Most wallets are bigger than they need to be. They were designed for a decade when every card, every receipt and a handful of coins had to travel together, and they still carry that shape. In 2026 most of us pay with a phone or a single card, and the question has changed. It is no longer which wallet is best, it is which format matches what you actually carry. We make four, from the thinnest to the most traditional, and this guide puts them side by side so you can choose in a minute.
The short answer
If you pay by phone and carry a few cards as backup, choose the Card Sleeve. If you want each card in its own place in something small and unisex, choose the Cardholder. If you carry six cards and some cash every day and want it all organised in a front pocket, choose the Slim Wallet. If you keep receipts and prefer a classic wallet for a jacket or back pocket, choose the Billfold. All four are cut from the same Italian vegetable tanned leather (the camouflage pieces aside) and made in the same Portuguese atelier, so the choice is about format, not quality.
The four Escuyer wallets side by side
| Card Sleeve | Cardholder | Slim Wallet | Billfold | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Closed size | 90 × 60 mm | 100 × 70 mm | 100 × 80 mm | 105 × 88 mm |
| Thickness in the range | Thinnest | Second thinnest | Slim | Classic, still thin |
| Card slots | One open sleeve | 3 slots and a centre pocket | 6 slots | 6 slots |
| Cards, comfortably | Up to 8 | Up to 6 | 6, up to 12 doubled | 6, up to 12 doubled |
| Banknotes | Folded, behind the cards | Folded, centre pocket | Bill sleeve, folded once | Full-length notes, no folding |
| Receipt pockets | No | No | No | 2 |
| Coins | No | No | No | No |
| Where it lives | Any pocket, including a shirt | Any front pocket | Front trouser pocket | Jacket or back pocket |
| Colours | 9 plain, 4 camouflage | 10 plain, 4 two-tone, camouflage and croco | 11 plain, two-tone, camouflage | 6 two-tone combinations |
| Price | €55 | €75 to €85 | €110 to €125 | €140 |
One thing the table does not show: every format is available in a wide range of colours, which is unusual for vegetable tanned leather. Most makers offer it in black, brown and tan because that is what the tanning process gives easily. Our Tuscan tannery dyes it in clorofilla, violet, mustard, jungle green and an iridescent silver, and our camouflage patterns are dyed by hand on a different leather. Whichever format you choose, you will not have to choose between a good wallet and a colour you like.
Card Sleeve: the least wallet you can carry
The Card Sleeve is the newest and the most minimal piece we make. There are no slots and no lining, just one open pocket of full-grain vegetable tanned leather. Cards and a folded note slide in from the top. For the first week or two the leather is firm; then it softens, the top edges curl inward and hold everything in place. It is barely larger than the cards inside it, which is why it fits anywhere: front pocket, shirt pocket, the small pocket of a pair of jeans.
Choose it if you pay with your phone most days, carry two to eight cards, and want the leather to be the only thing you notice. It is also the lightest way into the range at €55, in nine plain colours and four hand-dyed camouflages, and a good first leather gift.
Not for you if you like every card in its own slot or you carry cash regularly. One or two notes is comfortable; a wad is not.
Cardholder: small, structured, for everyone
The Cardholder is the second thinnest piece in the range and the one we see given most often as a gift, because it suits everyone. At 100 × 70 mm it is a traditional small wallet: two card slots on the front, one on the back, and an open centre section between them for folded notes or the cards you use least. Up to six cards in all. Unlike the sleeve, it has structure from day one, so each card has a place and comes out cleanly.
Choose it if you carry four or five cards and the occasional note, want something that looks finished rather than stripped back, or are buying for someone whose habits you do not know. It is unisex in the real sense: the same piece works in a woman's coat pocket and a man's jeans. Ten plain colours and four two-tone combinations at €75, hand-dyed camouflage or crocodile embossed versions at €85.
Not for you if you carry cash every day. Folded notes in the centre pocket work; a bill sleeve works better.
Slim Wallet: the everyday answer
The Slim Wallet is the piece most people end up with, and probably our best-selling leather good. Six card slots, three a side, and a bill sleeve along the spine. It closes to 100 × 80 mm and is built for the front pocket: with six cards and a few notes inside it stays flat enough to forget about. The outside is the colour you chose; the inside is undyed natural leather that ages on its own from pale biscuit to honey. If you are moving from a thick billfold, this is the format that keeps everything organised while losing the bulk.
Choose it if you carry cards and cash every day and want each card in its own slot. Eleven plain colours at €110, from black and cognac to mustard, violet and clorofilla. Two-tone and hand-dyed camouflage at €125.
Not for you if you keep receipts or need unfolded notes. It holds cards and folded cash and nothing else, on purpose.
If you want the pocket measurements behind this, we wrote them up separately: how a slim wallet should fit in a front pocket, in millimetres.
Billfold: the classic, kept thin
The Billfold is the most traditional wallet we make and still a thin one by billfold standards, at 105 × 88 mm closed. It keeps the six card slots of the slim wallet, adds two receipt pockets, and takes banknotes at full length with no folding. What sets it apart is the pairing of two leathers: one colour outside, a contrasting colour inside that only shows when the wallet is open. Light brown with orange, khaki with natural, black with blue. Six combinations, all at €140.
Choose it if you keep paper, carry the wallet in a jacket or back pocket, or want the most substantial leather gift in the range. It is the piece that looks most like the wallet someone has carried for twenty years, and it is designed to be the one they carry for the next twenty.
Not for you if front pocket carry is the whole point. It fits, but you will know it is there.
Three questions to ask before you choose
How much cash do you really use? Count the notes you carried last week, not the ones you think you should. No cash: the Card Sleeve. A note or two: the Cardholder. Cash most days: the Slim Wallet or the Billfold.
How many cards left your pocket yesterday? Not how many you own. Two or three: the sleeve or the cardholder. Five or six, each used: the slim wallet or the billfold. Every unused card is a layer of plastic you carry for nothing.
Do you keep receipts? If yes, honestly yes, the billfold is the only one of the four with a place for them. If no, do not pay for the pockets.
If you are between two formats, go smaller. A wallet that is slightly too small teaches you to carry less within a week. A wallet that is slightly too big only gets heavier.
What all four have in common
Apart from the camouflage pieces, the leather is Italian full-grain vegetable tanned hide from a Tuscan tannery that is a certified member of the Genuine Italian Vegetable Tanned Leather Consortium. It is firmer than chrome tanned leather, which is what keeps a thin wallet flat, and it develops a patina with use instead of wearing out. Each piece is designed in Brussels and handmade in Portugal by a small atelier that works only in leather, with edges painted by hand in organic paint and a gold Escuyer logo. Every wallet arrives in a presentation box.
Shop the four wallets
Questions we are asked
What is the difference between a cardholder and a card sleeve?
Structure. A cardholder has separate card slots and a centre pocket, so each card has its own place. A card sleeve is a single open pocket with no slots, where the cards sit together and the leather holds them. The sleeve is thinner; the cardholder is more organised.
Is a slim wallet better than a billfold?
Neither is better; they suit different pockets. A slim wallet is made for the front pocket and holds cards and folded notes. A billfold is made for a jacket or back pocket and adds room for receipts and full-length notes. Choose by where you carry it and whether you keep paper.
Which Escuyer wallet is the thinnest?
The Card Sleeve is the thinnest Escuyer wallet, followed by the Cardholder at 100 × 70 mm. Then come the Slim Wallet, built for the front pocket, and the Billfold, the most traditional of the four and still thin by billfold standards.
Which Escuyer wallet makes the best gift?
The Cardholder, for someone whose habits you do not know: it is truly unisex and costs €75. The Card Sleeve is the lightest option at €55, the Slim Wallet suits someone who carries cards and cash daily, and the Billfold is the most substantial at €140. All four come in a gift box.
Can a slim wallet hold coins?
Not well, and the best ones do not try. Coins stretch leather, stress the seams and are the main reason wallets grow thick, so none of these four formats has a coin pocket. If you carry change, the Zip Wallet is the one built for it.
Escuyer. Considered design, made to last.
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