I am currently using the Machine Era Slim Wallet as my main wallet.
(check out this post on the Machine Era Slim Wallet!)

The Machine Era Slim Wallet feels good and has reduced the foot print significantly so overall I like it very much.

Just two points that I wanted to improve, which were:

• do something about the exposed bills 
• carry around more cards

Regarding the first point, with the Machine Era slim wallet, you tuck in the bills under the rubber band and I didn’t like how they would get exposed because you would be touching them every time you reached for the wallet.

And regarding the second point, the Machine Era slim wallet could do six cards, but I wanted to have four more on me for convenience sake.

I may have found a solution!

The wallet that I’m getting this time is the slimfold Original Tyvek wallet.

The worlds thinnest and lightest wallet, slimfold

slimfold is a Company that came out of Kickstarter and is based in San Francisco.

What sets slimfold apart is its ridiculously thin form factor and light weight.
This is made possible by a material called Tyvek.

No wonder the wallet is so thin, Tyvek is paper.

Yes that’s right! slimfold is a wallet made out of paper!

Of course Tyvek is not just ordinary paper.
Think of the indestructible envelope used by FedEX. That’s Tyvek.

slimfolds looked really good on screen but you can never really tell what it feels like and how durable it is until you actually see it for yourself.

So I got it!

I’m really excited cause the package just arrived!!

slimfold Original Tyvek

There are several different models of slimfold wallets, which include:

1. MICRO Tyvek
2. Original Tyvek (the one that I got this time)
3. MICRO Soft Shell
4. Original Soft Shell

The MICRO is smaller than the Original but its designed to fit USD bills and may be too small for the yen.
If you’re going to use it for yen, I think the Original is what you want to get.

The Soft Shell model doesn’t use Tyvek and was made to improve on the disadvantages of the Tyvek wallets.
However strong Tyvek maybe, its paper and you can only go so far in terms of premium looks and there were reports on how the wallet wore out fast depending on how you used it.
The Soft Shell version was developed as a response to user feedback from the Tyvek wallets.

That’s really great and all but going stronger means going thicker and Soft Shell can’t do the double fold that I’ll be explaining later.
For these reasons, I got the Original Tyvek.

Let’s take a look at the slimfold Original Tyvek wallets that arrived!

slimfold Original Tyvek Unboxing!!

Finally, what I’ve been waiting for!

Here it is!!

One wallet costs 20 bucks but shipping costs just as much so I got three of em.

Looking really nice when its new!

Let’s fill er up.

The slimfold original Tyvek will fit bills, receipts and boarding passes.
You can also fit cards on the inside.
I wanted to keep the wallet thin so I put 4 cards on the outside and 2 on the inside, total of 6 cards.

The Original Tyvek is designed to be used as a one fold but you can also use it as a double fold.

The way you do it is you first fold in the right and left flaps and then you fold it one more time in the center.

It becomes really small.

It’s not going to retain its form at first but as you use it it starts behaving itself.

As noted, it doesn’t stay flat by itself but I put the Machine Era Slim Wallet on top of it and that’ll keep it down.

The Machine Era Slim Wallet and slimfold stacked. Super thin!

The foot print is smaller than the Valextra Money Clip Wallet and Card Case, which was really compact by all means.
It’s ridiculously compact considering that it’s holding 12 cards (Machine Era 6 + slimfold 6) and three bills.
I can’t feel them in my front pocket and I sometimes stop to check if I have them with me.

What to watch out for when using the slimfold Original Tyvek

Some things that I noticed.

Think it through before you do the double fold!

Once you make a crease on the Tyvek, there’s no going back.
Think it through before you do the double fold.

I personally am satisfied with the double fold but found one issue.
The slimfold is not designed to be used as a double fold so it won’t work too well if you fill the wallet up with many items.
I tried five bills and six cards and it was pretty tight.
I am going to work around this by limiting the number of bills that I have in the slimfold and putting them in the Machine Era in case of an emergency.

Follow the rule: one slot, one card

This relates with the first point but once you put multiple cards into the same slot, the slot is going to stretch and you won’t be able to get it back to its original form.
Once the slot stretches, it won’t hold one card any more.
So remember not to put multiple cards into one slot.

After a few days with the slimfold Original Tyvek

It’s holding up pretty well!

I’m going to touch on the two areas that I was concerned with before making the purchase:
the actual feel of the wallet and how it was going to hold up to everyday use.

The wallet actually feels better than I expected.

It’s not premium looking or anything but I definitely am not embarrassed using it.
I think it looks cool with it’s minimalist form.

I also love the story, the story that I’m using a wallet made out of paper!

Regarding wear and tear, I have no issues with it so far.
It breaks in as you use it and is retaining its form better than when it was new.

I think the wallet works better in a pocket and not in a bag.
The slots don’t grip cards too well so I can easily imagine them popping out inside a bag.

Closing remarks

My current operation is:

• put the cards that I use most frequently in the Machine Era Slim Wallet
• keep the other cards and bills in the slimfold Original Tyvek

I am very happy that I was able to reduce the footprint to its minimum (I don’t think you can get smaller than this) by using products that are wonderful and have a story.

The only question that remains is how the Tyvek will hold up.
Time will tell and I definitely will keep you posted!

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