Minimalist Wallets Online
We will review why should you consider trading your long time bulky wallet for a minimalist kind? Well, I think I could convince you. Out with the old, in with the minimal.
Let's Take a look
Shopping for Minimalist Wallets Online
As we move into the busiest and most challenging shopping season of the year, a word frequently heard in design and lifestyle circles is minimalism. Sparked mostly by Marie Kondo and The Minimalists (Joshua Fields Millburn & Ryan Nicodemus), minimalism is part lifestyle choice, part personal philosophy, and part guidebook. It celebrates a life made more straightforward and guided by the decision to resist (or even reject) the speed and excess that has come to define the modern world. The benefits of embracing a minimalist lifestyle are numerous:
- Less stress
- Freedom to focus on building a healthier, more balanced body
- Freedom to focus on nurturing a healthier, more balanced lifestyle
- The opportunity to think more about how you live in the world (reflexivity)
- Freedom to pursue passions
- Create more and consume less.
In fashion, minimalism is also trending strongly, with accessories like wallets at the forefront of many discussions. All of which makes shopping for minimalist wallets online an excellent option for 2020. So here is a brief introduction to some of the minimalist wallets' key features to help you make the best selection possible.
Top Reasons Why You Should Own a Minimalist Wallet
I am excited to share with you our ideas of why your next purchase should be a thin, minimalist wallet.
Read On
What is a Minimalist Wallet?
The easiest way to answer this question is that a minimalist wallet is the perfect balance of form and function. In terms of form, when shopping for minimalist wallets online, you are looking for wallets that are lightweight, durable, slim, and an elegant reminder of your commitment to your intentional choices. A minimalist wallet can be high-tech (titanium), luxurious (full-grain leather), or cutting-edge (fiber carbon) without giving up the strength, durability, or lightweight qualities you are looking for. Slim and sleek, your minimalist wallet is easy to carry and transitions elegantly from the office to the gym to a family movie night.
The best minimalist wallets are also exceptionally functional, powerfully effective, highly resilient, and thoughtful They are built for a modern world while retaining old-world (but not old-school) values and sensibilities. They remind us of a time when common sense was more common, when bringing value to the world meant creating something of value and impact, and when the measure of a man’s success had more to do with the firmness of his handshake than the bulk of the wallet he squeezed out of his pocket for the world to see.
What Are the Best Minimalist Wallets Made From?
When searching for minimalist wallets online, it is good to know a bit about the various materials they are made from and recognize that not all of these materials are created equally. Here is our ranking of the materials to be looking for narrowing down your selection of minimalist wallets online.
Carbon Fiber is a clear winner in the minimalist wallet design game. Why? Quite simply, carbon fiber is a super-material that boasts:
- 5 times the tensile strength of steel
- 2 times the stiffness of steel
- Remarkably low weight to strength ratio
- High chemical resistance
- High tolerance to high and even excessive heat
- A natural resistance to corrosion, which means that it never rusts
- The flexibility that designers love, to the point that it has been called the future of design.
All of which makes carbon fiber very popular in the design of aerospace, aviation, and military products as well as in many products perfectly suited for extreme sports and adventure enthusiasts. Look at any high-end racing or off-road bicycle, for instance, and you will very likely find a carbon fiber frame. In other words, carbon fiber wallets pack tremendous value into their thin, ultra-stylish designs.
Adding to the allure of carbon fiber (also known as graphite fiber) is the secrecy surrounding how it is made. Because it is (a) expensive to produce (reportedly $25 million for equipment alone) and (b) at the cutting edge of so many industry innovations (that is, has enormous market potential), each manufacturer considers its signature fiber to be intellectual property of the highest order. In other words: no sharing, no explaining, and no looking behind the curtain to see the magic that goes into making the carbon fiber that goes into your wallet.
So, if your man’s lifestyle demands an ultra-stylish wallet built from the same material as his dream McLaren or Porsche, a fiber carbon wallet meets all his needs.
Aluminum
Aluminum (or aluminium as it is pronounced outside of North America) is the most abundant metal on the planet, and the third most common element (only oxygen and silicon are more plentiful). Pure aluminum is relatively soft and lacking in tensile strength. But the more common aluminum alloys (aluminum mixed with small amounts of copper, zinc, magnesium, or lithium) is as strong but much lighter than steel. High-strength aluminum is found most commonly in two conditions:
- where strength and lightness are primary concerns, as in planes, trains, and automobiles
- where extreme conditions demand super durability, which is why the US military and NASA are huge fans of the alloy.
The airframe of the famous F-16 fighter jet is, in fact, 80% aluminum. The most popular choice for the shark cages used to protect divers from the wrath of Jaws: aluminum. So, the short answer is yes: an aluminum wallet is naturally strong and durable.
Other reasons that some of the best minimalist wallets are made from aluminum:
- It absorbs crash energy. In fact, aluminum can absorb almost twice as much crash energy as steel of the same thickness.
- It is naturally corrosion resistance thanks to a protective oxide coating that forms naturally when exposed to air. Further processing of the alloy (through anodizing, for instance) enhances this natural resistance to any moisture or chemicals that would destroy a leather or fabric wallet.
- It is environmentally friendly. Aluminum is non-toxic, making your aluminum wallet an environmentally safe alternative to treated fabrics and leather, which commonly comes in contact with formaldehyde, syntans, and glutaraldehyde (the stuff used to treat warts) during the tanning process.
- It is recyclable. Aluminum is often referred to as the "engine of recycling economics" given its prominence in the still-growing global recycling industry. Nearly 75 percent of all aluminum produced in the US is still in circulation today, which is good for the environment and for business, given that recycling aluminum saves more than 90 percent of the energy required to produce new metal.
Mu-metal is a relatively new arrival when considering minimalist wallets online. Technically considered a high permeability alloy, it is a composition of nickel (usually around 80%), iron, copper, and chromium or molybdenum. Invented in the 1920s for use in submarine telegraph cables, it is not as strong or durable as aluminum. Still, it is excellent for protecting your credit cards or flash drives from magnetic fields that might scan information or damage data. A mu-metal wallet is also a great conversation starter given its uniqueness and rarity in the wallet world.
Leather is still one of the most common materials when considering a minimalist wallet, and there are many types of leather products to choose from: full-grain cow leather, cowhide, or even horse leather. Although not as tough and durable as carbon fiber or aluminum, leather can easily manage the wear-and-tear of everyday use. The bonus is that leather is one of the few materials used in the best minimalist wallets that gets better with age. Nicks and scratches make a leather wallet look better, especially if you carry it with casual clothing.
Unfortunately, leather is not the most environmentally friendly material available (as noted above), nor is it water-resistant, which poses problems in some less-than-moderate climates. Most problematic, though, is the fact that leather is not particularly conducive to a thin wallet. On the contrary, a leather wallet can get quite bulky, especially when layers are required in the design, as when creating a series of credit card slots.
Not surprisingly, leather wallets are also known to cause wallet neuritis, or fat wallet syndrome, a recognized condition linked to severe and often debilitating lower back pain in men caused by pressure on the sciatic nerve, most often from sitting on a bulky wallet.
Polyester is another material often seen in minimalist wallets. Although it does allow for an inexpensive, thin wallet, polyester is not a natural material, which raises issues about environmental impact. Not only does it take substantial energy to process the chemicals used in polyester, but the fabric itself is not easily biodegraded and continues to emit greenhouse gases throughout at least part of its lifecycle.
When shopping for minimalist wallets online, be sure to take the time to consider the material choice best suited for the men on your list.
Now That We've Covered the Top Materials of Minimalist Wallets
Let's discuss some other reasons as to why you should consider getting one.
Are Minimalist Wallets Cybersecure?
With identity theft and similar cybercrimes are on the rise across the globe, keeping personal data safe has never been more critical. Credit card fraud of all types more than doubled from 2017 to 2019 and only continues to rise. Victims of what is known as Card-Not-Present fraud are especially vulnerable since they are most often unaware of the theft until they notice or are notified of unauthorized charges on their account or have their cards unexpectedly decline.
A question worth considering when shopping for minimalist wallets online is whether the wallet is cyber secure? Both fiber carbon and aluminum wallets are readily equipped with state-of-the-art technologies designed to block the 13.56MHz frequencies used by hackers looking to scan your credit cards for vital information that can be used or sold on the black market. Your aluminum wallet offers a strong defense of your personal data. So, the answer is yes, a minimalist wallet made from either fiber carbon or aluminum provides a high level of cybersecurity.
Why Does He Need a Minimalist Wallet?
When shopping for minimalist wallets online this season, be sure to think about why the men on your shopping list might need or want a minimalist wallet. Here are some of the most common reasons that, not surprisingly, align neatly with the key beliefs of living a minimalist lifestyle.
Owning fewer possessions is a cornerstone of any minimalist lifestyle and, by extension, of any minimalist wallet. Carrying only what he needs to support his daily activities allows him to remove the distractions of non-essential possessions. A minimalist wallet frees him to focus on what matters most in the moment. Carrying a wallet overloaded with credit cards, receipts, expired parking passes, and the like is antithetical to a focused life.
Clarity, purpose, and intentionality is a kind of minimalist mantra. It means that he will focus on intentionally trimming distractions from his life and promoting only those things that he values most or that function as essentials to his success and happiness. A minimalist wallet demands intentionality. Which is the one credit card that he truly needs? His minimalist wallet will force him to think carefully and become more introspective about his actual values.
Freedom from possessions. Think about his father's or grandfather's wallet. It was overloaded with stuff – cash, receipts, notes, ID, and maybe even credit cards. The world has changed for many men as had the overwhelming need to own things that mark status and success. In their world, more was always better, and their celebration of fat wallets showed it.
As you shop online for minimalist wallets, you show that you recognize that he has stepped off the intergenerational path of modern consumerism. He is a man who finds happiness in experiences, not in thick wads of cash. The single credit card in his minimalist wallet is all he needs to support those experiences.
Respect for money. Given that personal debt in the US is at a crisis level (over $14 trillion), his new minimalist wallet has a very practical upside as well. Carrying a single credit card, which is paid off each month, is a reminder of the complexity of personal finances and reflects his deep (and perhaps old-school) respect for money and its value in his world.
He has slowed his life while others are still caught in the excess speed and stress of a world defined by imbalance, multi-tasking, and 24/7 social media coverage. His minimalist wallet sends a clear message: I need only this credit card, this photo, and these few bills to live a complete and full life. I reject the premise that faster is better, that more is best. His minimalist wallet signals an intentional, balanced decision to step off the superhighway and find his own path on a quiet back road.
His minimalist wallet marks that he is embracing authenticity. While other people are showcasing various versions of themselves – the work self, the sports self, the holiday self – he is simply the man he has become through experience, wisdom, and self-awareness. While other men carry wallets cluttered with the detritus of an over-busy life, he embraces that his minimalist wallet contains only one, which is all he needs to support his simple, authentic life.
He also knows that his success is measured internally, not by external validation or traditional markers. His minimalist wallet was gifted with intention, to help free him from clutter in the same way that he cleared his life of excess, stripped it of the unnecessary and the externally motivated.
Finally, his minimalist wallet reminds him every day that his goals are achievable and that his intentionality will be rewarded over time and in abundance. In this way, he carries the roadmap to success tucked neatly away in his pocket or backpack. It is there always to remind him of the power of simplicity and the opportunity he has to make each day easier, more focused, and more rewarding. “You can do more with less,” his minimalist wallet reminds him every time he reaches for it.
Where to Find Minimalist Wallets Online?
If the idea of sorting through digital page after digital page of minimalist wallets is not that appealing, here are a few curated sites to make your shopping just a bit easier.
For carbon fiber or aluminum minimalist wallets visit Zuboot for a wide selection of super cool colors and accessories that will make his gift perfect. They also have a full 1-year warranty and a hassle-free return policy if he wants to switch out the color.
For leather, be sure to look for one made from full-grain leather and not for the more common designation of genuine leather. A full-grain leather slim wallet is not only the highest quality grade of leather available it is also the most durable and will develop a beautiful patina as it ages. And because this wallet will be made from the first layer that is sliced off a rawhide, which means that it shows the cool imperfections (healed scars, wrinkles, insect bites) that will give your leather wallet a unique, artisanal look and feel.
Whether shopping online for a state-of-the-art carbon fiber wallet with RFID-blocking technology or classic leather bi-fold, do so with confidence knowing that you are giving a gift that is more about a lifestyle celebrated than it is a simple accessory.
