Wallet Styles Compared

There are many different styles of wallets, and I am sure that after a little consideration, you will be able to decide which is the best suited to your needs.

People want their wallets to be small, and they also want them to be feature-rich, with large carrying capacities. Selecting the right wallet is ultimately about finding the right balance between those two qualities for your individual life style.

Card Wallets Vs Billfolds

The biggest consideration here is of course size, both in terms of carrying capacity, and outward bulk.

Card wallets are always smaller, but they are of course also lacking in certain features. Ask yourself how often you carry and use cash, and how much cash?

Will you be happy to fold and tuck the occasional bill into a smaller card pocket, or would you be doing that so often it would become a nuisance, or even a minor embarrassment, fumbling with folded notes in front of an impatient queue at a cashier?

Also consider how you like to dress. A slimmer card wallet will be less noticeable under more closely tailored clothes where a full billfold may cause unwanted lumps in your silhouette.

A person favoring looser fitting clothes, or clothes with thicker fabrics may not find the bulk to be as much of a drawback, and a person who usually carries a bag would be even less concerned with the size of a larger billfold.

Billfolds are also great for the well organized. With multiple pockets for individual cards it is simple to have a place for everything and everything in its place. A card wallet will often have multiple cards in the same pocket and require more thumbing through to find what you need.

Horizontal Vs Vertical Billfolds

The greatest difference here is in the cash pocket. A horizontal billfold has a bigger cash pocket, and is consequently a bit bigger overall compared to the vertical wallet's form factor.

On a horizontal billfold the cash pocket is significantly wider than US bills, and that makes it much more comfortable for frequent use. There is ample extra room that your bills will not tend to become caught up toward the edges of the pocket where the two pieces of leather meet at the seam.

The vertical style is a bit smaller overall, but the cash pocket is narrower. Larger than US bills of course, but with a big stack of bills it can take a bit of fiddling to get the corners of the bills to lay flat in the corners of the pockets.

Card Sleeves Vs Card Envelopes

An envelope style will hold items mores securely, having a snap closure rather than depending on friction alone to hold things in place. It is also much better at holding other small items such as SD cards or rings as shown here. A card sleeve is slimmer and quicker to access, and models with multiple pockets can help the well organized stay that way, but a person who will be searching through their whole wallet every time they need it would have a quicker and easier time searching through a single, larger pocket, than multiple smaller pockets.

What about the appearance?

If you prefer the design or look of one of my wallets, and the pocket configuration of another, let me know. I am happy to make a custom wallet with your preferred combination of design and features.