We’ve covered a few different types of items that classify as EDC, or every day carry, aside from the ever-present watches. One area we’ve not focused a whole lot on has been wallets. Sure, we’ve reviewed a few previously, but those have tended to be of the more traditional, leather style. There’s nothing wrong with those, but if you focus there, you miss out on a whole different style of wallets that are out there now, that give things a more modern bend. One such of these is the wallet from Ridge Wallet, and I recently got to spend some time with one of their titanium versions.
With the Ridge Wallet, you’re getting into an area that I loosely categorize as card carriers. In this, the primary focus in on a way of carrying cards (credit cards, license, membership cards, etc), rather than a traditional wallet that can carry just about anything (and, in the end of the day, end up being over-stuffed). This doesn’t mean your money needs to be left loose, for those that carry some cash. Often times, there’s a clip of some sort offered up, and that’s what we’ve got here on the Ridge Wallet we sampled (there’s also an elastic band variant).
When I first opened up the Ridge Wallet, I was struck by just how lovely the finish is on the titanium. It’s labelled as “Burnt”, but to me it looks more like a sunset. Regardless, it’s titanium and it’s blue, so what’s not to like? Before you load anything into this particular wallet, it comes in at 72g. How much you load into it will determine the final weight (for me, that was right around 120g). What I noticed right after loading the wallet was the fact that it seemed thicker than the leather wallet I had been using. Now, this is with the same number of cards (actually, one or two fewer) so this seems paradoxical. Some of it is from the contraction (with the titanium plates, along with the aluminum liners for RFID blocking), but I think it’s got more than a little to do with how the cards are held.
You see, with a leather wallet, you can have some play in the pockets, so cards may not be stacked directly on top of each other. And leather bends, as well. With the Ridge Wallet, the cards are held in rigid alignment (via a strong, but stretchy, use of elastic on three sides), which ends up making a compact brick. So, yeah, it might feel thicker, but it’s going to be more compact (at 53.8mm x 87mm) than whatever you’re carrying today (and in my case, it’s making me rethink how much I actually need to carry to try and thin it more). So, it took some getting used to, but get used to it I did.
This was done, of course, by carrying the Ridge Wallet. Nominal thickness for the wallet was 15mm after I loaded it up; this jumped to 20.6mm when yo measure it at the money clip. The first thing I (quickly) realized was I needed to be conscious of how I stuck my phone in my pocket. With the titanium case and metal money clip, I didn’t want to have the glass of the phone banging into that (screen protector or not!) Fortunately, that’s all I carry in that pocket, so that was the only adjustment I needed to keep track of.
A big question when you’re using a card carrier like the Ridge Wallet is just how, exactly, you access the cards, particularly if you have a bunch jammed in there. To start with, you’ve got the finger notch at the bottom of the wallet, and you use that to push the card (or cards, if it’s not the front or back one) up. Then, you can pinch the base of the wallet and that sort of fans things out, giving you access to what’s inside. Takes some getting used to, but in a few days it’s almost second nature. For me, I just kept my most used credit card in the front, and then my drivers license in the back, so they were the easiest to access.
Having to tri-fold your cash to fit the money clip on the Ridge Wallet is another adjustment (at least for me). The wallet that I was using before this one came in had a money clip, but due to the width of the wallet, I was able to just do a simple bi-fold. You could try that here, I suppose, but then it’s overhanging the edges. If you’re frequently handling cash throughout the day, this style may not be conducive to your usage. For me, with the infrequent use of cash (and frankly, that’s probably most folks these days) the clip worked well for me, and was a good compromise between keeping things slim and functionality.
At the end of the day, I was, frankly, surprised by how much I liked the Ridge Wallet. Going from a leather wallet to the titanium, aluminum, and elastic construction was a bit jarring, but once I got used to it, I rather liked the compact brick I had in my pocket. It’s just a tidy, solid feel, and I think something like this definitely leads to a more organized pocket carry, no doubt. You can pick up your own Ridge Wallet for pricing that starts at $72 (for aluminum versions), go to titanium (as we had here) for $105, or go full-on carbon fiber for $115. If you want something more minimalist, they do also offer card-carrying phone cases for $40, but we’ve not looked at those or their backpacks, so we can’t vouch for them. However, if they’re constructed like the wallet we saw here, you should be well-served. ridgewallet.com
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Brand & Model: Ridge Wallet in burnt titanium
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Price: $105
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Who we think it might be for: You want a solid, compact, RFID-blocking front pocket wallet that will hold your cards as securely as possible.
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Would I buy one for myself based on what I’ve seen?: Yes, indeed. You may still find yourself wanting a slim leather wallet for some occasions, but something like this is a great every day wallet in my belief
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If I could make one design suggestion, it would be: Wondering if there’s a way to make the clip hinged, or sprung, to ease access while still maintaining robustness
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What spoke to me the most about this wallet: Just how compact the wallet actually is, along with the modern industrial look it brings to things
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Holds 1-12 cards without stretching out
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Blocks RFID (wireless theft)
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Replaceable elastic
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Backed by our lifetime warranty
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Grade 5 Titanium | hand torched & hardened
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Weight: 2.5 oz | 86 x 54 x 6 mm
