Minimalist wallets for women

[mtown]

Hi all,

I’m curious to know if there’s much of an established market/style for minimalist wallets or cardholders for women?

most of the products I’ve seen from leather workers, especially on Instagram, are fairly “masculine”. Even then I’m not entirely sure what about them makes them seem masculine, or what would define a feminine one.

curious for your thoughts and ideas.

cheers

M

[Handstitched]

G'Day from a fellow Aussie   

All of the stuff I make is pretty much ' gender neutral ' . I have made an assortment of  items including wallets and card cases, but I haven't made them specifically  for a bloke or a woman , either can use them and either have bought them , some plain, some with carving etc. 

My wallets & cases  are just  of simple construction, enough for say 6 or 8 cards   and some folding cash . Some are mostly for cards, with some cash & coin, some are just for cards , or  just cash,  and so on. 

I've  also made the simplest of  ( minimalist) wallets/ cases , just a few pockets...and thats it, both men & women have bought them , it depends on the customer I guess. 

I've had customers,  women & blokes,  asking me to make ' wallets'  that hold  a gazzilion cards, " and a pocket for this , a pocket for  that, 'and a  thing-a-me  bit' in the middle that goes 'kerplonk'   " , everything  but the kitchen sink...... I don't do those , go to Red Dot or get a hand bag.   . By the time its filled with coin, folding money, cards etc....and the ' kitchen sink', it'll be 2" thick . 

I've made  carved belts with flowers, roses etc. Now you would think they would be  ladies belts ? .... but nup , they were for blokes.    

HS

[billybopp]

Have you ever looked inside a woman's purse?   There is NOTHING minimalist about it! 

All joking aside, minimalist doesn't give you much to work with (by definition).  About the only things I can think of to make a minimalist wallet more feminine would be to make it curvier, and aside from that, choice of color.

- Bill

[fredk]

My experience is much as above.

I'm a member of a crafting group. I'm the only man in it.

Once whilst sewing up a 4-card holder the ladies asked me about it. In a nice way they laughed at 'only' 4 cards. This led to a discussion on how many cards and of what type each of us had. We drew in about 6 passing males to add their input.

The greatest number of cards was 18. Not all credit/debit, but a lot of Id cards. The lady works as a carer in various homes, each has issued their own Id card and lunch card. The average was. afair,  8 cards for the women and 3 for the men

For last Christmas I made some book covers as prezzies. My book covers have an internal flap front and back. In each of these I made one diagonal 'card' slot pocket. Again whilst sewing one up at the crafting group. the ladies said that for them they'd want at least 4 slots front and back. I gave two of the book covers to two mechanics I know. They asked, what are the slots for? for business cards and such I tell them. Neither mechanic uses the card slots.

As for colours. We did a discussion on that in the group. Each could name 3 or 4 colours as liked. Blues, reds, green, came out tops, bright browns, then dark browns on leather, blacks least liked. Only one woman, out of about 20, preferred fuschia. I played the same game at my son's garage a couple of years ago. Mechanics, all men, straight, colours preferred were; a mid-pink, pastel blue, orangey-red, navy blue (to match his car), gold, silver, pale green, darkish green

There are still girly girls out there who want the 'pink' * items but by and large all this colour being gender specific has gone with the chaff in the wind

* I was in a tool store recently. A young woman was buying some DIY tools. The counter chap says. 'do you not want the pink handled ones?' The woman says ' why? do they cut better, do the screwdrivers work better, are they better quality than the standard black ones?' 'no, but..' says the chap. 'Then why should I pay more for pink handles?' says the woman. Discussion over

Make the girly items, they are still potential customers

[mtown]

22 hours ago, Handstitched said:

G'Day from a fellow Aussie   

All of the stuff I make is pretty much ' gender neutral ' . I have made an assortment of  items including wallets and card cases, but I haven't made them specifically  for a bloke or a woman , either can use them and either have bought them , some plain, some with carving etc. 

My wallets & cases  are just  of simple construction, enough for say 6 or 8 cards   and some folding cash . Some are mostly for cards, with some cash & coin, some are just for cards , or  just cash,  and so on. 

I've  also made the simplest of  ( minimalist) wallets/ cases , just a few pockets...and thats it, both men & women have bought them , it depends on the customer I guess. 

I've had customers,  women & blokes,  asking me to make ' wallets'  that hold  a gazzilion cards, " and a pocket for this , a pocket for  that, 'and a  thing-a-me  bit' in the middle that goes 'kerplonk'   " , everything  but the kitchen sink...... I don't do those , go to Red Dot or get a hand bag.   . By the time its filled with coin, folding money, cards etc....and the ' kitchen sink', it'll be 2" thick . 

I've made  carved belts with flowers, roses etc. Now you would think they would be  ladies belts ? .... but nup , they were for blokes.    

HS

Thanks for the feedback mate! I think it’s boiling down to that. I just need to experiment with colours and maybe a little bigger. 

cheers!

[mtown]

On 7/26/2020 at 9:51 PM, billybopp said:

Have you ever looked inside a woman's purse?   There is NOTHING minimalist about it! 

All joking aside, minimalist doesn't give you much to work with (by definition).  About the only things I can think of to make a minimalist wallet more feminine would be to make it curvier, and aside from that, choice of color.

- Bill

I know! I know! Just trying to explore something a little different!

22 hours ago, fredk said:

My experience is much as above.

I'm a member of a crafting group. I'm the only man in it.

Once whilst sewing up a 4-card holder the ladies asked me about it. In a nice way they laughed at 'only' 4 cards. This led to a discussion on how many cards and of what type each of us had. We drew in about 6 passing males to add their input.

The greatest number of cards was 18. Not all credit/debit, but a lot of Id cards. The lady works as a carer in various homes, each has issued their own Id card and lunch card. The average was. afair,  8 cards for the women and 3 for the men

For last Christmas I made some book covers as prezzies. My book covers have an internal flap front and back. In each of these I made one diagonal 'card' slot pocket. Again whilst sewing one up at the crafting group. the ladies said that for them they'd want at least 4 slots front and back. I gave two of the book covers to two mechanics I know. They asked, what are the slots for? for business cards and such I tell them. Neither mechanic uses the card slots.

As for colours. We did a discussion on that in the group. Each could name 3 or 4 colours as liked. Blues, reds, green, came out tops, bright browns, then dark browns on leather, blacks least liked. Only one woman, out of about 20, preferred fuschia. I played the same game at my son's garage a couple of years ago. Mechanics, all men, straight, colours preferred were; a mid-pink, pastel blue, orangey-red, navy blue (to match his car), gold, silver, pale green, darkish green

There are still girly girls out there who want the 'pink' * items but by and large all this colour being gender specific has gone with the chaff in the wind

* I was in a tool store recently. A young woman was buying some DIY tools. The counter chap says. 'do you not want the pink handled ones?' The woman says ' why? do they cut better, do the screwdrivers work better, are they better quality than the standard black ones?' 'no, but..' says the chap. 'Then why should I pay more for pink handles?' says the woman. Discussion over

Make the girly items, they are still potential customers

Thank you for the reply. That’s useful market research!

[Handstitched]

@fredk I'll make a pink wallet and see what happens    I have some pink roo skin. I have some light green & yellow too I think .I'll make a green & yellow one as well , and I'll tell you who buys them . 

Not sure why I bought them, impulse buy I guess. Either that, or I was just getting in touch with my feminine side, gawd !!   

HS 

[LumpenDoodle2]

I have made a full buscadero gun rig in pink for one of my regular customers.    She loved it.   Me?   Mehh.....

Fredk, I agree with that woman.   The only advantage to owning a set of pink tools is you are guaranteed not to have them stolen.

[IdahoB]

My wife is constantly missing her drivers license and debit card because she sometimes doesn’t want to carry her purse, or full wallet. She grabs the necessities and puts them in a pocket.
 

My wallet has a removable flap that always has my DL and a Visa card, that I use very often. I think anyone that attends a lot of concerts, fairs, rodeos, or any number of hot weather outdoor events would take a second look at a nice minimalist wallet, especially if it had the right color scheme or tooling. Please post pics if you come up with something.