The leather buying guides
Handmade or store-bought: what matters in a wallet?
Look past the sales floor. Look at the wallet.
A department store can carry an excellent wallet. A handmade wallet can still be wrong for the person carrying it. The useful comparison is between actual pieces: what they are made from, how they are assembled, how they fit, and whether the design gives you something you want.
Made in our family home shop · Bellevue, Washington
Find their kind of gift.
For the person who notices the leather, loves an unusual design, or reaches for the same useful thing every day. Handmade leather gifts from our family home shop in Bellevue, Washington.
For people who appreciate beautiful thingsRich color, visible leather grain, and shapes that deserve a second look.
Gifts for people who have everythingAn individual design, a familiar mountain, or artwork with a personal connection.
Beautiful gifts for everyday useWallets, journal covers and sleeves chosen for the way someone spends their day.
Gifts for people with their own styleBold rivets, sculpted pockets, mountain silhouettes, and leather with a point of view.
For their everyday carry
A family resemblance. A personality of their own.
A substantial Allfather. A stitched Ragnar. A Tyr for just the essentials. Troy’s Viking wallets share a love of bold leather and distinctive shapes, with a different way to carry in every design.
Explore the current editions below, or find your favorite across the Viking Line.
Explore current pieces
Allfather - Horween - Smoked Oak & Obsidian$310.00
Ragnar - Smoked Oak & Amber$160.00
Tyr - Fjord & Garnet - Viking Longship$105.00
A store name does not tell the whole story.
When you choose one of our wallets, you can look beyond the product photograph to our family shop in Bellevue and the decisions behind the piece. The leather, stitches and rivets are part of the story, not details hidden behind a brand name.
Ask what the leather actually is.
A named leather gives you a more specific starting point than a broad material label. Our Horween wallets identify the tannery; other pieces use different North American leathers described on their own listings. Look at the finish, the grain and the layers in the actual wallet. Do not assume that two products with “leather” in the name are the same material or construction.
Look at how the piece is held together.
Ragnar is our stitched bifold. Allfather uses hand-set rivets and a deliberately substantial build. Tyr puts a different layout into a card-wallet form. Those are choices you can see. Compare them with the seams, fastenings, edges and linings on another wallet rather than assuming every store-bought piece is built in one particular way.
Thickness should serve the way you carry.
Allfather is for someone who wants a thick, assertive wallet. That does not make it the best choice for someone who wants almost no bulk. A smaller card wallet may suit them better. Quality is not a contest to see how much leather fits in a pocket; it is also about choosing a design that works for your routine.
Choose a maker when the making matters to you.
Our case is straightforward: individual designs, named materials on the product you are buying, visible hand construction, and people you can connect to the work. If those are the details you want, explore the Viking Line. If a familiar style, a different capacity or a very slim profile matters more, use the same close look when comparing your alternatives.
Choose for what they value.
A handmade wallet makes sense when its design, material and maker matter to the person carrying it. Compare the specific wallet with their current one, including size and pocket layout; handmade alone does not guarantee the right fit.
The edit
A few places to start.
A few good questions.
Are department-store wallets all made the same way?
No. They can vary by maker, material, price and construction. Compare the specific wallet rather than treating the place it is sold as a material specification.
What am I paying for in a handmade wallet?
In our work, the price reflects the particular design, leather, hand assembly and details of that piece. Read its listing and look at the construction photographs to decide which of those things you value.