Ridge

Ridge was founded in 2013 in Los Angeles by father-son team Daniel and Paul Kane. The origin story is simple: Daniel was using a rubber band around his cards in college to slim down his bulky bifold, and his dad gave him so much grief about it that the two of them set out to build a better minimalist alternative. Finding nothing on the market they liked, they designed it themselves and launched the first Ridge Wallet on Kickstarter in April 2013, raising $266,622 against a $12,000 goal. A second campaign followed in August 2013, raising another $126,873. The product, a slim plate-and-elastic construction in aluminum, carbon fiber, and titanium, has since sat in the front pockets of over two million people worldwide and turned Ridge into an eight-figure-revenue brand. Today, headquartered in Santa Monica with Daniel Kane as founder and Chief Product Officer, Sean Frank as CEO, and YouTuber Marques Brownlee on the board, Ridge has expanded the original wallet into a wider essentials line including rings, backpacks, luggage, chargers, knives, and watches, all built around the same minimalist design philosophy.