Want a Minimalist Wallet? These 10 are THE BEST in 2024

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Gone are the days when you are expected to carry a thick, heavy, and unwieldy leather bifold in your back pocket (at the sacrifice of your back). The minimalist wallet train has gained steam over the past few years, and I have jumped on board. 

While you used to find me with a massive bifold in my back pocket, you will now find me testing out many different minimalist wallets (in my front pockets, and my back is thanking me). In this article, I will share my thoughts on which wallets you should spend your hard-earned cash on.

Why should you trust me? Every single men’s minimalist wallet found on this list has been tested in person by me (Austin). Finding the right gear can change your day, week, and year (I’m not joking). Your wallet is something you use every single day, and I want to help make that change for you.

Please Note: Every wallet on this list (other than the Ridge Aluminum) was gifted to me by its respective brand (the Ridge Aluminum was gifted to me by my wife). As you’ll find, I have good and bad things to say about each, and my opinions are all my own.

How do I test these wallets? Testing a wallet should be done outside of a lab. I have all these wallets in hand and have used them daily during their testing. I note what I like, what bothers me, and which I use the most. This article culminates over a year of using these minimalist wallets.

1. Ekster Forged Carbon Fiber

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As you will find later in this article, I started my minimalist wallet journey out with a Ridge Wallet my wife gifted to me. However, I also had quickly learned of Ekster; although, I had only had never had a chance to use one or even see one in person once a friend showed me his. 

That is when I knew that I wanted to look at one in person, and I asked if Ekster would be interested in sending one out and was glad I did.

This Forged Carbon Fiber wallet then found its way into my pocket as one of my daily drivers for quite a long while (until I started testing out even more wallets). It does a fantastic job combining a compact size (a bit larger than the other wallets on this list) and functionality. 

The trigger at the bottom of the wallet reliably displays my most used cards, but there is still easy storage on the wallet’s exterior to keep my lesser-used cards. Cash is also easily accessible and stored on the opposite side of the money.

It provides easy, high-quality access to everything I want from a minimalist wallet. 

What are the biggest downsides to this wallet? The forged carbon on this wallet does get scuffed and worn to the point the forged carbon starts to look like fingerprints rather than carbon. 

I would recommend getting the weaved carbon version of this wallet just for that reason. The other major downside is price, as it is quite a bit more expensive than its aluminum counterpart (although the saved weight and better material are worth it).

2. Ridge Carbon Fiber

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While most of my experience with Ridge has been with their aluminum base-model version of their wallet, I HAD to test out their carbon fiber version. Thankfully, the brand was kind enough to gift one to me, and oh, was I thankful they did.

The only real difference between the carbon fiber version, and the aluminum is the external plate material. It maintains the same two-plate and an elastic strap build, but just has a much higher-end material on the exterior of the wallet.

My wallet is the Forged Aurora color, and the green shimmers and stands out extremely well. As for the feel, it has a much more textured feel than their aluminum version, and tapping on it has that carbon fiber sound to it.

That said, it’s about 50% more than their base model wallet. So if you don’t mind having slightly more weight and losing the cool factor of carbon fiber, the Aluminum wallet is a fantastic alternative that does EXACTLY the same thing.

3. Ridge Aluminum Wallet

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I used this Ridge Wallet for over a year as my daily wallet and have enjoyed everything about it. Ridge makes an amazing and simple wallet. Everyone wants one, and it’s fun to show it off. If you are looking for a genuinely minimalist wallet that is flashy and where you don’t have to worry about reliability, this wallet is it.

This wallet has a clean design, only broken up by small screws that hold the faceplate onto the wallet, and you can easily take cards in and out of the wallet. 

The cards on the outside of your stack are quick to access. However, the cards on the interior of the stack require you to remove the whole stack to access them (this is its main drawback).

Everything is exceptionally well thought out in this wallet, and all materials held up better than expected after a year of consistent usage and living in the same pocket as my metal key organizers.

4. Bellroy Card Sleeve

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The Bellroy Card Sleeve stood out as my favorite minimalist wallet for quite a long time! It does a fantastic job at doing everything a minimalist wallet should do by staying compact yet giving easy access to your most used card at the front, your lesser used cards on the interior (easily accessible via a leather, non-mechanical pull tab), and then simple access to some cash on the rear.

The leather is high quality, and there is some apparent attention to detail throughout the wallet. If you prefer a leather wallet, there isn’t anything better out there than this.

My only reasoning for dropping this wallet down on the list comes down to one major drawback of having an all-leather wallet. Leather stretches when you put more items in it. I had to add a few more cards, and quite a bit more cash for a couple weeks in this wallet, and unfortunately it stretched the wallet out.

When I went back to utilizing fewer cards and cash like I normally do, the wallet and cash pouch had stretched out and made me a bit worried the cards and cash would fall out. This is when I realized it needed to be slightly lower on this list. Now, if you want to hear more about this one, I have its full article here!

5. Ekster Aluminum Cardholder

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I had spent extensive time with Ekster Carbon Fiber before using their base-model aluminum version. However, the moment I picked up this Aluminum version, I thought this was going to dethrone the carbon version as my favorite!

It does everything the carbon fiber wallet does, including easy access to six cards, with capacity for an additional 6+ cards in the expansion plate, along with easy access to cash on the other side.

Plus, the aluminum actually feels better than the carbon fiber. The aluminum body has a cooler (temperature-wise) feel to it and feels higher end than the carbon wallet, and at a much lower price, it was an obvious choice.

However, it’s one drawback started to show up after a couple of weeks of usage. The aluminum started to get nicks around the edges of the top of the cardholder, which is quite noticeable, and I’m sure over years of usage, it will become more obvious. Unfortunately, that lowered it down on this list.

Another quick drawback is the more fabric-like elastic strap this wallet has. Instead of a more rubbery feel, its fabric-style strap feels nicer but also tends to move around a bit more on the wallet, which regularly needs to be adjusted.

If those things don’t bother you, then this is going to be your best choice (likely of any wallet on this list).

6. Axwell Aluminum (2.0) Wallet

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While their website doesn’t quite share that there have been two generations of their base-mode aluminum wallet, there have been! They look identical; however, the magnets holding the plates of the wallet are now 50% stronger if you buy their wallet now.

Okay, never heard of Axwell, and wondering what I’m talking about? Let me share a bit more about this wallet.

Axwell Wallets are nearly identical to Ridge Wallets in almost every way. It’s the same two-plate and an elastic strap design. You hold the cards on the interior of the two plates, and then the cash on the exterior. The cards come out of the wallet horizontally, and you have easy access to the outer two cards and a more complicated experience with the inner cards.

However, there are two differentiating factors. The first is that it is less expensive than Ridge, and the second is that Axwell has done away with the screws (and the screwdriver) that Ridge has and has replaced those plates with ones that can be easily removed, swapped out, and customized in just a few moments.

This also makes it an easy process to switch between the cash strap, and the money clip as well. The only major downside I see to this wallet is that it looks a bit less mature than the Ridge Wallet.

7. Aviator Wallet

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Most of the wallets on this list are rather mainstream options; however, this is one of the more obscure options. Aviator wallets are built (and shipped from) Germany. They are extremely high quality and compete (at least in their base form) with the likes of Ridge Wallet.

They have a similar setup as the Ridge, with the two-plate and an elastic strap design (that strap has a carbon fiber plate). However, you access the cards vertically (rather than horizontally), and the cards are pulled out with a fabric strap (kinda like the Bellroy Card Sleeve above). This wallet also comes with a coin tray (which I have found works well for guitar picks).

Now, the quality of this wallet is amazing, and I am thoroughly impressed with it.

The only major drawback I have seen with the wallet is that the fabric strap has a metal tip to it, which likes to rattle around when using it. It is in my pocket and can be a bit annoying.

8. Groove Life Wallet

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The Groove Wallet is a fantastic wallet, that I really do like a lot. However, it also is the best wallet, that I find I just don’t use (we’ll get into that in a moment).

Much like the Ekster wallets on this list, the Groove Wallet spits up to six cards out the top of the wallet. However, the mechanism is the full plate on the outside of the wallet rather than a button on the bottom. My wallet also has the “Go” wallet attachment, which adds leather to the flipside of the wallet, along with an additional card slot and a cash strap.

This wallet is incredibly high quality, and easily would have been at the top of this list if it weren’t for one drawback.

The only person I would recommend steering clear of this wallet is someone who needs a higher card capacity than 6 or 7 cards, as this wallet won’t handle that (unfortunately, I fall into that crowd). This is above half what a wallet like a Ridge or Ekste can do.

You can’t go wrong with the Groove Wallet unless you are like me and have too many cards.

9. Axwell Copper Wallet

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If you like everything about the Ridge Wallet but wish it had higher-quality materials, was more customizable, and was an overall better deal (plus you have yet to buy into the marketing hype), this Axwell Stonewashed Copper Wallet might be for you (Not convinced? Here’s my full review).

This wallet uses two thick pieces of copper plating on the exterior of the wallet. While this adds plenty of heft, I found that the weight was not noticeable in my pocket and didn’t cause any issues. However, when the wallet is in use, you have a true feeling of quality and weight that the Ridge doesn’t have.

As for actual usage, it works like the Ridge, where you store your cards between two plates of metal held together by an elastic band. It’s simple and works every time.

10. Ekster Parliament

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At the bottom of this list is the Ekster Parliament. While Ekster also tops this list as my favorite wallet (the carbon fiber cardholder), it also finds itself at the bottom as well.

The Parliament utilizes the same design as the cardholder by utilizing the same cardholder that fans out six cards out the top of the wallet. However, instead of having an expansion plate, it wraps itself in a pseudo-bi-fold wallet.

This wallet is perfect for those who prefer a bi-fold wallet but would prefer to have cardholder functionality. While I see what they are getting at with this wallet, it annoyed me how big the wallet got once you started adding cash and cards to the leather portion of the wallet. 

This was compounded when I found that the cardholder was built with plastic housing rather than metal, like the other cardholders from Ekster. If you want to learn more about what I think about this wallet, you can read my review here!

What should you know when shopping for a minimalist wallet?

1. Different Available Materials

While most bifold wallets are made strictly from leather and cloth, minimalist wallets are made from various materials. My top choice on this list, in particular, is made primarily from forged carbon fiber; the Ridge Wallet is made of aluminum, and the Axwell features copper. 

You will find even more wood, plastic, steel, and materials. You will want to decide what works and feels best for you, as you likely can find a minimalist wallet with whatever material you prefer.

2. Ease of access

Your old bifold has one thing going for it: the ease of access to every card you own, as it has an individual pocket for each. However, minimalist wallets generally stack your cards on top of each other for storage, which makes finding the right card a bit of a process (which looks like sifting through your cards). 

You will want to ensure you account for that in your purchase. If you wish for an easy-access minimalist wallet, you might enjoy the Ekster I use at the top of this list above.

3. Price point

While cheaper minimalist wallets are out there, the ones you can count on tend to be a higher-priced option, many of which are north of $100. Make sure to set a budget for yourself and stick to that. I made sure to add an array of different budget options to this list!

4. Different designs

While older wallets all tended to follow the same pattern, minimalist-style wallets are free to test whatever design they prefer. The most popular method is two plates of metal held together by an elastic band; however, you will find others where cards are pushed outwards to you via a button (or even a whole side of the wallet). 

You will also find minimalist cloth (front-pocket wallets) similar to bi-folds, but they have cards on the outside rather than hidden inside. It would be best to decide what works best for you.

Frequently Asked Questions