Allett Original Wallet Review

Brand Introduction: Meet Allett

Allett is a family-run wallet company founded in San Diego, California in 1995. The brand was born out of necessity when founder Ken Obensky, a local engineer, designed a slim wallet after suffering back pain and sciatic nerve damage caused by sitting on a bulky wallet - The Original Wallet was born a patented bifold design that became known as “The World’s Thinnest Wallet” and quickly gained attention from outlets like The New York Times, NPR, and The Wall Street Journal.

Over 30 years later, Allett remains committed to producing slim, high-capacity wallets using premium materials like Nappa leather and durable ripstop nylon. All their wallets are still designed and manufactured in San Diego, and the company is now run by siblings Adam and Bridget Muscat. With features like RFID-blocking technology and a focus on comfort and practicality, Allett continues to offer a genuine alternative to traditional bulky wallets.

Look & Design: A Big Wallet with Slim Dimentions

The first thing to note is the sheer size of the Allett. This Original Wallet is by no means slim in terms of its height and width. Coming in at 9.5cm x 12.7cm x 0.3cm, it easily tops one of the largest wallets I’ve reviewed to date. On the other hand, its actual thickness while empty or full of cards is incredibly thin. This is very good not only for easy access but also for minimising your daily carry when out and about in the wilderness.

The original wallet is made from very thin but strong nylon. The material isn’t exactly nice to the touch, but it does have a rustic and organic look to it that I and others might like. What the material does add is great protection from the outside elements. While on my trip, I had been hiking on multiple occasions and found its protection and security great.

Just for testing purposes, I deliberately left the wallet out in the rain along with throwing the Allett in a variety of mud, leaves, and sticks. Again, the protection is fantastic and the nylon material is extremely easy to clean.

Functionality & Utility

The Allett can hold a seriously large amount of cash and cards. If you’re worried about fitting your country’s banknotes, then don’t be. The Allett has the biggest note slot I have ever come across and had no issue storing large amounts of bills. This pocket is also very deep (that’s what she said), which means cash can be well hidden along with being protected.

The Allett can also hold up to 24 cards, which is the largest amount I’ve ever come across in an easy-to-use, systematic way. Cards are stored across several slots, each with a capacity of two. The larger size of the Allett does help, but its clear design is the knockout feature here.

So what else does the wallet offer? Well the first thing to note is the inclusion of a pen - something pretty rare in the wallet world (the only other wallet i can think of that includes a pen is the ADD1D Explorer Wallet). This fits in a secret slot located at the fold in the middle of the wallet. Due to the Original wallet’s size this is non-intrucure and doesn’t add any bulk or effect usability - great stuff.

The Allett Wallet also includes no-slip material internally inside each of the 4 compartments. This is a much needed addtion to the wallet. It means that cards won’t accidently fall out something that is a common issue with wallets that store a lot of cards in indivdual slots - another great feature.

My Time Using the Allett Original Wallet

As I mentioned earlier, getting my hands on this wallet coincided nicely with a camping trip I had planned. My logic was that a wallet made from durable, lightweight, and water-resistant materials would be a good fit for this kind of trip, and I was right. However, this original wallet is large, and that took some getting used to. The problem I have with this layout is that it’s almost unnecessarily big.

Don’t get me wrong, the original wallet more than makes up for it in capacity, but in 2026 I find it difficult to really pinpoint who the target demographic for the Original Wallet is. Ask yourself: do you know anyone who carries 24 cards with them? Personally, I think for a smaller capacity (say half of that) you could cut the original wallet in size and still have a 12-card capacity, which is more than enough for the vast majority of people. Basically, if you don’t carry more than 15 cards, I really can’t recommend this wallet to you. It would just feel empty.

With all this being said, I guess I need to put myself in the shoes of someone who does carry that amount of cards. In that regard, I think the wallet has its issues. The first problem is the lack of card slots. For a wallet that has such a high capacity, it has very few card slots: just four.

I actually laughed when I stumbled upon this review on the Allett website that basically said: “Your webpage advertises 4-24 credit card slots. But there is NO way to actually order any wallet specifying 24 slots. All you get is 4.” The reviewer needs to understand you can carry more than one card in each slot. But honestly, he does have a point, doesn’t he?

Only four slots is a tiny amount for the capacity the wallet claims to carry. That would be six cards per slot at maximum. I tried six cards per slot and it wasn’t a great experience. That many cards in each slot bulks the wallet out and makes it a very poor experience trying to both find the card you want and actually pull it out. Cards easily get trapped in the middle of the stack, and often I had to remove the whole stack from the slot just to find the card I needed. Very frustrating.

In actuality, the Allett Wallet is much better when you view 24 cards as just a guide. Three cards in each slot (a maximum of 12 cards) was my personal favourite amount and eliminated these issues entirely. The wallet stayed slim, and I had no issues accessing the cards required at a moment’s notice.

But there are plenty of positives to take away as well. The build quality is very strong. I thought at first I wouldn’t like the nylon material the Allett Original Wallet is made from, but it definitely grew on me over time. It really is far stronger and more durable than I would have imagined.

As I said, I took this wallet on a camping trip and really enjoyed not having to worry about wear and tear. Whether I was hiking or sailing, this wallet felt safe from the elements. After my week away, it still looked brand new, and all it took was a quick wash under the tap. Amazing stuff.

Final Verdict: Is the Allett Wallet Worth it?

Overall, the Allett is a strong wallet for those who frequently find themselves outdoors and need added protection and storage to tackle the elements. I don’t think I can recommend this wallet for normal use, mainly because of its size, and for the vast majoirty of people don’t need a wallet that has such a high capaicty.

And honestly, the wallet isn’t great even at the higher capacity limits of 24 cards. As i menmtioned the more cards stored the more finicky and difficult it came to access the cards and that’s down to the small amount of just 4 card slots. Honestly, if you’re looking for a wallet that can store tonnes of cards (and i mean tonnes), then i’d opt for something more like a vertical wallet. Those long wallets with like 6-8 card slots on each side.

With all this being said, I’m a massive fan of Allett and think many of the wallets they produce are fantastic. I’d recommend checking out Allett’s ID Wallet or Sport Wallet. These are half the size but retain all the functionality of the Original Wallet, just with less capacity. But as I said, you really wouldn’t want to store 24 cards in the Original Wallet anyway, so it’s a win-win to opt for another in the Allett range.

Overall, I didn’t enjoy my time using the Allett Original Wallet, mainly due to its large size and poor functionality in terms of storage. At $48.00, there are definitely better options on the market, and many from Allett themselves. Please check them out.

2026 Update: Price & More

Hi all this is just a quick update in 2026. This review was first published in October 2019 - time flies. Much of the content written here has been updated to reflect my use of this wallet in 2025 where i used the wallet for a period of 4 months during some camping trips in the summer. Basically im going through some of my oldest reviews and retesting them to keep them current and give a fresh perspective. I also want to give current price updates espially in regards to how much wallets have increased in a world of ever increasingly product prices.

Looking back on the wayback machine, back in 2019, the allett wallet used to cost $30.00 comparted to todays $48.00. Using an inflation calculator that same $30.00 should be worth $38.00 today. So The wallet has outpaced inflation by $10 (or about 26% above what inflation alone would justify).