Herschel Charlie Review – It’s a Take-it-Anywhere Wallet

The Review

The Herschel Charlie wallet is about as simple of a card holder wallet as you can get. It has a horizontal (landscape) orientation with a main central pocket with and two extra card slots on each side. That’s it.

To me, the exterior material has the look and feel of stout heavy canvas. The label sewn inside the wallet says that it is 100% polyester. So we’ll compromise and call it a tough polyester. 

The Charlie comes with 25 different exterior color and design choices. The interior liner, however, is a distinctive red and white vertical strip fabric that is Herschel’s trademark. It’s a blend of 20% cotton and 80% polyester that is the signature lining for many, if not all, of the Herschel line of wallets. 

Known for their wide range of bags and clothing as well as wallets, the Herschel company is based out of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. However, their products are all made in China. According to Bloomberg, they have a massive operation with 15 different Chinese factories making their stuff.

I like the Herschel Charlie as a throw-in-anywhere kind of wallet. It’s only 4” x 3” and with 7 cards and a few bills of cash inside, it’s still less than 1/2” thick. It disappears cleanly into a pocket or small purse while keeping all the contents easily accessible. 

It has a rough and tumble exterior that feels like it can stand up to whatever abuse you can throw at it. The stitching is clean and the overall feel is solid. Cards fit securely in the exterior slots but not so tightly that it’s hard to get them in or out.

This is an RFID blocking wallet that only works for NFC credit/debit cards and transit passes that operate at 13.56 MHz. The RFID-blocking material that is sewn into the wallet will allow hotel cards, building access cards, and others running at 125 kHz frequencies to pass through. 

When you’re ready to use your credit card at Starbucks or the Metro, you’ll have to take it out of the wallet to scan. But you can open the door to your gym or hotel room without removing it. This makes sense because there is no information on these cards for anyone to steal.

The wallet has a landscape orientation, so the cards load horizontally, too. I like to carry about 5 of my lesser-used cards in the center pocket. This pocket also holds a few coins, receipts, and other thin odds and ends like a house key. Squeeze it like an old- fashioned coin purse to make the opening large enough to easily remove a card.

The 4 outside slots are for cards that you want to get at quickly. In my experience, one card per slot fits best. Cash, either folded in half or folded over twice, slides nicely in the center pocket and is easy to get at. 

Because the center pocket expands more at the center than at each end, it wedges the contents tightly. This keeps the contents inside when you give it a gentle shake. It’s not as foolproof as a zipper, but I’ve rarely had anything fall out. 

Most men carry minimalist wallets in their front pocket, and my personal requirement is that any wallet has to fit in the same pocket as my iPhone. Metal wallets can be hard on a phone, but the polyester canvas of the Herschel Charlie is no more abrasive than leather. Yes, they can coexist. 

One complaint I have is that the 3” width of the wallet means that most pockets won’t allow my phone and wallet to ride next to each other. So they have to overlap, creating more of a pocket bulge than I like. This gives narrower wallets like the Ekster Senate a distinctive advantage. 

I might start carrying it in my right front pocket with my keys because the metal keys won’t harm the resilient polyester canvas material. I’ll let you know how it goes.

All Herschel products have distinctive branding, mainly because of the large black-on-white label that is sewn on the front. Combine that with the red and white tab that protrudes near the base. Inside, there’s a white label sewn in with a 10-digit number I assume is a serial number.  

The Herschel Charlie is very reasonably priced at $22 and comes with a limited lifetime warranty. There are counterfeits floating around so Herschel recommends you only buy from authorized channels (like Amazon) or their website.

Should you get it?

The answer is yes if you’re looking for the ultimate in simplicity that does everything a minimalist card holder should be expected to do. This isn’t the main squeeze I’d take for two weeks in Europe, but it’s perfect for the beach, gym, a backpack, or for ladies who just need the minimum for a night out.

Unless you plan to substitute the Charlie for a sandbag in a Corn Hole tournament, it should last you a long, long time. If it doesn’t? There’s a lifetime warranty to back it up.