In Bellroy’s continued march for Slim Sleeve perfection, the Bellroy Slim Sleeve Woven introduces a 100% recycled nylon material for super durability and with a less expensive entry price than the original Slim Sleeve.
(if you want to see all the features and how many cards and cash it can hold, please watch the video)
With a proven platform and continued variation of newly introduced materials by Bellroy, this review presents a more casual design of their slim sleeve, a version made of woven material.
It comes in two colors, charcoal and lichen, which is a tan color. This review is presenting the charcoal version. The design seems to have a couple of pockets and their pull strap. This is not just a piece of cloth, and as expected, it has all the reinforcement in the right places. This is a great feature and something that has stood out on this particular platform for quite some time.
There are no features on the exterior, and on the interior it has two pockets, one on each side, as well as a cash slot on the left-hand side. On the right-hand side, the wallet has a pull strap, practical for less used cards which can be pulled out as necessary.
From a minimal card carry perspective, four is good and six is reasonable, the company states that it can hold up to 12 cards. The wallet is very complimentary to the leather version.
From a quality perspective, this is designed in Australia and made most likely in India. Their production sites are either in India or the Philippines. It is made of Baida nylon, a durable water resistant fabric that is made from a hundred percent recycled nylon. This nylon consists of a heat treatment on yarn, creating a crinkle finish and resulting in it being water resistant as well as wear resistant.
The pull strap is a feature seen in all slim sleeves. However, this pull strap hearkens back to the original in a couple of ways. As it allows an excellent view of how it is secured in the pass through loop by sewing on both sides, it is also possible to see on the exterior how the pull strap is secured to the outside piece, this is not seen in any leather versions except for the original. Moreover, it has the same material on the interior as the exterior charcoal, which looks great besides the nice grain to it.
Essentially, this slim sleeve incorporates the original to the new design in its interior pocket layout that is rather innovative and slightly different than the original Bellroy Slim Sleeve. Another feature is observed in the edge design, which is folded in and sewn together, whereas the leather versions have leather that wraps before being sewn. Because of its material, it will wear pretty well, however, this is just a joined piece of the material on both sides and then sewn all the way through. This slim sleeve, unfortunately, is RFID. It must be in between the back and the front fabric pieces.
The only drawback is putting the cash in, which even after folding, would still stick out, a thing that can be annoying. Inserting a folded US currency seems acceptable, while still slightly exposed. However, looking at it from the bright side, it makes grabbing the cash a bit easier, making it less displeasing. It works great with Australian dollars obviously, because it was designed in Australia. The British pounds sticks out as well, slightly crunches, but regardless it still works.
The pull strap is not only interesting in color and texture – as it comes in different varieties -, it also has the tactile nature, which makes it easy to grab and hold on to. It measures 3.8 x 2.9 x 0.5” and weighs very, very little at 23 grams.
The woven version is a circle back to a more affordable offering of the new design that was previously only available with the premium or designer additions. Whether the original design, with two downward slots in the inward card slots, will persist, is yet to be seen. Or perhaps the new design will take over with a revamp of the original entry-level design of the slim sleeve.
Bellroy is based in Australia and were founded in 2010 with a three-year warranty on this wallet.
The Bellroy Slim Sleeve Woven scores a 4 for quality, it is a new material, therefore, it is only fair to give it a chance to see how it will perform. Price scores a 3, still within that great range of affordability. Features, usability and perception score a 4 each, which is consistent with all Slim Sleeves. That gives a good score of 3.8 out of 5.
In Bellroy's continued march for Slim Sleeve perfection, the Bellroy Slim Sleeve Woven introduces a 100% recycled nylon material.
