I had a very different reaction to my duct tape wallet. I saw a slim, front pocket design online that was exactly what I was looking for in a wallet but I was unable to find one to buy. This was around the time that front pocket wallets just started to become a fad with the mininalism community so they were still quite uncommon.
Used an old thin plastic board as a frame and duct taped the outside. One pocket for cards, one for money and a stretchy band to slip over to prevent things from accidentally falling out.
Everyone loved it because it was so unique I guess. Kept adding more tape to repair it as it aged but eventually I retired it because the old glue was smearing all over my cards and money.
I made many great memories with that wallet since it travelled with me around the world for a good number of years.
I’m into carrying the least amount of non-bulky things possible with me. I used to keep my driver’s license and credit card in between my phone and phone case. When I switched phones, the form factor made it so I couldn’t do that anymore. But I stumbled into a listing for a cheap elastic fabric wallet and pulled the trigger. I absolutely love it. It works perfectly for my needs, has an incredibly small footprint, and has a pull tab so that I can easily slide my card out when needed. I’ve had the same one for 2 years now. It goes in my pocket daily and hasn’t seem to shown much signs of wear.
There are only 2 main downsides I’ve found to this design.
It bends your cards over time. This doesn’t bother me. It’s really a cosmetic issue, imo. Cards still work fine with a slight curve in them. Once they get curved in one direction you might just want to try popping them in the other way.
If you put, for example, 5 cards in the wallet for a period of time, but you eventually want to trim down to only carrying 2 cards, you’ll run into an issue. Adding more cards to the wallet stretches it out, so it may become too loose to carry less cards at some point. Once I realized this, I just figured I’d keep all of my cards in there and not trim them down. So I always have my driver’s license, 2 regular payment cards, and 2 medical related cards in my wallet. One of these cards is thinner than a regular card, so it’s kind of like I’m carrying 4.5 cards on me. Still far slimmer and pocketable than any other wallet I’ve had. Fits in women’s pockets! I love it!
I don’t carry cash or anything, so I don’t know how well this would work for that. A wallet for cash wasn’t what I was looking for, personally. I hate carrying cash.
Edit: I looked back at the listing I purchased from years ago. It looks like you can purchase it with or without the pull tab. I guess the photo I took is the one without the pull tab. The tab has been useful for me tho.
Rigid brand wallets seem nice and more durable, but they are infinitely more expensive and I don’t know if it would be too rigid for comfort in my pants pockets. An elastic wallet is going to be soft and pliable.
I didn’t know people getting their wallets replaced by other people was such a universal thing. Every ten years or so my wallet will start to get all stringy and fall apart and my wife or BiL will just hand me a new one. I thought they were just weird wallet snobs until this thread
Have a weird / old wallet and people will try to upgrade you.
I had a gaffer tape wallet for many years… People couldn’t resist trying to replace it
I had a very different reaction to my duct tape wallet. I saw a slim, front pocket design online that was exactly what I was looking for in a wallet but I was unable to find one to buy. This was around the time that front pocket wallets just started to become a fad with the mininalism community so they were still quite uncommon.
Used an old thin plastic board as a frame and duct taped the outside. One pocket for cards, one for money and a stretchy band to slip over to prevent things from accidentally falling out.
Everyone loved it because it was so unique I guess. Kept adding more tape to repair it as it aged but eventually I retired it because the old glue was smearing all over my cards and money.
I made many great memories with that wallet since it travelled with me around the world for a good number of years.
I’m into carrying the least amount of non-bulky things possible with me. I used to keep my driver’s license and credit card in between my phone and phone case. When I switched phones, the form factor made it so I couldn’t do that anymore. But I stumbled into a listing for a cheap elastic fabric wallet and pulled the trigger. I absolutely love it. It works perfectly for my needs, has an incredibly small footprint, and has a pull tab so that I can easily slide my card out when needed. I’ve had the same one for 2 years now. It goes in my pocket daily and hasn’t seem to shown much signs of wear.
Mine looks like this.
There are only 2 main downsides I’ve found to this design.
It bends your cards over time. This doesn’t bother me. It’s really a cosmetic issue, imo. Cards still work fine with a slight curve in them. Once they get curved in one direction you might just want to try popping them in the other way.
If you put, for example, 5 cards in the wallet for a period of time, but you eventually want to trim down to only carrying 2 cards, you’ll run into an issue. Adding more cards to the wallet stretches it out, so it may become too loose to carry less cards at some point. Once I realized this, I just figured I’d keep all of my cards in there and not trim them down. So I always have my driver’s license, 2 regular payment cards, and 2 medical related cards in my wallet. One of these cards is thinner than a regular card, so it’s kind of like I’m carrying 4.5 cards on me. Still far slimmer and pocketable than any other wallet I’ve had. Fits in women’s pockets! I love it!
I don’t carry cash or anything, so I don’t know how well this would work for that. A wallet for cash wasn’t what I was looking for, personally. I hate carrying cash.
Edit: I looked back at the listing I purchased from years ago. It looks like you can purchase it with or without the pull tab. I guess the photo I took is the one without the pull tab. The tab has been useful for me tho.
Rigid brand wallets seem nice and more durable, but they are infinitely more expensive and I don’t know if it would be too rigid for comfort in my pants pockets. An elastic wallet is going to be soft and pliable.
I didn’t know people getting their wallets replaced by other people was such a universal thing. Every ten years or so my wallet will start to get all stringy and fall apart and my wife or BiL will just hand me a new one. I thought they were just weird wallet snobs until this thread