Yasutomo 2020 Wa-Ben Wallet: Cuben Fiber Delight
I’d Been Thinking About Wallets For Some Time
I realized I’ve never really been satisfied with any wallet I’ve ever owned. It was time for that to change.
I thought about getting the Slimmy (which still looks pretty fantastic), until I remembered reading an interview with William Gibson. He talked about some crazy wallet made out of a material called Cuben (transcribed as Kuben in the interview) as part of his EDC.
Now this sounded promising. I headed off to Google and searched for “william gibson wallet”. The top result took me to a review of the Yasutomo Wa-Ben wallet at unfinishedman.com.
Chad’s review convinced me that the Yasutomo 2020 Wa-Ben wallet, made in Hong Kong by Jason Hung and touted as the world’s first Cuben Fiber wallet (specifically, Cuben Fiber CT9K.5), could be exactly what I was looking for.
So I slapped down an electronic $49.50 (post-paid from Hong Kong), and three weeks later I signed for my new wallet at the post office (it seems the people in charge of these decisions deem packages from Hong Kong as untrustworthy).
After carrying it around daily for about a week, I can say it was, indeed, exactly what I was looking for.
The Perfect Wallet (For Me)
The wallet is extremely light (0.69 ounces, according to the website), extremely thin (you can see through it!), and extremely durable. I often forget I’m even carrying it and have to frantically check my front pocket to see if it’s there. It always is.
It has six credit card pockets, two “hidden” pockets behind the card pockets, and two cash/note pockets, so there’s plenty of room to carry more than enough.
So here’s my short review. The Yasutomo 2020 Wa-Ben wallet is fabulous piece of gear, and I recommend it highly for anyone looking to lighten their everyday carry load.
Full disclosure: Author paid full price for his wallet and has no regrets about that decision.
Thanks for the shout out! And glad to hear that you like your wallet, I am still loving mine! 🙂
Of course! I found your review after I’d pulled the trigger on the wallet, and it made me feel really good about buying it. Great write-up.
Hi Tom thanks for the review and review!!!
You bet! Thanks for the wallet. I’ve been using it for about two weeks now, and it continues to be the perfect wallet for me. Great craftsmanship.
I also thank you for the shout out. 😛 Good review, great pictures, and I’m glad you’re enjoying the wallet. I’ll be interested to see what Yasutomo does next.
Glad to do it. Your review was the reason I decided to purchase the wallet. And I agree, Yatsutomo looks to have some other interesting products.
Can I ask how much stuff you’ve crammed in? I tend to carry about 10 creditcard sized things, a modest amount of cash and a couple business cards. I’m a little worried this won’t fit my cards, but am otherwise intrigued.
Thanks for the review!
Sure, no problem. I’ve got eight card-type items total, but you can double-load the card slots and maybe stuff a few extra in the “secret” pockets. I’m guessing it could carry 14 cards comfortably, but it would lose a little of its slimness. I don’t have that many cards, so that’s not definitive.