors of men’s wallets are black and brown. However, these days, many manufacturers have released variations of tones as well as mixes, for examples, navy blues, grey, green, ivory and even the bright tones such as red, yellow, orange, etc.

Western people usually choose color of a wallet based on their taste, preference and nature of work, but with the Asian, they also choose the color due to Feng-shui.

So now, should we feng-shui our wallet for prosperity?

Good question! Actually, this element is based on your faith. I mean whether or not you believe in feng-shui, no matter you are the Western or Asian?

Many people believe that feng-shui will help to improve the energy in the place where you keep your valuable stuff.

Below are some pros of different colors in Feng-shui.

Color	Benefits
Fire colors: red, pink, orange, strong yellow and purple	Bring support energy Good luck Wealth
Earth colors: light yellow, beige…	Steady Stability Saving
Metal colors: grey and white	Sustain energy of calm, preciseness and clarity Eliminate distractions
Water colors: black and blue	Bring refresh energy of purity, calm, ease and freshness Bring wealth
Wood colors: brown and green	Bring health, wealthy and growth Prosperity

Apart from colors, there are two more things influent on Feng-shui wallet which have been already written in my article of How to make a choice of the Feng Shui wallet, if you are interested in it, don’t hesitate to have a look. I’m pretty sure that you will learn many important things to attract wealth and luck to your wallet.

Last is warranty

This is particularly essential when you buy a wallet online. Good and trustful warranty will help you a lot if that product has any manufacturing faults or you don’t satisfy with it.

Different brands will offer different warranty policy so that when buying, keep in mind this feature.

Top things you SHOULD AVOID carrying in your wallet

99 percent of us carry some form of wallet to carry our driver license, ID cards, bank card and condom. For the record, never carry condoms in your wallet!

The reason is the chance of you damaging that condom is very high whereas the chance you might use it is very low. You get the condoms and want to bring one out? You can stick it in your pocket or socks or wherever you can, except for your wallet.

Storing cards, receipts, bills, currency, coins and a bunch of a lot of different things, if you aren’t careful and thoughtful to organize your wallet, chances will it be a filing cabinet wrapped in leather that you systematically and carefully jam in the back of your pants.

Let me tell you something, guys!

You are in the restaurant or a coffee shop and meet a really pretty girl, then, you pull such that big guys out of your back pocket. You think it’s sexy and positive? But in fact, it says lazy, irresponsible and disheveled.

Not saying that carrying and sitting on such fatty wallet for a long time will cause harm to your health, especially your back bone and spine.

Bonus: How to slim down your wallet? How do you know when it’s time to replace for a new one?

So now, you might be thinking that is there a right or a wrong way to carry your cash and cards? Yes, there is a wrong way! You don’t want to stick it down your pants or crinkle it up and stick it in your socks. These two would be wrong ways to carry your cards and cash. Why would you want to do that when there are so many great options to carry it!

All these selections are just a few examples of the different designs and variations on wallets: front pocket, back pocket, inside your coat pocket, etc. You can find a tremendous amount of different options out there.

You don’t need to stick to just the classic black and brown, simple and boring, there are creative and fun ways for you to carry your essentials.

The good news, there are a lot of options to bring your cards and cash. The bad news, wallets do wear out over time. So, let’s do a little test together!

I want you to reach in your pocket and pull out your wallet. Take a look, is it a real fat, big and overflowing with receipts, cards, cash and all that good stuff? If it is, we need to thin it out!

Think about that, might you have 18 credit cards, but do you use all of them every day, every week and every month? Probably not!

Thus, all you can do is to take some of the ones that you don’t use regularly and stick them in drawer, lock them up in a safe place. Just pick the most regular cards alongside, inside your casual wallet and just bring all those business cards, member cards and other irregular stuff when you travel or go to a meeting.

With that’s going to do is making your wallet a little bit more presentable and thinner. But, that’s just a little side note, thin your wallet out if it’s real thick and big.

Next, take a look, again! If your wallet is black, is it still black? If it’s brown, is it still brown? Is it worn out, scuffed up and looking kind of rough? If it does look rough, it’s time for you to invest in a new one.

Now, the great news is that wallets are also not that expensive for sure. You can spend a lot of money on high-end designer wallets, but you can pick up a perfectly good and presentable wallet that’s sexy, masculine and cool, not going to break the bank.

Wallet wears out over time, they start to look like hell. The stitching will start to come out, deform and get tears, so, replace your wallet about once a year. And, it’s a good idea to have multiple wallets such as having black one when you are wearing a pair of black shoes or a brown when you are wearing brown shoes. It’s up to you, my friends!

We can do it better, gentlemen!

Start a brand-new thing to change not only your look, but also your healthy to a better side. By paying a little attention to the little details like wallets, it’s going to set you apart from the masses of guys who are carrying around a chubby, ugly wallet to a modern, sharp and masculine man who understand how to organize and keep his stuff neatly. It’s a simple thing to make a big, big difference!