With a removable carbon fiber money clip, the KORE Essential wallet provides 2 wallets in one, but together they provide a competent slim wallet, priced well to last.
(if you want to see all the features and how many cards and cash it can hold, please watch the video)
We’ve had quite a few requests for the KORE Essentials wallet. This is a company that produces belts primarily, but they do have a couple of wallets. It comes in only one color, black, which consists of a card wallet and detachable carbon fiber money clip.
Features of this wallet include an external card slot, which serves as the quick access card slot for the wallet. What makes this slot most functional is that unlike the rest of the wallet, this slot does NOT have RFID, which facilitates use for tap exercises such as payments, transport, work, hotel and other type cards. On the back of the wallet we see the carbon fiber money clip, which can be removed, slid out of the bottom slot. Nice flexibility if you only want to carry the card wallet or carry your cash in the clip separate, which means that you basically have two wallets. From the top down on the wallet there is one more slot for cards with a pull strap for access. Without pull straps like what we see in this wallet, digging with finger and thumb is what you’re left with.
For the card and cash insertion test, I placed five cards, one in the exterior slot and four in the interior, plus five slips of cash. Due to the necessity of folding the currencies into thirds or fourths, all currencies fit including the US dollars, Japanese Yen, Canadian dollars, Australian dollars, Swiss Francs, and British Pounds. The company indicates it can hold up to 10 cards and 20 slips of cash, which would be stuffing the wallet to its maximum, but is impressive capacity.
From a quality perspective, it is designed in the United States, and made in Asia from a full grain veg tanned leather, cut very thin. However, looking at it from a leather weight, it’s still a two ounce leather which is acceptable. The thinness of the leather or the thickness doesn’t determine how good a wallet is or how it will perform. Different cuts of leather are chosen for the function and purpose of the design. I would have hoped to see some reinforcement in certain spots on this particular wallet. Specifically at the top, where the leather meets for the opening. But what is interesting is that this is made from just two pieces of leather. The edges are painted, which will crack overtime from use, especially where it’s at the top of the vertical card slot as it will be pinched open often. When placed on side edges the paint will tend to last longer due to not being flexed as often.
The wallet is sewn very well, and if there’s one possible weak spot, it might be on the interior, where the pull strap feeds through the leather. The money clip strap threads up on the interior and then up through that open slot. That interior open slot is the biggest point of potential failure for tearing the leather, but you’d have to pull down on that often, which is not a normal mechanical function when using the wallet, so usage should be fine. Overall it’s a very well engineered and secured strap.
From a usability perspective, it’s easy enough to use, the quick access on the exterior slot is a no brainer. Another nice design inclusion for usability is how the leather slants down on the exterior pocket. This makes gaining access to the card a little bit easier for finger and thumb access. The same consideration goes for the pull strap. The top of the pull tab aligns with the top of the wallet when cards are fully inserted so it’s not flopping around, but isn’t difficult to grab. It measures 4.2 x 2.7 x 0.4” and it weighs 31 grams. The wallet has a 30 day money back guarantee.
Now let’s get into the final score. For quality a 3, price a 3, features a 4, usability a 4, and perception of 4. That gives us a final score of 3.5 out of 5.
Two wallets for the price of one, the carbon fiber money clip pairs well with the full-grain veg tanned wallet.
