Slim Saddle Brown Montecristo Leather Cardholder Wallet

By skiving each piece of leather at the seams and carefully assembling every layer, this cardholder offers the longevity of full-leather construction with no additional bulk. Even when fully loaded with a card in each slot, this card carrier is practically invisible when placed within a jacket or trouser pocket, allowing you to carry your essentials without altering the beautiful drape of your clothing.

With a history of craftsmanship, stringent quality, environmental and fair labor laws, and access to a massive pool of talented workers, many of the finest menswear goods are made in Europe. This leather bifold wallet has been carefully constructed by artisans who have studied and practiced their trades for years.

Folded edges are essential for ensuring the durability of leather goods. But most are made with edges that are cut and then painted or burnished. With wear, this edge dressing deteriorates over time and cracks. At Fort Belvedere, the edges of our leather goods are meticulously thinned down at an angle before being folded and sewn together. This not only produces a uniform edge thickness, but it also greatly reduces the wear on the edges of the accessory. As a result, our folded-edges typically last twice as long as edges that are just edge-painted or burnished.

To emphasize its strong rectangular lines, the corners have not been fully rounded on this card carrier. However, a precise radius was chosen to minimize the potential for wear or snagging. As a result, our carrier can easily slide in and out of your pocket and it also makes less of an impression on the fabric, another reason that this card carrier is practically invisible.

Most slim wallets either have horizontal slots or vertical slots on both sides, as it is easier to manufacture it that way. Our design was led by usability, and so we decided to have one side be vertical and the other horizontal.

What’s the advantage?

Most people use one or two cards most frequently. So if you put your credit card on the horizontal slot with a cutout and your driver’s license on the vertical slot with the cutout, you can reach into your pocket and intuitively feel which card is the credit card and which one is the license. This convenience affords you very quick access to the card you want, even when it is absolutely dark outside. We also appreciate that it makes the overall design of the carrier more unique and unexpected.

The dedicated slots of this card carrier were designed to hold four cards, but each slot can hold an additional card if desired. Be aware that the leather of that slot will conform to hold two cards and will become too loose to securely hold a single card if “double stacked” for a few days.

Unlike most wallets, which feature cardholders that have simply been cut into the leather, these cardholders have been fastidiously constructed, securely sewn into the leather, and held in position by the durable backing; even the edges of the pockets are folded. Secure stitching means that your cards are held tightly in place, even after years of use, but with sufficient give to allow each card to slip out. To ensure simple ease of access, two cardholders, one on each side of the carrier, feature cut-outs that allow you to quickly slip out the cards you most often use.

Please note that the edges around the thumb-push cut-outs have cut edges with edge dressing and are not folded.

Why not?

Every time a card is put into that slot, it would push against the folded edge and damage it, so in this section we opted for a cut and painted edge. Note that the cut-outs have been carefully positioned to avoid external damage and they will not negatively affect the overall durability of the carrier.

Sandwiched between the layers of the card carrier is a fully lined central open pocket. This central open pocket can be used for the temporary storage of cash, receipts, ticket stubs, and perhaps a hastily-scrawled telephone number. Please be aware that the more cards you store in the wallet, the more compressed and difficult to access the central slot will become.

The leather panels of this card carrier have been secured with a viscose fabric backing and lining made in Italy that has been specially selected to function as the ideal complement to our chosen leather.

Why fabric and not all leather?

While we tested an all-leather variety, it proved too bulky: the additional layers of leather made the wallet much thicker without notably improving its strength. The viscose fabric, however, allows for unparalleled slimness without compromising durability.

In addition to its slimness and ensuring structural stability that contributes to better longevity, this special fabric also facilitates the smooth removal of cards from their pockets thanks to its slippery surface. This material was also specifically chosen to not degrade the leather, allowing for the thinnest possible leather slim wallet.

This viscose fabric has also been treated so that it does not fray when being cut, ensuring superior endurance and a neat, beautiful appearance at the seams with no tattered edges. We specifically selected adhesives that ensure a strong bonding to the leather to further improve durability and a clean look.

The name and elegant crest of Fort Belvedere appear on the horizontal side of the card carrier, discreetly identifying the maker of this fine product in a refined and unobtrusive way.

To protect you in an ever-changing world, the exterior of this card carrier has been specially treated to block RFID signals that could be used to access your cards and steal your money or information. This treatment has been carefully applied between the leather and the moire on the outside layer so that it does not adversely affect the appearance or hand of the leather.

With our additional leather inner layer, this card carrier has about twice the leather of our competitors.

The size was also carefully chosen to fit elegantly in your hand with reduced bulk: while others select their product sizes based on dimensions to maximize the yield from standard hide sides, our dimensions are determined only by what works best for you.

With neatness and attention to detail evident at every step of production, this card carrier is truly an example of artisanal craft.

We subjected this card carrier to over a year of extensive field testing and accelerated stress testing: every issue and fault has been identified through hands-on experimentation by our team and fully resolved. Like every Fort Belvedere product, it exceeds our own high standards, and we cannot wait to hear about your experiences with this card carrier.