Review: Saddleback Leather Medium Bifold Wallet in Chestnut

A while ago I received my Saddleback Leather goods which I had ordered. I was pretty swamped by other obligations that I did not manage to review these items and I thought I would get them done piece by piece. I am going to start with the Medium Bifold Wallet. Having not seen SBL products in person, I couldn't decide on a color so I randomly went with the Chestnut. The wallet costs $50.00 excluding shipping (which could cost a bomb depending on where you live). I forgot to mention that you should check out if there's any cheaper shipping cost with SBL customer service. They're a great bunch of cheerful people.

The front of the wallet features a small Saddleback logo on the bottom right. I actually kinda like the minimal design of the wallet. The thread they use is pretty thick (they call it the "marine-grade" thread) and for the most part pretty well stitched. There were some parts where they thread was left unfinished and I had to trim and singe them down (so they do not fray) with a lighter. More on the stitch later.

The inside of the wallet came with a business card from SBL and the design is simple as well. Actually thinking about it, $50 for this wallet may be a little on the high side as only three parts were cow hide (and it came in a cheap transparent plastic bag?!). The wallet is lined with pigskin in the card holder and note compartment. As far as I know, pigskin is quite cheap and the leather is chrome-tanned (which is a chemical tan, as opposed to vegetable-tanned leather, which uses natural ingredients in the tanning process). Now, I do not know what leather they used, but Dave (founder of SBL) claims that he uses the "best leather in the world". That's a pretty huge claim. But I guess the bulk of the cost comes from the well-known "100 year warranty policy" they have (and Dave's profit too! ;)). I think that's pretty neat but who knows how long this company would exist. I'm hoping they'd still be around long after I'm gone though!

  

On the bottom right corner again, the logo of Blue, Dave's beloved dog, wearing a Sombrero. Many people has expressed that they would rather not have this logo engraved there, but I personally do not mind. As you can see from the picture above, there are some weird lines next to the stitches. My guess is that the leather creased during the stitching process.

The note compartment is made up of 2 pieces of Pigskin back to back. I was kind of hoping it would be cowhide on the inside as well but oh well, pigskin is more wear-resistant anyway.

 Check out the thickness of the wallet above! Note that the wallet is still empty. As you can see, the brown color parts are cowhide, while the grey color parts are all pigskin. The wallet gets pretty fat when you start inserting cards in. Even with one card in each slot it gets really thick and bulky.

Now, I paid full retail for this wallet but if you are going to buy one, I highly suggest you to wait till it appears on Dave's deal to get it at a discounted price. I say this because to my disappointment, mine came with blemishes, scratches and creases on the wallet. I still feel like mine should have been sold on Dave's deal instead of full retail value.

Above is the card slot where they put the business card in. I guess it got that scratch when they tried to force the card into the tight slot. Which reminds me, the card slots are really tight at first! You have to break the wallet in for a while and they will loosen up because leather stretches.

 The front of the wallet had some creases. It is no big deal, since the wallet would get creased and scratched with use (unless you baby it) but I still feel like it should be a Dave's deal piece instead.

 The notes sit pretty deep in the note compartments, which is a plus in my opinion. I hate it when my bills don't fit and some of it juts out the top of the wallet. Pictured above are Australian bills.

I'd like to add that I recently watched Dave's "Leather 101" video on stitching whereby he explains about the superior thread and stitching machine he uses in his factory. Well, sad to say that a $12,000 sewing machine would occasionally stitch crookedly, like the one on my wallet. Check out the picture below. one of the stitching line was slightly crooked, and it finishes right on the edge of the leather. I am uncertain if this stitch would hold up in the future but that's what the warranty policy is for. The rest of the stitching line is fine and pretty straight though. I must add here that in comparison to Marlondo's stitching, SBL wins by a pretty huge margin!

Lastly, the most disappointing part of this wallet for me is at the top of the note compartment. The pigskin had a (small) cut on it! While I know that leather is a natural material and some of them would have scars from the animal it came from but this clearly is a knife cut. It was pretty unnoticeable at first but now that I saw it, I cannot not see it again. The glue is holding it down but I'm pretty sure the workers at SBL factory would have noticed this cut when they were assembling the wallet together but I guess to them it is okay for this wallet to pass the Quality Control they have implemented, if any!

 

I may be able to file for a warranty claim on this wallet since it's still new but I'm thinking it's too much of a hassle to send it back all the way to the US and wait for a new one to arrive in Malaysia.

Anyway, this is one heck of a wallet. No doubt that it is sturdy and likely to last longer than any typical store-bought wallets. I have some other SBL wallets I will review soon when time permits but they would not be as elaborate as this one (I hope)!

If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment on this post or shoot me an email directly!

Quick update

After being away from reviewing for a while, I am back!

Anyway, quick update. Just received my package from Saddleback Leather. Hope to write my review on those items soon. Stay tuned!

Review: Marlondo Leather Belt, Mouse Pad and Valet

I'm going to briefly review the remaining Marlondo Leather pieces I ordered. If you have read my previous entries, you might have known I have a thing for leather. Leather products are just classy and the good ones gets better looking with age.

First up, the Marlondo Belt. This is a really hefty belt and feels very substantial when I hold it. It's made from two pieces of full grain leather stitched back-to-back. Click pictures to enlarge. The belt is 4cm wide and 0.4cm thick.

The buckle is made from solid brass and is quite heavy. Chicago screws are brass as well and it gives the belt a slightly rustic feel. Even the back of the belt keeper has a brass rivet on it for added strength.

The buckle is held together by another piece of leather which is lined with pigskin. This piece is then screwed onto the belt itself. So if you wanted to use your own buckle, it would be really easy to switch it out.

This leather has the same pull-up characteristic I mentioned earlier in my pigskin-lined ID wallet.Check out the wrinkles caused by the stress on the holes. It actually came out of the box with the wrinkles.

It's not clear in the picture below but when I wear it, it doesn't sit flush. This is because the holes are punched straight into the belt. With such a thick belt, I would suggest the holes to be punched at an angle to reduce the stress placed on the belt holes when worn.

 

 I don't know what's with all the products from Marlondo, but they seem to be scratched right out the box. This one is scratched pretty badly on one part of the belt. It seems like the top layer has been scratched off and it feels velvety (almost suede like) on these areas. In fact the only scratch-free part of the belt was the front part of the leather which holds the buckle (can be seen in the picture above with the Chicago screws) and this part feels so good, smooth and buttery.

 

Now for the mouse pad. It's a pretty straight-forward piece which measures 11" x 8.8" and roughly 2.5mm thick. At the time I ordered I was told it was going to be 11.5"x9", but it is just a slight difference and not a big deal. This piece is lined with pigskin. From the website it says modifications to it could be done in terms of number of rivets and stitching line. I did not specify at time of ordering and I am glad it came the way it did.

Pigskin lining

 

 Once again, the leather came with scuffs on it which could not be buffed out and the dye on this mouse pad rubs off on my cloth and fingers. Even the slightest scratch would leave a permanent scar on it. These scuffed parts feels really dry, as though the leather has cracked on that area.

Lastly, a leather valet which I had custom made for me. Initially I had ordered it to be pigskin lined, but later decided I wanted it to be lined with another piece of leather. The leather valet is very nicely constructed and really hefty. Copper rivets were used although I showed him pictures of one with button snaps. It is not necessarily a bad thing, but I figured button snaps would make it more convenient for storage.

Check out the thickness of the leather!

Brass rivets on the corners.

The bottom part of the valet which is the outer leather layer is so smooth and nice. I love the looks and texture of it. Look at a close up shot of the bottom below.

But on the inside..it's absolutely horrid. I wished the both leathers were used the other way around, that way inside would be smooth and nice while the other piece remain hidden underneath the valet. The leather inside feels dry, rough, scuffed up and wrinkled. Again, the dye on the inside rubs off a lot. Surprisingly though, the dye of the leather underneath doesn't rub off.

Overall, I feel that quality control is still an issue in Marlondo Leather Co. For a company which takes pride in producing high quality products, these sort of stuffs pulls them back from being able to really excel in this department. Perhaps being a smaller company, they try to minimize wastage but sending customers damaged leather is something that should be avoided at all cost to avoid taking a hit to their reputation.

Feel free to leave a comment.  I will respond as soon as I can. 

Comparison between new and old Marlondo ID Wallet

A little while ago I have reviewed an old style (prior to relaunch of Marlondo's product line) ID wallet. It had some flaws here and there and I decided to order the updated version of the ID wallet to do a comparison along with a couple of other products which will be reviewed at a later date. I had placed an order for both the pigskin lining and a suede lining ID wallet which arrived in a few weeks.

First I will do a comparison between the new suede lining and the old suede lining wallet.

Both the newer version came in the same size as the old one, which I was hoping would not be the case. The wallet is just too huge for someone who is looking for a smaller profile one, which is most likely why anyone would buy this type of wallet instead of the traditional bi-fold type.

The plastic on the ID cover has changed. It came in a more glossy version which in my opinion is of lower quality plastic compared to the older one which is matte and smooth. The glossy one had scratches all over it right off the bat. I am still debating whether or not I should try to cut it off. The only thing stopping me from cutting it is the fact that my ID card could potentially just fall out from the ID hole which is pretty big.

Newer suede ID wallet on the left, older on the right

The newer leather is different. It is thicker and smooth, but not as smooth as the older leather. The newer leather is a tad stiffer than the older one as well.

Newer on the left, older on the right

Newer on top, older at the bottom

I inserted one card in each of the credit card slots to compare. The older one had a problem with the top slot, whereby the credit card slot is sewn slightly slanted, which results in the card not sitting correctly. This particular problem is not detected on the newer ID wallet.

However, you could see in the pictures that the newer ID wallet had another issue with the top slot. The cards sit too high up to the edge. I am not sure whether it is a design or an error with the stitching, but with such a huge wallet where space is not an issue, I don't see why the need to make the cards sit so high up the edge.  Also, more of the top card is exposed as compared to the bottom one. It just doesn't make it aesthetically pleasing.

Newer on the left, older on the right

If I'm being nitpicky, I will add that the stitching line hasn't improved a whole lot on this one. The bottom stitch is slightly crooked on the right side. Very slight slant.

New suede ID wallet

One thing they have improved on is the hidden card slot behind the ID slot. In the older model previously reviewed, cards would get caught in the leather on top of the slot because it was not glued down. On the new one, there was no excess leather and the stitching is at the edge of the leather.

On to the pigskin lining ID wallet. I believe the leather on this one is the latest one, which Ma (the owner of Marlondo Leather Co.) himself takes pride upon. It is even thicker and stiffer than the leather used above and have a pull-up character to it. This means that where the leather is bent or stressed, the color would become lighter and shows the distressed mark on it. This leather, as commented by Ma, is custom made from the US and is only available to Marlondo Leather Co.

Pigskin lined on top, suede lined(new) below

 I don't know what is with this leather, but it picks up every bit of scuff marks on them, and I do mean EVERY BIT. Again, it came scuffed right out of the box. Usually with leather products, lighter scuff marks could be rubbed or buffed off. With this particular leather, the scuffs could not be buffed out easily, if not at all. The scratches on this leather sorts of removes the top layer of the leather, which exposes the lighter color underneath. I could imagine this whole wallet looking completely different in just one week of use and I don't mean that in a good way. Character marks is desirable, but too much of it would make the leather look old and dry in my opinion.

Another thing to note is that the color rubs off this leather. When I tried rubbing the scuff marks off, my thumb was actually stained with the dye from the leather. This would mean that the leather was probably not finished properly.

I had this ID wallet customized with a smaller ID hole so I could push my ID out easily since I would have to remove it from the wallet itself whenever my ID is needed. This ID slot was cut a little too wide in my opinion, but it doesn't cause any problems. As you can see in the ID slot, there is pigskin on the back. The pigskin from Marlondo is smooth, shiny and soft. I was under the impression that all pigskin is hard and rough.

Pigskin with small ID slot

Similar to the one above, this one has also improved on the hidden slot behind the ID slot.

 

Again, this one has the top card sitting much higher than the bottom one, and it seems that the bottom slot is stitched much more slanted. It's really a turn off. You be the judge here.

On this wallet, the stitching quality seems to have deteriorated, leaving much to be desired. This is one of the thing that bugs me a lot, especially since this is machine stitched. The threads in some area wasn't even cut or singed and just left hanging there. In this particular wallet, the stitching is really crooked.

Needless to say, I'm pretty disappointed with the wallets especially the stitching and the way the cards ride so high in the slots. The quality seems to defer between the wallets and their quality control has to be improved. Perhaps Marlondo's expertise lies only within leather bags as those bags seems to be getting lots of attention among leather enthusiasts. I will be ordering an ID wallet from Saddleback Leather Co. and hopefully it will be better in terms of workmanship and quality. I will put them up in the blog for a comparison when I get it.

I have several other small leather products from Marlondo Leather which I will review soon.

Review: Marlondo Leather ID wallet

Marlondo leather co. is a small company based in China which strives to produce top quality leather products. They do accept custom orders and are pretty easy to work with.

On to the review, I would like to start by saying I had built up a pretty high expectation for Marlondo's products due to all the good reviews I read.

Front

The leather is almost velvety and is soft to the touch. The leather on this ID wallet is pretty thin (1mm excluding lining based on my measurements) and lined with suede leather. The front ID cutout has a piece of plastic on the window to protect the cards inside.

Back

As you can see in this picture above, it picks up scratches pretty easily. Some leather enthusiasts consider this highly desirable as it makes the leather piece more personal to their use.

Top

There's a total of 5 pockets on this wallet. 2 credit card slots on the back, 1 ID slot in the front, 1 card slot behind the ID slot and the middle slot for cash.

Right off the bat, I noticed this ID wallet is actually huge. I was actually expecting it to be slightly bigger than a credit card but I couldn't be more wrong.

 
Picture above shows a standard-sized card on the ID wallet. The wallet is so much bigger than the card!

I went ahead and loaded it up with some cards and cash which I carry everyday. There's a total of 5 cards (1 in the ID slot, 1 behind it, and 3 in the credit cards slots) and 10 bills folded in half.

Well, after loading up the cards, the middle slot was pretty much useless. It was squeezed so tightly that I had a very hard time pushing cash in. The friction from the suede lining did not help at all. 
Update: After using it for a couple of days, I figured out how to slot cash in with relative ease. It's pretty slim for a front pocket carry. Not too bad.

After using it for a little while, I started noticing problems with it. With all the cards and cash loaded in it, the card in the ID slot would not go all the way in due to the way it bulges.
Update: If I pushed it in hard enough, the card does go in a little deeper.

Another issue I noticed was that the glue used was failing in places, though this does not affect the durability much. I'll show an example below.

Corner of the wallet where the layers of leathers are splitting

Then I noticed it happened to the plastic window part. Below you can see the stitching missed half of the plastic piece and the glue holding it has worn off. This has caused issues when I slide my ID card back in this slot as it always gets caught by the plastic piece.

Plastic window where the stitching missed and glue worn

Another problem I had was that some of the leather had not been glued down properly or the glue might have worn off. This one is pretty annoying especially when I need to pull the card out quickly and it just gets caught on the leather above it.

Card gets caught at the hidden slot

Card gets caught at the ID slot

The front and back pieces of leather are also not aligned properly. I can see that the back layer is aligned slightly more to the right of the wallet. This doesn't really affect the integrity of the wallet.

Lastly, the stitching is not very neat. The stitching gets tied off in many places and it creates bulges of threads everywhere in the wallet. A quick glance shows about 8 places where the thread gets finished off in the same manner. It would look much better if the ends are finished in between the leather layers. Another thing I noticed with the stitching is that some parts the thread used is much thinner. It kind of makes the stitching on the wallet weird. Again, this is more of a cosmetic issue.

Picture showing the finish thread and the thinner thread used below it

This wallet is being listed for $20 in Marlondo's website. With some minor adjustments, this wallet offers a great value for anyone looking to slim down their wallets.

In all fairness I know that Marlondo has relaunched his product line, and this ID wallet would most likely be an older model. So I placed an order for a new ID wallet in his website so I could do a comparison and see if it has improved over the older model.