If you don’t already know, I happen to be a fan of minimalist wallets. Started with money clips, then the inevitable need to accommodate cards eventually had me looking for a good balance between minimalism and utility. Sufficed to say (and if you read the past post I linked to), I’ve got solid choices if we’re talking minimalist leather, or metal. Both materials have their pros and cons. Leather is nice and flexible, but once flexed long enough, it won’t keep a good grip – it also doesn’t do a good job protecting your cards over time. Metal is best for protection and reliability at the expense of weight and fixed limits on how much you can store on it. Plastic, well… fuck plastic, we aren’t children here 😛
The Decadent Minimalist DM1, based on current experience is turning out to be what could be the grail metal wallet for your minimalist EDC needs.
The short of it is as I grew older, the need for card storage has been more pressing than actual cash. With cash any money clip will do. Coins? Who cares about coins! 😛 If you’re a money clip person, you don’t do coins… simple as that.
So when the Kickstarter campaign of the DM1 came up, I was intrigued. It was available in titanium, it used clever physics to keeping cards locked in place so it didn’t matter how little you had, 1 They would probably shake at worst – but never fall out of course, as with any hard fixed dimension object, the real question you needed answered was how many cards do you usually carry with you. Thankfully, it came in different sizes should you finally decide.
But what really sold me on the product was that it had a money clip attachment that slotted into the wallet just like a card would. So essentially you could use it with or without 2 If you live in a cashless society a money clip.
It came in 4/8/12 card models. The thickest being no thicker than a deck of cards. I started with 8 because silly me, I thought I would never need more than 8 cards. 3 Technically 7, because the 8th would be the money clip
Well, to be fair, I think I’m still only up to 8 cards now (which is past 7 for the money clip to work with the 8 card model) So I went up to the next model to have extra room in case the need arises. It’s easier to fill up the wallet with filler cards than it is to have to take away some because they won’t fit.
So right now I’ve got 8 cards on a 12-card model. To fill up the space, I got RFID blocker cards/inserts (now up to 10) then the money clip makes it 11. With room for 1 card to spare (like a parking card)
And some of the cards are discount cards, so I still have some leeway on swapping out some cards for more important ones should the need arise.
Pros
This is as good as a metal wallet could get as far as form and function goes. The finish (at least for the 12 card I got) is stonewashed so it’ll definitely age gracefully. It’s Titanium so it not nearly as heavy as my next favorite metal wallet/money clip, the Human Republic Slim. There are no straps to fiddle with, and the card/wallet and optional money clip attachment work seamlessly together which makes for a extremely efficient design. What’s not to love? Even the laser etching on it is much improved than my previous 8-card model – which is a bonus.
Cons
Only one con as far as I’m concerned: The money clip attachment’s tension is too hard. I had to physically pry it open a bit to make it easier to slide cash in it. The hole (which I’m assuming proxy’s as a bottle opener) 4 Which I don’t really care for exacerbates the issue because the bills often get caught in it – being pushed down by the lip.
I hope that a future update to the money clip fixes this issue. I mean just removing that hole will do wonders; even if it ends up being really tight, you can still probably slide it in if it’s sliding against a flat surface without anything to catch onto. That’s the single reason why I haven’t bought the stonewashed version of it to match the new unit.
You can purchase a DM1 in Aluminum, Nickel, or Ti from the Decadent Minimalist webstore
