Wallets: The Rationality Behind Utility & Style

Remember how as a child you wanted to have that wallet for yourself so that you could look stylish in taking it out to pay for that chocolate of your choice. I did too. But a wallet as we learn is more than just about holding money. There’s more to it in terms of style as well. But let’s look at the utility first as not everything stylish (read Lady Gaga’s outfits) becomes as prominent as a wallet. 

Let’s take an example. Say you just made an escalator pitch. It worked out and your subject asks for your business card. You reach into your pocket and pull out a huge lump of tattered receipts and dozens of dollar bills stuck in different pocket writing pads, sticking out from the corners.  Fumbling, you manage to find a card after 5 minutes of searching. It’s marked up and bent, but hey–it’s a card, right? So much for the impression you made with your escalator pitch. Men need to carry a lot of stuff with them when leaving house and not having them organised can lead to loss and embarrassment. One would not want to search in all five of his pockets while making the payment for his first date now would he? Men, unlike women who have different sizes of purses at their disposal, need to fit everything they need for the day into a compact pouch of leather. Here are a few things that should be kept in a men’s wallet:

• Cash: Plastic money at the end of the day is what it reads, plastic. Need I say more!

• Photo ID card: This can come in handy for several reasons. A driver’s license is the most common ID card carried in a wallet

• Business card: You never know when you might require help or services of a specialist. Remember the collection Saul Goodman had in Breaking Bad!!

• Condoms: Paternity suits are expensive, STDs more so. Who knows when you might get lucky. 

• Credit card: A rarely defaulted one is better for your CBIL rating

• Phone Numbers: Smartphones need battery and batteries die often when needed, remember!!

• Spare Keys: Subjective decision, but quite handy. 

• Photos of loved ones

With so many things in the wallet, it becomes our tendency to never clear our wallet and thus, the wallet looks overstuffed with bills of eateries you went to last year, or a man you met 4 years ago(George Constanza's wallet anyone!!). A giant wallet in the back pocket of one’s pants makes sitting down uncomfortable and one’s backside look like it’s growing a tumour. Coins are an absolute no for the health of the wallet and your buttock. 

Coming to the style part, the leather used and the type of wallet that you use such as blindfold, sports etc. mostly command the glitz that a wallet can add to your personality. Taking out a torn wallet can be a disaster though. The factors in this area would be: 

• Compartments

• Fabric (Material)

• Number of Folds

• Colour

So next time you buy a wallet, remember it represents your personality, better keep it clean and stylish.