MEN & WOMEN LEATHER WALLETS
Beyond being an everyday essential accessory, wallets quickly evolve into an identity artifact of every individual. They get so personal, that the only thing we could compare them to, in terms of identity properties, is to smartphones! Curious enough, wallets are rarely bought by the user itself; and rather received as gifts by friends or family. In fact, they tend to be replaced as the result of receiving a new one.
In some cultures, there is a symbolic act related to luck and upcoming wealth. When a wallet is given as a gift, people usually include a bit of cash in them (the amount is not important although some people enjoy giving a bit too much). This symbolizes that one hopes that the wallet is never left out empty, and that can be extrapolated to credit and debit cards too! Not from giving one, but you the idea.
And of course, there are some people that simply enjoy having different types of wallets to fit their dynamic lifestyles. In this brief guide we'll cover everything that is needed to know about wallets. And here, we'll try to cover the basics for men and women wallets alike.
How to Pick your Next Leather Wallet
We carry on the opinion that leather wallets are great gift options only when you know, at least, the other person's style and taste. If not, you'll end up giving something to another person that they won't find right for their needs and lifestyle. And there is nothing more awkward than having to fake you like a gift that you simply don't. So, unless you are extremely sure that you'll nail it with a wallet, we don't recommend it to be a regular gift solution. In other words, we love the act of giving wallets as gifts, but only if one's absolutely sure that the other person will migrate all their cards and cash right after receiving it.
So, enough about gifts, let's talk about how to pick the right wallet for us! And to achieve this we need to talk about the basics, first things first. In order to define what type of wallet you should be buying, you need to spot the required usages you'll be expecting from a wallet or more. This refers to the amount and type of items you'll be carrying around inside of them, and no matter the style of wallet, there are some popular features you can expect to find in wallets out there.
From the most to the least popular:
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Several card slots, perfect for IDs, driving licenses, and Credits & Debits of course.
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Large bill section or slot for banknotes, bills, and other paper related stuff.
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Rear zippered coin pocket, perfect for keeping coins in handy rather than having them swinging loose in your car.
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Identification card window, for frequent usage necessities.
For both women and men, this is a basic principle in the act of picking the perfect leather wallet. Stick to the minimum, and you'll have a more pleasing wallet experience. The best way for doing this is by taking EVERYTHING you have in your wallets right now, and put all that stuff on a table (or the floor) in front of you right now.
What do you see? Unless you are a minimalist-minded person, chances are that you'll encounter concert tickets from the last decade, library cards and university ID's that expired zillion years ago. Select the crucial stuff that you might need for your everyday activities, and leave the other stuff in a dedicated place at home. They can be used when the time is needed, and they don't need to be with you all the time.
Life hack: take photos of the left-behinds, all the stuff you might leave outside your new wallet, with a phone scanning app (for security reasons, please don't do it with your credit and debit cards).
If you want to go extra minimal, you can have a dedicated coin pouch in your car, so each time you get some spare change; put it in your pocket (the 5th small pocket on jeans are useful for these metallic folks), and then transfer them into the pouch on your car when getting inside of it. Too much work? You can always have a piggy bank at your place too.
Women and men leather wallets are like any other leather crafted article, and at MegaGear we do take leather seriously. Our cowhide leather is 100% natural, making it versatile and beautiful for all the wallets we craft. Remember this when picking leather wallets from other places, especially when being away from the keyboard. Leather is one of the most honest fabrics we'd ever encounter, you simply can't fake quality with it. Natural leather has a distinctive smell and feel that no artificial solution is able to par.
Oh, and remember to always check sizes on the wallets specs if buying online. Some wallets tend to be too bulkier even when they appear to be slim and comfortable to carry around.
Wrapping it up to this point, whenever picking a leather wallet consider your daily life, and bind a system that allows you to keep just the extremely necessary items with you. Trust us, you'll survive the detox, and we assure you'll have a nicer wallet experience thanks to that particular yet crucial decision you'll make. And don't forget this, unless you want to throw your cash away, if you are looking to give a wallet as a gift, be sure that you really know that person for sure.
How to Clean a Leather Wallet
Would you imagine not giving your clothes a bit of laundry-love since day one? Well, that's what many people do with wallets, which are in a solid sense, articles carried around on a daily basis, and sometimes very close to us. If you happen to have your leather wallet stained or dirty from regular usage, you can either use leather cleaners, usually found in liquid or cream, or saddle soap for a deeper cleansing. If you want your wallet to have an extra shine, use some conditioner too.
The procedure is quite simple, but it has its trick. But before starting out, take all your stuff out of the wallet; yeah, duh, but trust me, it happens. Now, first, shake the leather cleaner bottle before opening it. Then, place your split wallet flat on a table in front of you, and spritz two pumps of the substance, and let it soak into the leather, this last part should take 30 to 60 seconds tops.
After that, scrub the wallet leather with a stiff bristled toothbrush. Give it some nice and tight small circles to work the cleaner into the wrinkles of the leather. Then, continue scrubbing until it forms suds on your beloved leather wallet. Once finished on one side, flip it over and scrub the other. Almost finished, wipe the cleaner off of the wallet with a clean cloth; and let your leather the wallet air-dry completely overnight.
If your leather wallet is in need of a deeper cleansing, we rather recommend saddle soap for bringing it back to life. First, wipe the leather surface with a warm-water wetted cloth, and make sure you take all the moisture out before the cleansing starts. Then, rub a small amount of saddle soap onto the cloth, and clean your wallet along the grain; this is along the way the wrinkles run. For this, try to be in a very well lit place, some leather wallets happen to have fine wrinkles and a good light source will make this easier for you. Keep in mind to be careful around the seams on your wallet so they don't rip or break while you're cleaning them. If you find an unfortunate event of deep stains, clean them with a cotton swab with a bit extra soap in a circular motion. Finally, wrap the leather wallet, laid flat, in a dry towel and leave it there for 10 hours; and fold the sides of the towel around the wallet so it's completely covered. And remember keeping the wallet out of direct heat even though being wrapped.
Conditioning your leather is also a good practice, and should be done after either cleaning yours with leather cleaner or saddle soap. This product is used for properly moisturizing leather, and is available in offline and online stores. First, open the conditioner bottle, and dip the edge of your cleaning cloth. Then, coat the towel with a light layer of the conditioner, work it into the leather wallet in small circular motions on both sides. Take into account that the color of your leather may appear slightly darker as you apply it, but will not change the overall color of your precious leather wallet. Finally, buff the wallet with a clean, dry cloth until it appears a bit shiny. As soon as you've done applying the conditioner, put firm pressure on the cloth while you rub the leather with the grain, and continue rubbing your leather wallet until it has a bright sheen to it.
We recommend doing this process every 6 to 8 months to preserve the quality of the leather, and make your wallet last longer.
How to Detox a Wallet
Detoxing or optimizing your wallet could be a challenging task to pull off, but here today we'll give you some guidance into the bittersweet act of cleaning your wallet's insides. And we are not talking about hygiene anymore.
The process is simply guided by common sense, does your wallet close properly? is it overflowing with bills, receipts and crumbed cash? Do you really need that expired gift card and that old ticket from Disneyland swamping there?
We talked before about the act of putting everything on a table and deciding which items are crucial & essential, and which aren't really important, at least for everyday usages. Therefore, we won't say that over again; our best solution is to keep all your rarely-used items inside a small box or even your previous leather wallet, and keep a smaller, sleeker, more minimal one, for your daily activities. This way, you'll know exactly where to find your stuff, without the burden of carrying them always with you.
If you want to achieve the maximum amount of minimalism (what, is that even a thing? nvm), try using a leather card-holder rather than a typical wallet. If you are able to walk-around with just the stuff that these slim boys are able to cope with, then you'll master the minimalist lifestyle in no time! And if you are not comfortable with doing this, then at least try purging your regular larger wallet once a month.
Pro Tip: This can be escalated to bags, purses, backpacks, and even mobile devices too!
What to Do After Receiving a Leather Wallet?
Before filling in all your goodies into your brand-new wallet, try the following. Filter all your credit and debit cards, keep those that you use the most with you, and the not-so-recurrent in the aforementioned box or older leather wallet. You can even sort them out depending on certain incentives for different categories of spending. For example one card may be offering more cash back for pharmaceuticals this month, and another might be doing the same for groceries and gas.
Pro tip: Check online each month to see how you can maximize your credit card purchases. You never know when you'll find that ridiculous savings too!
In both cases, women and men, leather wallets are an essential part of the individual life. Taking care of them is something that happens less often as one might be expecting, and we hope that this brief guide will help you out into making the most out of your brand-new leather wallet.