Devir Kahan

If you’re a guy, you no doubt carry around a wallet with you. In fact, you probably have a large bulge in your back pocket from said wallet right now.

Yuck.

That bulge is not only a big no-no in the fashion world, but I just flat out hate it. It’s annoying and looks terrible. I’ve always been one for thin wallets. And I always thought my wallet was pretty thin until I heard Ben Brooks talk about the JCrew Magic Wallet one day.

Ordered

I had wanted to get the Magic Wallet since I first heard Mr. Brooks talk about it, but only recently got around to it. It came the other day in a nice little envelope. Reaching inside I was super surprised and excited at just how darned thin the thing really is.

Plus, the package came with preprinted return labels in case there were any problems. Big brownie points for JCrew there, but there’s no shot in heck I’ll be returning it.

Come to think of it, as it’s a rather old item on there site, I should probably order more before they discontinue it.

A Magic Wallet

The Magic Wallet is not your typical wallet. Yes, it is wafer thin, but that’s not what makes it special - or “magic”. Rather, the magic is in how exactly the wallet holds your cash. You see, in any other wallet there is a large pocket for you to stash all your money. Not so with the Magic Wallet. Instead, with the magic wallet, there are simply intelligently placed elastic bands that wrap around the whole thing. Simply lay your (thin) wad of cash on the bands, close the wallet over it, and the next time you open it you’ll find that the bands have moved along with the wallet, slipped around the money, and are now snugly strapping your money down to the inside of the wallet. Magic.

Now I know this concept is rather hard to visualize and truly understand through the written word. Trust me, I had no clue how it would work until I first tried it, which is why instead of continuing with the written word - as this is the internet - I’ll just show it to you:

In the words of Steve Jobs, “Pretty cool, huh?”.

Apparently the concept for this is of French origins, and I actually remember having a magic trick years ago that used the same method.

At First

To be honest, the magic wallet was a little difficult to figure out at first, and it came with absolutely zero instructions of any kind. After a tad bit of tinkering though, it became super easy - but keep in mind that I had that magic trick to jog my memory. Should you choose to purchase one - which I wholeheartedly recommend - the video above should be more than enough to get you going, so fret not.

Misc.

Latching

Although I’ve seen it written elsewhere that magic wallets latch onto the cash as soon as they are closed, that’s actually not entirely true. It doesn’t do anything when it’s just closed until you pull it back again in the opposite direction. That’s just enough to snap the elastic around the cash.

And yet it still is so much faster than a regular wallet. Just fold the cash stack, lay it on the inside flap of the wallet, and with a quick flick of the wrist the cash is more secure than in a regular wallet. And to get it out you just tug it out from under the elastic. The thing is super slick. And you can tell from all the italics I’ve used in this post thus far.

Colors

I believe at one point JCrew offered the magic wallet in a black as well, but they do not any longer. The brownish leather is fine in my opinion, but the fact that they no longer stock the other color is what worries me that they will discontinue it one day. Sad, but I suppose there will always be other places to get similar things.

Cards

Be warned: There is not much room at all for cards. Of course, that’s kind of the point of a thin wallet. I mean, how many of those cards do you really need?

To be precise, there are two slots for cards, but I found I was able to get two cards in each slot no problem. So, with doubling up, you can get a maximum of four cards, IDs, etc, in the magic wallet. More than enough for me.

A Favor

Please, do yourself a favor and get rid of the bulge in your pocket. Get yourself a thin wallet. And once you’re going to do that, make it the magic wallet. It’s simple, clean, minimal, super thin, and unique. It’s all leather other than the elastic and goes for only about $25.

And the best way to understand all the magic spoken about in this article is to try one for yourself.

Tempting, no?

So go buy one.