Roughly a year and a half ago, from the time of this post, I embarked on an epic journey: To obtain the American Made wallet that was making waves. American Bench Craft had been featured on The Grommet, Best Leather, The Gadget Flow, Scoutmob, and Americanologist (to just name a few sites). As a result of all this attention, I was curious: Are their wallets really that good?
As most of you know, I’m an entrepreneur at heart and I love trying out new things. Especially because I travel so much, I’m always looking for durable items that truly stand the test of time. And when I heard about American Bench Craft, especially that their wallets survived overseas in combat, it definitely struck my attention.
Even better, they’re located in Reading, MA – which is roughly 20 minutes north of Boston. Although I live in LA now, I was in Boston at the time, so I figured to reach out to them and check out their wallets.
Now I have to be honest here: I don’t really care that much about leather. However, I was looking for a better wallet. Roughly a few months before that, my old wallet – which was supposed to be “genuine leather” – broke apart, and my debit card ended up falling out. This meant I had to get a new one, cancel the old one, etc – the really annoying process that everyone hates.
So I arrived at their shop in Reading, and I got a full tour as I really wanted to check out all their products. No exaggeration – the wallet that they made me was insane, and I even got it personalized. Here’s how it came out when I first got it:
Pretty awesome.
Now that’s it’s been roughly a year and a half since then, I wanted to do a follow-up review from my first one. And, crazy enough, I actually like the wallet more than I did before.
Here’s how my wallet looks now (which is the post’s main picture):
^^That wallet has literally been around the country and has been to the craziest music festivals, Parkour & Fitness events, exclusive clubs, high profile events, and more. Not only is it still in amazing condition, but it attracts attention from literally everyone who sees it.
I remember Jason, one of the founding brothers of American Bench Craft, told me that the leather will mold itself as time goes on, and my wallet becomes more custom. That’s definitely happened, as you can clearly see. If anything, I wouldn’t say that the wallet has gotten “beaten up” – it’s more morphed itself to my lifestyle.
Really cool.
Here’s my honest Pros and Cons list of the wallet to give you the full perspective!
PROS
• Extremely high quality. Can’t stress this enough, it’s easy to tell the first time you touch it
• Looks awesome. I genuinely love the look of the wallet, especially with the personalization
• American Made. Everything is made and manufactured in the good old US of A.
• Successful Start-Up. Like I said above, I’m an entrepreneur at heart, and I love seeing start ups that truly have a good cause and mission. Two brothers started this company, and they are genuine nice guys who love what they do. Can’t beat that.
• Durable. This is huge for me, especially because my life is so hectic
• Customizable. As you can tell by my wallet, you can completely personalize it as you like. Especially because I’m a DJ/Music Producer, it’s huge to have a professional look, and this wallet adds to that.
CONS
• Pricer than a cheap wallet. If you’re in college living off Ramen Noodles, this wallet might be out of your price range. At $74 for their main Hammer Riveted Wallet, it’s mid-range priced, but you definitely get what you pay for. Plus I’ve owned more expensive wallets that weren’t even a quarter of the quality.
• Minimalistic. Now this may be a pro or con depending on who you are, but if you have 50 credit cards, they definitely won’t all fit in this wallet. I only cary around the essentials in my wallet, as I have roughly 10 plastic cards and a bunch of business cards. The wallet has two front slots for cards, and then two deep pockets for cash, business cards, and more.
Overall, I can’t recommend this wallet enough, especially after seeing how the quality has lasted over the past year and a half (approaching 2 years). I definitely give it the Freccero stamp of approval, so check them out at www.AmericanBenchCraft.com!
If you have any questions about the wallets, feel free to post a comment and I’ll answer it to the best of my knowledge.
