A while back I did a few wallet reviews, comparing a couple of different concepts of, well, walletry? The most innovative of those was from Minimum Squared in Valencia, Spain. A tiny wife and husband team taking a more engineered look at how a wallet could work. Well, they’ve tweaked the design, added more leather options, and I have one of their new “Slim wallets” here ready to unbox!
So, basically this is a new version of their minimalistic slim wallet elastic, not to be confused with the minimalist wallet though , which is even more minimalistic. The original version won a coveted Red Dot award for it’s innovative design. The main difference between the original version and this evolution is that it’s without the elastic that kept it closed. This version relies on you tucking the flap inside, and this also works well.
What this wallet offers is a clever combination of 5 compartments to cover the needs of standard sized cards and the ever less relevant paper money, or other outsize pieces of paper. It’s easy to demand a slim wallet, but easy to forget that the thickness of it will at the very least be the sum of all cards and other pieces you wish to keep in it. To then make a wallet that can contain and keep in order it makes sense to use a fine, thin leather. My original was made from full-grain vegetable tanned goat leather , while this made from Horween Chromexcel full-grain cowhide leather. Both are supple, strong and very nice. And thin, naturally.
The wallets are stitched using a quality thread in the colour you select. And yes, each wallet is made to order in the combination of leather and thread you prefer. There is no mass production and machinery at work here, it’s all done by hand, to order, using carefully selection materials. In fact, the transparency around the materials also a fine thing, if like me, you’re a little nerdy about such matters.
The presentation is still superb, from the moment you see the specially made box, the personal note of thanks and remove the wallet from the silk paper. As shown on the video, they also carefully show the thought that has gone into the design by prefilling the card slots with cards displaying the number of cards the slot is intended to hold. Very elegant.
Having now used the wallet for a couple of weeks since recording the video I can confirm that the closing mechanism works as intended, the wallet sits comfortably in my front pocket and the leather is looking nice. For me, that’s about all I require of a wallet and this performs the job flawlessly. At 165 euros a wallet, I can appreciate that the price reflects the quality, the handmade nature and the fact that the maker needs to make a living.
Well done, Minimum Squared!
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