The world of leather wallets are endless. There are your standard types of wallets like bifold or trifold and there are more utility or style focused wallets such as card holders. And all of these different types of wallets come with unique features that one should care and look for when buying them. Therefore, there is an immense need for a guide on each different type of wallets. Luckily, we are here just for that. After reading this article, you will have a better understanding of each different type of wallet out there and make your choice of wallet much wiser.
Telling the Difference Between Fake and Genuine Leather on Wallets
Before moving on with different types of wallets and their specific parts, we have to talk about spotting fake and genuine leather wallets. This is the most crucial step as if the wallet you want to buy isn’t made out of quality, genuine leather, then you are going to have major issues with it and eventually you will regret buying it in the first place. So having said this, we now should talk about what to look for when trying to differentiate between fake and leather wallets. The first thing that you should do is to feel the wallet. Leather tends to feel softer to the touch. When you push into the wallet gently, you should feel the outer, leather skin of the wallet also should gently follow the force you create without creases or creating tension. Tension is also our second key in spotting genuine leather wallets. Real leather will never have tension on its surface as it is a material that is easy to bend and hard to lose its shape and form after the bending test. This is why if you have zero to little tension when you bend the wallet and the wallet keeps its form intact after it, then you can be sure it is genuine. The last thing we want to talk about is the shine. Real leather shines gently. And yes, fake leather can also shine under some light but what you should look for is the ‘gentleness’ of that shine. Real leather wallets will not reflect too much light and will create a nice, easy to look at illumination around it. Now that we have talked about how to spot fake leather wallets, let’s get into the different wallet types.
Bifold Wallets
Genuine leather bifold wallets are a thing of beauty. They are incredibly stylish, useful and charismatic. This is why bifold wallets are the type of wallet everyone thinks of first. However, there are some quirks that make the great genuine ones not so easy to distinguish from fake ones. The first thing you can look for is the build quality. A quality bifold wallet will be built with precision and care, thus having no imperfections when being inspected. One of the imperfections and defırmities you can look for are stitch marks. Usually, poor quality bifold wallets will have really visible stitches that are unpleasant to look at and hard to the touch. Another thing is the asymmetry of the wallet when held open. A fake and poor quality bifold will have some assymetrical parts of it that are not there intentionally when inspected closely. The last thing you can look for is the design. Usually, a high end wonderfull bifold wallet will come with something that is unique only to that wallet. This might be the small touches near the edges or the custom shape of the ID window, you name it. If you have a wallet that has something like this and it also ticks other criterias, then you can go for it without hesitation.
Trifold Wallets
Next on our list is the trifold wallet, the ultimate utility item. They are cool, usable and neat with every opportunity they allow you. But just like every other wallet type out there, they have some things you should look for. Luckily, most of the things that apply to bifold wallets also apply to trifold wallets, so make sure to check everything written up there before adding more criteria on the list. When talking specifically about trifold wallets, we should mention their third compartment that gives them the ‘tri’ fold name. This extra part of the wallet should be built with extreme precision in order to create a good look when the wallet is closed. The way you can understand this is the width of the outer parts. They should be slightly different from each other in width as when they are closed, one of the sides will have to fold on top of the other, thus needing some extra bit of length sideways. You can understand this simply by closing the wallet and seeing if the sides line up perfectly or not. If it does, and also covers the criteria we have mentioned for bifold wallets, then you have a great candidate in your hands.
Card Holders
Last on our list is the favorite of the new generation, card holders. They are extremely slim, making them one of the greatest fashionable wallet types out there. They also have a simple purpose of holding a limited amount of things in them, letting you become a more organized person in general. Lastly, their small size makes them easier to produce, thus making them significantly cheaper to buy compared to old fashioned wallet types out there. These are some of the great things we can say about them, but sadly they aren’t that easy to recommend without proper education about them. Don’t get us wrong, they are one of the greatest options out there. But they are really easy to fake and build cheaply. This is why you should be really careful before buying one of them. The most risky thing about a leather card holder is the build quality. Even if the outer skin is made out of real leather that you yourself checked and approved, the inner infrastructure of the wallet that keeps it strong, tight and durable might be made out of cheap materials. This is why you should buy them from places that you can trust. One last thing is the amount of slots the holder has. A good, premium card holder will have enough space to put all of your valuables in them without becoming too stuffed and puffy. If all of these parts check out with the leather card holder you found, then, surely with no doubt you should consider buying one of them.
Unfortunately, nowadays they produce so much fake leather that it becomes impossible to distinguish fake leather from genuine leather. I once learned that the leather of a product I bought because it was made of genuine leather was actually fake.