Wallets Without Leather to Reduce Thickness - Is It Worth It?

If you want a thin wallet, a leather wallet may not be the best choice. In my previous post I described the NoBulges wallet which is made of a special type of nylon. Another type of thin wallet is being sold at Big Skinny which is also made with a type of nylon. There's a good review of two Big Skinny models at Gear Life blog. The review does show that these wallets are thin: "less than half the thickness and weight - fully loaded - than our favorite leather wallet." However, the review has a less favorable opinion of the material:

The corporate website claims that it’s the same fabric that made Prada famous, but we find that it actually feels a bit cheap - particularly when compared to the luxurious feel of fine soft leather.

This is similar to what a reader noted about the NoBulges wallet in this previous post:

The 'All-Ett' or 'Nobulges' wallet was a big disappointment when I bought one. It crinkled and made noises in my pocket, lacked any padding to soften my multiple credit cards and it looked so very cheap! I gladly returned to my trusty softened leather bi-fold design wallet.

Perhaps this is why Big Skinny also offers a leather version of their design. As the Big Skinny website admitted many of their customers had requested it.

Tips to Make Your Wallet Thinner

There are some good tips at this LifeClever post about keeping your wallet thin. It starts with some thin-wallet recommendations. Some are similar to my previous posts (Jimi Wallet and super thin wallets)

He also recommends keeping your wallet contents to a minimum by excluding items like photos. Last year I mentioned an alternative for the photo-lovers by using a digital photo viewer.

Another thing to exclude in your wallet are excess credit or debit cards. He recommends keeping just one. I would actually recommend keeping at least one credit card AND one debit card. I prefer credit cards so I can get cash back on my purchases (I always pay off my balance). A debit card came in very useful last year when my car got towed, and the tow facility only took cash or debit cards. The tow cost was $190 which was more than what I had in cash. The debit card is also useful at ATMs.