What makes an elastic wallet special?

People are sceptical about elastic wallets until they hold one. Then something shifts. They weigh it in their hand. They slot in a few cards. They take them out again. They look at it like they've been missing something.

That's not by accident. There's more considered design in an elastic wallet than you'd expect at first glance.

What's actually in there

Two materials. That's it.

The wallet is woven elastic and thread. No leather, anywhere. No vegan leather, no veg-tan, no patches, no panels. Just one continuous strip of elastic, stitched into shape by hand.

The elastic itself is made in Europe. So is the thread. So is the label, so is the packaging. Everything you receive in the box has travelled from somewhere on this continent, never further.

That keeps the supply chain short. It also keeps it accountable. We know the people who make the materials we use.

Fifteen grams. Up to fifteen cards.

A traditional leather wallet can easily weigh 80 to 120 grams empty. The Nº1 weighs 15. It holds up to 15 cards plus folded bills. No coins, deliberately. A 1:1 ratio of cards to grams is the kind of coincidence we like.

You notice the difference after carrying it for a week. Your pocket feels different. Your back does too, if you were used to sitting on your wallet.

How elastic works, and why it holds up

The elastic in a 28 Degrees wallet isn't the same as the thin rubber band around a stack of banknotes. It's woven elastic with high tensile strength, the kind that holds its tension after thousands of stretches.

The tension is deliberately calibrated: tight enough to keep your cards in place when you turn the wallet upside down, relaxed enough to reach them quickly without fumbling. No metal clasp, no zip, no mechanism that can break. Just the elastic.

That makes maintenance simple too: there's nothing to oil, adjust, or replace.

The lanyard trick

Every wallet has a small label sewn at the corner. It's there to brand the piece, but it doubles as a hook. Slip a lanyard through it and you can wear the wallet around your neck, the way some people prefer for travel, festivals, or just keeping their hands free.

It started as a discovery rather than a design choice. Customers told us they were doing it. We liked it enough to keep recommending it.

Minimal, not minimalism as a statement

There's a difference between something that's minimal because it was designed that way, and something that's minimal as a lifestyle pose. The 28 Degrees wallets are firmly in the first category.

What fits: cards, folded bills, a transit card, a business card. What doesn't fit: the loyalty card from eleven years ago, last month's receipts, the coins you never spend.

That's a feature, not a limitation. An elastic wallet pushes you toward a light, fast setup, and most people who make the switch find they didn't need the clutter anyway.

Made by hand in Amsterdam

Every wallet is sewn by hand in our workshop in Amsterdam, in small batches. No assembly line, no overseas factory. If you find a stray thread or a slightly imperfect stitch, that's how you know.

The collection runs to six models, each with its own balance of capacity and slimness. There's always one that's exactly right.