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I haven’t been overly fond of leather-based minimalist wallets, and in fact, I was quite harsh with the Ekster Wallet that I had tested a while back because it was just too big to be a minimalist wallet. However, after a viewer of my YouTube channel mentioned that I should check out Double Oak Essentials, I thought, why not?
Double Oak Essentials offers two different types of wallets; they have the standard cardholder type wallet that doesn’t feature leather and instead has an expansion plate. Then they have the cardholder (without expansion plate), which features a leather wallet surround that wrapps itselfcardholder; in this article, I’m reviewing the latter, which the brand gifted me to check out, and it changed my mind on these leather cardholder wallets.
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What is the Double Oak Essentials Wallet?
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- The cardholder is removable from the wallet.
- The top-grain leather feels awesome.
- The cardholder mechanism is reliable and clicks.
- MagSafe compatible
- The gold color looks fantastic.
- Cards can get jammed in the cardholder.
- With the leather portion, it is quite thick
- Dimensions: 4.1" High by 2.7" Wide by .75" Deep
- RFID Blocking: Yes
- Card Capacity: 1 to 10
- Cash Organization: Yes
- Coin Storage: No
- Weight: Unknown
The Wallet version of the Double Oak Essentials lineup is an impressive wallet for the price. It features a 7-card capacity cardholder (one more than most competitors), which is easily activated with a side-mounted slider button.
The slider features a lockout mode, which ensures no cards fall out of the cardholder when not intended. This cardholder is Magsafe compatible, meaning you can place it on the rear of your iPhone or other Magsafe-compatible accessories.
This cardholder can then be inserted into a top grain wallet, which features cash storage (folded once), an internal card slot, and another card slot on the exterior rear of the wallet.
What do I like about this wallet?
1. The cardholder is removable from the wallet.
The main concern I had with Ekster’s offering for leather wallets, was the mass that the leather added. However, Double Oak has completely changed my mind with their offering. Rather than sewing the card holder around the wallet, they instead insert the cardholder into the leather, and make it completely removable.
That means you can either have the awesome leather feel (with the added capacity) of the leather portion or the extremely thin card holder for those times when you need less bulk in your pockets.
I regularly will take the leather portion with me when I’m wearing standard pants, and then pull the cardholder and leave the leather portion when wearing shorts.
I don’t know why more wallet manufacturers don’t do this, as it opened up these leather cardholder-style wallets to me, who prefers the smaller feel of a basic cardholder, but wouldn’t mind having leather as well.
2. The top-grain leather feels awesome.
The primary type of wallet I reviewed was the metal-style minimalist wallet, and my only real experience with a leather minimalist wallet was the Ekster Wallet and the Groove Wallet. While both have leather, they aren’t meant to be the greatest quality out there when it comes to the leather portion.
However, the moment I pulled this Founder’s Edition out of the packaging. I knew something was different. Rather than Genuine Leather (which is a lower level of leather), Double Oak Essentials uses top-grain leather for their wallets, and it is so incredibly noticeable.
The leather is soft, pliable, and most definitely patinas quickly. It’s hard to say exactly how nice it is unless you hold it yourself, but it is quite impressive.
3. The cardholder mechanism is reliable and clicks.
I have tried out so many different cardholder mechanisms for ejecting cards, and while I think that Ekster’s way of doing it still may be the best, the Double Oak’s has to be the nicest.
It’s easy to push the button downwards, which pushes the seven cards out the top of the wallet. Then, when you push the cards back down into the wallet, it resets the button, ready for the next time. The mechanism gives you a satisfying click.
Additionally, the wallet features a lockout. While other wallets use little rubber nubs on the interior of the wallet to keep your cards from falling out the top, Double Oak has a lockout as a part of its mechanism. You just push upward on the button, and it locks the cards into place, and you don’t have to worry about your cards falling out.
It’s an extra step from other options, but it becomes second nature quickly.
4. MagSafe compatible
As I mentioned earlier, the leather portion of the wallet and the metal cardholder can be separated. However, what I didn’t mention is that the cardholder is not only an incredible compact, but it is also MagSafe. This means you can quickly pop it onto the back of your iPhone and head out.
Now, the cardholder definitely has some heft to it, so combining it with the iPhone does make for quite a brick of a device, but it is well worth it.
5. The gold color looks fantastic.
After looking through what Double Oak had to offer, I knew I had to have the gold cardholder. There isn’t anything else like it in my collection of wallets, and it just looks awesome. The aluminum cardholder shimmers, and it looks far more opulent than any other wallet I have ever used.
Now, if you want the gold color but want it a bit toned down, they do have some other cardholders that are less shiny but still have the gold accents in the cardholder mechanism. Still looks great, but less out there.
My preference? All out gold.
What do I not like about the Founder’s Edition?
1. Cards can get jammed in the cardholder.
Let me preface this by saying that this cardholder uses nearly the exact same internal mechanism as any other cardholder of this style. There essentially is a notched rod in the bottom of the wallet. Individual cards are then caught up in each of those notches, which then are pushed up at different levels, depending on where on that rod they are placed.
However, I believe that Double Oak has made the final notch a bit wider to allow for the additional card capacity (most cardholders keep six cards; this one has seven). Because of that additional card, I find that the cards will get caught up in the mechanism.
If you don’t pull all seven cards out of the wallet slightly after ejecting them after pulling a single card completely out, they won’t push back down. Instead, you have to slightly pull all seven out and then place them all back in so they do not get caught up.
I have no doubt this is completely confusing to you, but I don’t quite know how else to phrase this.
2. With the leather portion, it is quite thick
Now, in the same way that I dinged the Ekster Wallet for this, the Double Oak Essentials Founder’s Edition (and all other leather wallets from the brand) are quite thick. While they overcome this quite well by allowing you to remove the cardholder from the leather, I can’t get away from how much heft and thickness the leather adds to it.
If this is something that bothers you, you might want to look at their cardholder series, which removes the leather and replaces it with an expansion plate instead.
Who should buy the Founder’s Edition?
If you are someone that appreciates leather but wishes they had a cardholder, this wallet is for you. I have yet to find another cardholder/leather-style wallet that works nearly as well as this wallet does (and I’ve used it a lot).
On the other hand, if you don’t care about leather, and prefer a truly minimalist wallet experience. You probably should go for something like their cardholder style wallet, or maybe take a closer look at this list here.
Where can you buy it?
Have I sold you this wallet yet? I’ve found the best place to buy it is on Amazon. As of this writing, they are including an additional coupon, which can get you the wallet a bit cheaper than elsewhere, plus you have Amazon backing the sale.
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