Drive By :: DUN Billfold

Wallets are both personal and prolific. They’re everywhere – they were The Thing on Kickstarter a little while ago – and everyone has one. They carry some of the most important things you have, from money to an organ donor card, but you also sit on them.

A few years ago it was okay to not really worry about your wallet: you could get by just occasionally joking about how obscenely large yours was.

That’s not cool. Thankfully DUN is here with the “world’s thinnest leather billfold”.

Who it suits

People after a simple and thin wallet but who haven’t bought one of the other 100+ “thin wallets” on the market right now. Anyone who enjoys the thrill of thinking their cash could fly out any time they open their wallet.

Who it doesn’t 

Anyone with one of the other thousand simple wallets that do the same thing with slight variations.

The Good

It’s small and thin and understated. Check.

It’s billed at 0.2″ thick, which is the kind of number you’ll tell people when showing off the DUN and they’ll say “Oh wow, that’s pretty thin.”

Functionally speaking I’m not sure it’s really enough to distinguish it from any other bafflingly-thin wallet out there – but still, it’s impressive.

The DUN is also light, weighing in at a single ounce (that’s 28 grams to anyone using the correct system). For comparison’s sake that’s slightly heavier than a fun-sized Mars bar.

There are four pockets for cards, change or other small and thin curios. They all seem secure.

The really fun feature is the billfold. A lot of wallets in this genre use a secure pocket for notes: you fold them up and tuck them away. Not the DUN. It has a diagonal sleeve that sits atop the card pockets and covers about a quarter of the wallet’s surface.

This does two things:

Distributes the volume of your notes evenly across the wallet to, presumably, keep things thinner.

Makes it feel like your notes could be set loose if you open your wallet with too much gusto.

Now, I don’t think that would happen but the feeling that it could was enough to make one of my friends hesitant about using the DUN.

Me? I liked it.

The Not So Good

I wish the DUN felt nicer in the hand. The leather, while nice, felt a touch too plastic. I am always hesitant to pick at leather after only a short use: ask me again after a few months of wear and I’ll see how I feel.

And I’m not sold on the steel “DD” clip on one edge. It was supposed to be a classy accent but, to my eyes, just seems tacky.

If you’re going to aim for simple and refined, keep it simple and refined. The look and feel of the DUN don’t reinforce the “it’s the world’s thinnest billfold” selling point.

Really, I feel like the DUN should make me feel like James Bond when I’m carrying it. I don’t.

Verdict

The DUN has a lot going for it from a selling-point perspective. “It’s the world’s thinnest” and all that.

But if you’re not carrying a lot as is, you might not notice that in your day-to-day use. If you’re carrying a lot and you want to cut back, maybe the DUN will be the thing that inspires you to get on the minimalist train.

If you’re already riding light I don’t think there’s a lot here to sway you from your tried-and-tested wallet.

There’s just not enough here to justify a switch: I wanted the DUN to feel as luxurious and impressive as its spec sheet makes it out to be.

That’s the thing about wallets: they’re not spec sheets. They may be prolific and in need of a selling point to catch your attention but they’re also personal. They need a bit of heart and a bit of soul.

I didn’t get that from the DUN. It felt like a stranger; I don’t sit on strangers unless I have to.