When I’m shopping for something, I always try to buy as locally as I reasonably can. Local retailers, local manufacturers, and local materials or ingredients.
Buying locally is better for the environment by reducing the amount of transportation that items need to get to you. Just as importantly, it’s good for the local economy by keeping the money around and circulating instead of flowing directly out to a giant corporation. And because of the economic impact, buying locally can help to encourage more local businesses and to secure our towns’ futures.
I want my money to be spent improving the things I like and that are nearest to me as much as possible. As a bonus, I’ve found that local manufacturers can often make a better product at the same or lower cost.
Of course there are still things that I will buy from major retailers, if for no other reasons than price and availability. I buy my garbage bags from Target, Cub, or Walmart – why wouldn’t I? But if there’s an opportunity to do better, I’d like to think that I’m the kind of person to at least give it serious thought.
So I Needed a New Wallet…
I want a good leather wallet that will last me several years, if not decades. My current wallet was a gift from my father. It’s made from a fairly thin leather and it’s still managed to last me about a decade so far.
I thought, “Ask the internet what’s a good wallet.” And most of the answers I found were luxury labels with price tags starting at $250 minimum. And I didn’t particularly like any of the options I was seeing.
So instead of looking for what the internet considered “the best”, I start looking for nearby leather goods manufacturers and found several promising candidates right away:
- Leather Works Minnesota
- https://leatherworksminnesota.com/
- St. Paul, MN
- Buffalo Billfold Company
- https://buffalobillfoldcompany.com/
- Worthington, MN
- Century Leather Products
- https://clpuber.com/
- Owatonna, MN
- Hanson Leather Co.
- https://www.hansonleatherco.com/
- Stewartville, MN
- Strey Designs
- https://streydesigns.com/
- Minneapolis, MN
- Ashland Leather
- https://ashlandleather.com/
- Chicago, IL
I started with two criteria: I want it to be good leather in a shade of brown and I want it to be a bi-fold design. My current wallet is a tri-fold design and I’m sick of having curly cash.
After looking through the offerings of all of these companies, I ended up choosing the No. 9 Wallet made by Leather Works Minnesota. It’s made from high quality full-grain American leather right in St. Paul and it’s only $100. That sounds well worth the price to me.
Just your average guy in the exurbs.
Leave a Reply