A modular wallet has component parts (modules) that can be combined in different ways to customize a wallet. These interchangable components might include money clips, phone adapters, multi-tools, coin trays, or extra modules that increase capacity.
Modular wallets give you the chance to express your inner geek by tweaking a wallet to your liking. Add, swap, and tinker with components until you get what you want. Finding the right one for you is what this post is all about.
Best: Aviator Slide
This finely made wallet from Germany can be built to order with many different options.
For anyone who lusts for the Ridge wallet, the Aviator Slide modular card holder will double your testosterone. The Aviator improves on the much-imitated “sandwich-style” minimalist design with a pull tab that ejects up to 20 cards. Or you can flip it over and use your thumb to push them out from a slot on the opposite side. Take your pick.
The adjustable elastic band comes factory-set at a 10 card capacity, but you can adjust the elastic band to hold twice that many. I love the fact that this wallet is no longer or wider than the cards that it carries.
The aluminum coin holder tray may be its best feature. It slides in and out easily, even when the card holder is loaded with 8 cards. It’s even covered with felt on the bottom so the coins don’t rattle. Who doesn’t need a place for a quarter for a gumball machine or spare key to the garage?
The Aviator Slide is a smooth customer that does so much in a sinfully small package. It’s designed and made in Germany so shipping might take a little longer. But it will be worth the wait.
- Dimensions: 3.3″ x 2.1″
- Materials: Anodized aluminum with a carbon fiber money band
- Capacity: Up to 20 cards
- Warranty: Lifetime warranty
Also Great: Ekster Modular Bifold
This is two wallets in one.
It’s cool to have a stylish wallet. But, what about a wallet with attachments…or shall I say, detachments? Then, you have the Ekster Modular Bifold wallet. This wallet has everything you can ask for in a wallet with one huge perk. It comes with a detachable card holder that’s held in place with magnets.
How often do men end up collecting more business cards then they need? Luckily, guys have the option to make this a minimalist wallet instead of a catch-all. They can take the cardholder off and go, while still keeping the cash, cards and ID.
Ekster has engineered this beautiful, super-slim wallet with top-grain leather from LWG gold-rated tanneries. The addition of the removable card holder adds a bit to the thickness, but no one is telling you that you have to use them together. That’s why it’s modular, right?
For the hard-to-satisfy types, this two-part wallet lets you have your cake and eat it too. Go minimalist with just the card holder, carry the wallet alone as skinny bifold, or put ’em together for the whole enchilada. It’s totally up to you.
- Dimensions: 4″ x 3.2″
- Materials: Premium American hydes by ECCO (LWG certified tannery)
- Capacity: Bifold and magnetic card holder together: 12 cards plus 10 bills
- Warranty: 1 year
Distil Union Mod Wallet
Magnets hold this wallet together and let you easily change the wallet’s capacity.
This modular wallet is a great choice for people like me who enjoy something a bit different. The Distil Union ModWallet’s design relies on magnets to keep its contents in place. Sandwiched between two full-grain leather covers, it has modules to hold cards, cash, keys, a multi-tool, or even a USB drive.
What really makes this wallet unique is that nothing but magnets keep this wallet together. It’s a cinch to put in more cards, take cards out, remove or add a key–whatever. Or you can treat it as fidget spinner to pass the time.
Another great aspect of the Distil Modwallet is that it’s part of a modular set that includes magnetic sunglasses that attach to the Ferris ModStation. The Modstation is a magnetic strip that can be hung on your wall to keep all your essentials in one place. Pretty innovative.
All Distil Union wallets and accessories came from the minds of some young creatives who can now count the Modwallet as the ninth product they have brought to market from its beginnings on Kickstarter. There’s a lot to like here.
- Dimensions: 5″ x 3″
- Materials: Eco-certified full-grain leather, neodynium magnets that DON’T affect magstripe on cards
- Capacity: 10 cards plus 30 or more bills, plus additional modules for keys and others
- Warranty: 1 year
Flipside 4
Just like the name implies, the top of the Flipside 4 opens like the epic flip phone back in the day. The body of this wallet is made from polycarbonate plastic that is crush and scratch resistant. But that only tells half the story.
Press the button on the front of the phone it flips open to reveal two aluminum plates that give this wallet its RFID protection. An interior hinged panel holds up to 7 cards and behind that is room for bills carried full length.
What makes it modular is the extra capacity card holder that you can snap onto the back. This add-on has a tray that will carry several coins and/or a spare key. But if you want, you can remove the tray and store up to 3 cards there instead.
- Dimensions: 4.25″ x 2.75″
- Materials: Made in USA from polycarbonate plastic with aluminum plates for RFID protection
- Capacity: 7 cards in the main body and another 3 in the add-on module
- Warranty: 2 year
Dango A10 Adapt Wallet
A super cool design with a card holder that slides on rails.
Modular wallets have attachments or add-ons. Rarely, though, can we can geek out by feeling like we have authority. The Dango A10 Adapt wallet is what “Q” might issue to Mr. Bond, minus explosives or other deadly weaponry.
The whole damn thing is made from aluminum and incorporates a rail system for the components to slide on. While very lightweight, it is super durable. It has a narrow profile, too, not much larger than a credit card. In fact, it will fit in my front pocket next to my iPhone without any overlap.
Even though the wallet by itself is very cool, you can also get the money clip and a neck lanyard separately. You can use the clip to hold cash or clip it over the outside of your pocket to hold it in place.
The neck lanyard serves a huge purpose for people in law enforcement and high- security jobs. It comes with a plastic badge holder that can hold a police badge or other ID that gets you into high-security areas. There is also an optional smartphone attachment to attach the wallet to your phone.
You’ll feel like 007 with this modular wallet, assuming you dress accordingly.
- Dimensions: 4.1″ x 2.7″ x 0.6″
- Materials: Body: 6061 Annodized aluminum. Pocket adapter: textured non-leather DTEX
- Capacity: 5 cards plus several bills folded in quarters.
- Warranty: Lifetime
Fantom R
The sure way to any geek’s heart is something with buttons. The Fantom R delivers. It is one of the best feelings ever when a person goes to pay for something and, with the flip of a lever on their wallet, the cards flare out in epic fashion. Best of all, it only takes one hand to do it.
Like the kind of wallets pioneered by Secrid and Ekster, the Fantom is first and foremost a card ejector wallet. But it expands on that capability with some innovations that set it far apart from its predecessors.
This here is a wallet with modular accessories. Yeah, you can build onto this thing. Want a coin holder? BOOM, you got it. Tracker? Key holder? Hold my beer because you can get them all. And they all eject with the same lever action. You can also choose a silicon band or titanium money clip to hold your cash bills.
Don’t get overly excited, though, because you can only use one of these extra modules at a time. And each module will decrease the number of cards that the Fantom holds. There are always trade-offs in life, right?
- Dimensions: 4.6″ x 2.8″
- Materials: Ceramic-coated aluminum chassis, available with 6 different finishes
- Capacity: 3 models: 7, 10, or 13 card capacity
- Warranty: Limited lifetime warranty
Pitaka Magwallet UE
The Pitaka Magwallet UE is similar to the Distil Modwallet because it is also held together with magnets. But that’s where the similarity ends.
The Magwallet is made up of individual carbon fiber plates that are form fit to hold cards and cash. It comes with an inner and outer plate that each one card each, and two inner plates that each holds 2 cards. That’s 6 total for those of you keeping score.
There are two magnets near the top of each plate and one larger one at the bottom. This allows you to fan out the plates like a hand of cards while they pivot on that lower magnet. Still with me?
The problem with this wallet is that the magnets are strong enough to demagnetize any card with a magnetic stripe. That’s why Pitaka adds a special “degaussing” module that will protect up 2 of the 6 cards from being demagnetized. The other 4, however, are vulnerable.
The carbon fiber design is pretty sweet, and all-in-all, the wallet has some decent badassery thrown in. For the right kind of person, this wallet kills it.
- Dimensions: 4.05″ x 2.8″
- Weight 3.4 oz
- Materials: Carbon fiber and magnets
- Capacity: At least 6 cards in the base model, more cards, cash, and coins with additional modules
- Warranty: 1 year