What to Consider when Deciding on a Leather Key Holder
Like any wallet, there are a few key elements to pay attention to when buying a leather key holder. We’ll walk you through how we evaluate the quality of leather wallets in general, and leather key holders more specifically. You’ll read information about grades of leather, material quality, best practices for constructing a wallet, marketing terms to be wary of, and pricing factors.
The goal of this buying guide is to help you make an informed buying decision as you learn to recognize quality versus marketing.
Let’s start with leather and then talk about some leather alternatives before moving on to other secondary materials that go into making a wallet.
Materials
A leather key holder, more than any other type of wallet, is going to see a lot of use. If you’re using it for work, you’re probably going to pull your key holder out multiple times per shift. If you use it for home, you might use it a couple to several times per day, depending on your activities.
The key holder needs to be able to withstand that amount of use. And nothing will determine its durability more than the materials it’s made of. The materials make the difference between a leather key holder lasting 6 months or 60 years.
Let’s start with leather and then talk about some leather alternatives before moving on to other secondary materials that go into making a wallet.
Leather Quality
Most people don’t know what the terms “genuine” and “bonded” leather actually mean. They’ve probably never heard of full-grain or top-grain leather. That’s because most products sold in large stores are made of genuine and bonded leather.
If I were to ask you what “genuine” leather means, what would you say? The term sounds like it’s calling the leather “real” versus an imitation material. Whereas that’s true – genuine leather is real leather – it’s also an imitation of high-quality leather.
What if I asked you what “bonded” leather was? You might say it sounds like “strong” leather or “reinforced” leather. Again, you would be technically correct. But you might not be happy to discover that it’s only strong in the sense that scraps of leather glued together are stronger than if they weren’t glued together.
“Genuine” and “bonded” leather are examples of marketing terms that make a product sound much better than it is. Let’s start from the top, literally.
The highest grades of leather are full-grain and top-grain. They come from the top layers of an animal’s hide. That makes them the strongest, the tightest, and the most resilient, just as the top layers of your skin are more durable than the lower layers. After a full or top-grain piece of leather is tanned, it can last for 100 years or more.
Full and top-grain leather is actually the same material. The difference is that top-grain goes through a few more processing steps to give it a more fashionable look. Full-grain leather is called such because it shows the fullness of the animal’s skin grain: every pore, crease of skin, color variation, birthmarks, scars, etc. It makes for a unique, rustic appearance.
If someone doesn’t want to see the “imperfections” and variations in grain, they can buy top-grain. It’s made from the top layers, but the grain has been buffed out to create a smooth surface. It can be left as it is or have a pattern rolled into it to create a uniform pore grain or another type of design. You could even make cowhide look like snakeskin with an imprinted design.
If full and top-grain come from the top layers of hide, then genuine leather obviously comes from the bottom layers. It’s not as strong and stretches out more easily. It’s the same material that suede is made of. Suede is a nice material, but it isn’t very durable, is it? You have to be careful with suede because it does get damaged so easily.
Manufacturers try to make genuine leather more durable by coating it with polyurethane. Like suede, polyurethane is a helpful product, just not for this application. A wallet or key holder needs to be flexible. It needs to bend. When it does, the polyurethane develops small cracks. It also dries out over time and cracks with age. The cracking material peels and creates an ugly finish on the wallet as it exposes the genuine leather underneath.
Bonded leather is nothing more than genuine leather pieces glued back together and then cut into shape and coated with polyurethane. Both grades of leather last less than 2 years.
Fake leather is very similar to genuine leather. Called vegan leather, koskin, or faux leather, fake leather is another type of material (cotton, polyester, or nylon) coated in polyurethane. The coating doesn’t do these materials any more favors than it did bottom-layer leather. It still cracks and peels and ruins the wallet. As we’ll discuss further down, a couple of these materials are very durable without polyurethane. It’s only when manufacturers try to make them look like leather that problems develop.
Sometimes, a manufacturer doesn’t advertise what grade of leather they used to make the wallet. The product description will simply say, “100% leather.” What conclusion can you draw from that lack of information?
Thinking about the benefits of the grades of leather, a manufacturer would be proud to advertise their use of full-grain, top-grain, or faux leather. By claiming those materials, they would either be advertising their product to be highly durable or friendly toward animals. Depending on the consumer, they might value one trait more or less than the other, but both are positive.
If they used genuine or bonded leather, however, the only benefit would be low price. Unless they wanted to portray their products as being cheaply made, they might leave the grade of leather out of the product description and hope that potential buyers don’t know enough to ask what type of leather it is.
Speaking of price, the fact is that bottom-layer leather is less costly than top-layer. There are more underlayers of a hide than top, so it’s more abundant. It’s also not as in-demand by high-quality manufacturers, so budget companies can purchase it for low prices. We’ll talk more about pricing at the end of this guide, but there is never a reason for a genuine leather wallet to cost as much as a full-grain or top-grain wallet.
Leather Tanning
You can’t tan a hide without chemicals, but those chemicals (called tannins) can come from three different sources. It was the original practice to tan hides with the animal’s stewed brain. Thankfully, only hobbyist hunters and leatherworkers still use brain tanning.
Manufacturers either use plant tannins to make vegetable-tanned leather or chromium to make chrome-tanned leather. Chromium tanning became popular in the late 1800s after it was discovered that soaking surgical sutures in chromium preserved them longer. Chrome-tanned leather is the fastest to make.
Vegetable-tanned leather is the older method, but it takes twice as long to process. It also shows ugly watermarks when any type of liquid soaks into the material.
You have to be careful about getting chrome-tanned leather wet as well, but if you have the choice, opt for a chrome-tanned leather key holder over one made with vegetable-tanned leather. You never know when you’ll need to pull your keys out in the rain.
Leather Thickness
The thickness of the cut goes a long way in determining how durable leather will be. Thin leather wears through faster than thick-cut leather. That’s especially true for genuine leather, which is weak to begin with.
If you examine a leather key holder or any type of leather wallet, you should look for each layer to be as thick as a quarter. That thickness keeps the leather strong without adding too much bulk to the size of the wallet.
The thickness of the layers can be deceptive though. To reinforce thin leather, manufacturers will insert cardstock or plastic behind the lining. If they didn’t, the leather wouldn’t be able to keep its shape. It would be like a piece of fabric that you could wad up into a ball.
Those inserts add rigidity to the wallet, but they also make them wear faster as the insert rubs against the back of the leather. Feel each layer for added materials and pass on any with inserts. The material is too thin to last more than a couple of years.
Luckily, it’s usually only manufacturers who use genuine leather who also use inserts. They save money on the low-cost leather and then save even more money by cutting it extremely thin. They can make more wallets or key holders with less material. Those who use full and top-grain are interested in making long-lasting products, so they won’t compromise by cutting the layers too thin or using non-leather materials to reinforce what they’ve made.
Leather Scent
There’s no mistaking the smell of leather. Even bottom-layer leather smells like top-layer leather. It’s a rich, musty, sweet smell. Interestingly, the scent of leather doesn’t dissipate over time. A piece of leather will smell like leather for its entire life. Keep it in your pocket, leave it outside, or put it away in a drawer, and it will still smell like leather.
The only time a leather key holder or wallet won’t smell like leather is when it’s coated in polyurethane. The scent is trapped beneath the coating. It’s also masked by the smell of chemicals. If you find a leather key holder that smells like plastic or chemicals more than it does leather, you can be sure that it’s made of genuine, bonded, or substitute leather. Full and top-grain leather won’t smell like that because there’s no need to reinforce it with a heavy topcoat.
You might find a wallet or leather key holder that doesn’t smell like anything at all. In that case, it’s still low-grade leather or fake leather. The difference is that it’s old enough for the chemical smell to have dissipated. Maybe it was left in the store or a warehouse too long. In that case, beware. The polyurethane has still been drying out during that time, and the wallet will last an even shorter amount of time once it comes into your possession.
Leather Feel
Finally, leather feels like leather. You should either feel the texture of the hide’s pores or a subtle texture complementing the smooth finish. The finish should not be slick like plastic or waxy like resin.
If it feels too slick or as if it has a heavy topcoat, that’s another indication of poor-quality leather or leather substitutes. Our advice is to pass on it. It won’t last more than a couple of years before the finish fails and takes on a worn or aged look.
Leather Quality Summary
Genuine and bonded leather comes from the least durable part of the hide. It’s reinforced with a crack-able polyurethane topcoat and will usually last less than a couple of years. Full (rustic) and top-grain (buffed) leather is from the top layers of the hide. It is durable and can last more than 100 years. Top-quality leather will always smell and feel like leather whereas polyurethane-covered leather smells and feels like plastic and chemicals. Fake leather carries the same weaknesses.
For a wallet to be durable, it needs to be thickly cut, and the most water-resistant are made from chrome-tanned leather.
Nylon
We said earlier that nylon is one of the materials that fake leather is frequently made of. Without a polyurethane topcoat, a nylon wallet or key holder can be a very durable choice. Nylon is comfortable in your pocket as its soft and flexes easily. It’s a thermoplastic that can be shaped into any design and comes quite cheaply. You wouldn’t need to spend much more for a nylon key holder or wallet than you would one made of genuine leather.
The downside to nylon is that it isn’t as classic as leather. It’s not as fashionable. It’s more for young men or for more mature men when they go to play sports or go out in the water. Nylon doesn’t stain or get damaged by water.
If you work in a wet environment, sweat on your key holder when you’re exercising, or need to take a key or two along with you in the water, you might want to pick up a nylon key holder as an alternative to a leather key holder.
Polycarbonate
Polycarbonate is an interesting material for wallets and key holders. It’s also a type of thermoplastic, but this variety is not flexible. It’s perfect for creating shell-type, crush-proof cases. You won’t want to put it in your wallet, but it could make a good lanyard key holder while you exercise, work, or play in the water. It’s also not much more expensive than genuine leather.
Construction
Polycarbonate, nylon, and leather key holders all have one thing in common; they’re held together by different materials. Leather and nylon need stitching. Polycarbonate needs hinges. They all also include clips for the keys and can include other features as well.
Let’s examine the most common secondary components of key holder wallets.
Stitching
The stitching is the most important secondary material for a leather or nylon wallet. If it fails, the wallet or key holder falls apart.
When you look at the stitching, you should see some sort of reinforcing pattern, depending on the style of the key holder. It might be a simple double-stitch, where two parallel lines of thread run along the edge of the wallet and along the sides of the pocket, or it might be a cross-stitch pattern, where the thread crosses back over itself.
You’ll see cross-stitching done on more rustic or stylized wallets as the pattern makes for a unique look. Wallet makers will often choose a contrasting color for the threads to make the pattern even more of a decorative feature. Double-stitching is more subtle and has the classic look.
The threads of each line should be melted together at the end. Fusing them helps them to pull each other tight without the chance of unraveling.
The three most common types of thread are polyester, nylon, and cotton, with nylon and polyester being the more durable choices.
Lining
The lining of the pockets for leather and nylon key holders is important because the wrong material can rip when a rough card edge slides against it. Silk and cotton are the most easily torn.
Look for pigskin or suede instead. Pigskin is a type of thin, durable leather. Suede is bottom-layer leather, but it’s perfect for pocket linings as it won’t be exposed to exterior wear. Nylon and polyester pockets are also smart choices.
When you’re examining the pockets, look to see that the stitching doesn’t cross the pocket. You don’t want cards catching on the threads.
Clips, Snaps, Chain Rings, and Hinges
The third necessary component of a key holder wallet, and the component that makes it unique, are the key clips. Each clip is going to be frequently used. You’ll often hold the wallet by one clip as you select and use certain keys. That means the clip needs to be securely attached to the wallet. When you examine the clips, wiggle the whole assembly up and down and side to side. Pull on the clips a little to see how likely they are to pull off.
If it has any outside clips, check how securely they’re attached as well.
You’ll also want to think about whether the clips will be easy to use. Do they overlap too easily? Do they get tangled with one another? Or are they spread far enough part or partitioned in a groove to keep them all straight in a line?
A key holder wallet might also have snaps to keep it closed. Check how tightly they connect. It should take a little force to pull the snaps apart. They should also be securely attached to the wallet with double-threading around them to reinforce the material.
It the key wallet has a chain ring, it should have a wide lip on the outside and inside of the panel. The material should be double-stitched around the ring to keep it in place and to keep the material from ripping when you pull on the chain.
If the key holder is made from polycarbonate, it might open and close on a hinge. Test that the hinge is sturdy and that it swings smoothly. If it has a spring, test the action and move it around to see how securely it’s attached.
Plastic and Elastic
Some key holders have plastic ID windows. They can be useful features but are also weak points in the wallet’s construction. The plastic can easily be torn, punctured, or dented. To minimize wear, look for a key holder wallet with the window on the inside, not on the exterior.
While less common, you might find a key holder wallet with an elastic band around the outside or with an elastic pull-tab. Exterior bands are useful for storing quick-access cash and cards. They can also stretch out and rip, making them unusable. Likewise, pull-tabs can stretch and fray, making the pocket more difficult to use.
Zippers
Zippers are another useful feature for key holder wallets. If you’re considering one with a zipper, ensure that it closes with strong connections. The zipper should be slightly difficult to use. Zippers that slide closed easily can also slide open easily. A zipper that takes a little force to close shows that the teeth are making strong connections and that the zipper won’t come open prematurely. When the zipper is closed, it should be closed completely. There shouldn’t be any gaps at the end of the zipper with separated or partially separated teeth.
The fabric around the zipper needs to be double-stitched to the fabric of the wallet. You’ll be pulling on the zipper every time you open and close the wallet, so the stitching needs to be reinforced here more than any other spot.
Construction Summary
Look for reinforced stitching patterns: cross or double-stitched. The ends of the stitches should be fused together. The pocket lining should be made of a durable material, such as nylon, polyester, suede, or leather. Any metal hardware in the wallet should be securely attached with little movement. Plastic ID windows last longer when they’re on the interior of the wallet, and be aware that elastic is likely stretch out. Zippers should close tightly and be secured with double-stitching.
Craftsmanship
The final check to determine how well a key holder was made is to examine how well it was put together. At this stage of the evaluation, you want to inspect the cuts and angles and how well the edges and corners have been finished.
Cuts and Lines
Unless it’s an obvious part of the design, you should never see wavy lines in a cut of material. Nor should you see mismatched angles. Every edge should line up to be perfectly parallel with or perpendicular to every other line. The only exception will be the rounded corners.
The lines of stitching should be straight and even with no gaps longer than any other. The threading should be perfectly uniform.
Pocket Edges
There are three ways to finish a pocket. The simplest is to cut the top edge of the pocket clean across. If the leather is thick enough, the pocket will be tight and rigid even when there aren’t any cards in it.
The second method is to fold the top of the pocket down the inside. With the method, the nylon or leather becomes both the exterior of the pocket and the lining. The only caution to this style is that the materials need to extend far enough down the inside of the pocket so that it doesn’t create a lip for cards to catch on. If it does create a lip, cards will be more difficult to retrieve, and you’ll slowly loosen the stitching of the fold.
The most time-intensive finishing style is the rollover, for which the wallet maker creates an edge on the front of the pocket. To do this correctly, the pocket needs to be thick, and then the wallet maker shaves the material at the top so that it will take the proper shape. Other manufacturers create the effect by starting with thin pockets, which leaves you with a nice design on a thin pocket.
Wallet Edges
If a key holder wallet had more than one pocket on one of the panels, what would the layering look like? The bottom pockets would overlap the top pockets, right? And without any type of finishing work done to the edges, you could down the side of the wallet and see an ascending staircase of material with the bottom of the wallet being thicker than the top.
The way to eliminate the staircase effect is to thin each layer so that they blend together as a smooth surface. The edges of each layer should also be folded inward to create a finished edge along the side of the wallet.
The shortcut that you want to watch out for here is using resin to coat the edges. The resin covers up the edges so that wallet makers don’t need to finish them. The problem is the same one we encountered with adding polyurethane to a wallet. The resin cracks and peels, not only creating an ugly appearance but exposing the unfinished edges.
Corners
Just as the edges need to be thinned, so do the corners. But instead of folding them in, the corners will be folded over toward the interior of the wallet.
The corners also need to be thinned so that they fold over toward the interior of the wallet. They should be folded into a rounded shape. Square corners wear faster as they catch and rub on the sides of the pockets in your clothing.
When the material is folded to make a rounded corner, the excess material will bunch up. Instead of cutting this away, it should be pleated and all sewn together onto the interior of the wallet. It will look like a curtain that’s bunched together when it’s open or like a closed accordion. Keeping the extra material sewn onto the interior makes a stronger corner.
Craftsmanship Summary
Lines and angles should be parallel or perpendicular. Pockets can be cut straight across or rolled over in front provided the material is thick enough. Fold-over pockets should extend at least halfway down the inside of the pocket. All edges and corners should be thinned to create a smooth profile. Edges should be turned in, and corners should be pleated.
Warranty
If you’re on the fence about a key holder wallet, look what the terms of the warranty are. How long does the guarantee their product?
If it comes with a long warranty, the company is offering another assurance that the product will last. If it comes with a short warranty, less than a year, beware. The company knows how long their product will last and will end the warranty shy of that mark so that they won’t be held responsible for repairing or replacing it when it fails.
There is a type of long-term warranty you should avoid: the no-questions-asked money-back guarantee. This type of warranty is a safe bet for the company. They’re willing to refund people’s money when the product fails, but they also know that most people won’t ask for a refund. It’s a hassle to file the request, return the wallet, wait for processing, etc. And for what? The $15 or $25 that you spent on the key holder? Most people won’t take advantage of the warranty. Meanwhile, the company has made money off of a cheap product.
Similarly, there’s a good type of long-term warranty that most people won’t take advantage of. If you see a warranty that lasts 100 years, for example, you have to consider the likelihood of someone asking for repairs on a wallet 20 years, 50 years, or 80 years after it was purchased. Will your son or grandson want to use your old wallet? They might keep it for memory’s sake, but probably not to use.
So, how long should a warranty last? We like warranties that last 1-3 years. That period of time gives you ample opportunity to discover defects in materials and craftsmanship. After that time, you can fairly attribute any problems to normal wear and tear, which won’t be covered by a warranty.
Size and Weight
A key holder wallet isn’t going to be your main wallet. They’re not designed to hold all of the cash, cards, and IDs that you need on a daily basis. They’re designed to hold keys. So, they don’t need to be large. A key holder wallet shouldn’t be any larger than 4.5” x 3” when it’s closed. Those dimensions provide enough room to hold a fair number of keys and a couple of pockets for cards or folded bills.
The weight of a leather wallet 4.5” x 3” should be between 30 and 75 grams. That allows for thick leather, the key clips, and any extra hardware or features that might be included. You could wear a leather key holder weighing 30-75 grams on a lanyard around your neck, around your wrist, or clipped to your belt comfortably.
Capacity
As we stated, the primary purpose of a key holder wallet is to hold keys, but you can also find models with plenty of space for cards and cash in interior pockets or exterior pockets. First, determine how many keys you need it to hold. Count your keys for work or the number of keys you use at home. Maybe you have multiple buildings on your property with their own keys. You’ll also want to consider if you want exterior clips to hold large keys, such as car fobs or keys with thick heads on them.
If there are certain cards that you need to keep with you while you’re at work or exercising, try fitting them into the pockets to make sure you’ll have enough room for all of them. Some pockets only stretch far enough to allow room for 2 cards; others fit 3 or 4. If you purchase a key holder wallet with a pull-tab, you could fit as many as 10-12 cards in one large pocket.
Features
Since you’re buying a new key holder, take the opportunity to pick the best model for your needs. Imagine what it would be like to have a zipper instead of snaps or to wear the wallet on a lanyard or clipped to your belt instead of stuffed in your pocket. Consider the usefulness of pull-tabs and whether or not you want an ID window. Do you need a clip for car fobs or a ring for a chain?
Now that you know what to look for in all of these features, you can decide which ones you would like to have included in your key holder wallet.
RFID Protection
If you’re going to be carrying cards in your key holder, consider choosing one with RFID protection. “RFID” stands for radio frequency identification. It’s the technology used to scan credit cards and key cards.
The scary thing is that you don’t need to voluntarily scan your card for someone to access your information. A person with a remote scanner can read the digital information on your cards without you even having to take the cards out of your wallet.
RFID protection comes in the form of a metallic mesh inserted between the layers of a wallet. The mesh can block the higher radio frequency (13.56 MHz) only used to scan information off of credit cards, debit cards, IDs, and store membership cards or also the lower frequency (125 kHz) used to read key and pass cards. By purchasing a wallet that blocks only the higher frequency, you can protect your sensitive information while still using your pass cards and key entry cards through your key holder.
If you can find a key holder wallet that you like with RFID protection, consider purchasing separate RFID blocking sleeves. They easily slip over cards but might reduce the capacity of your key holder wallet due to their added thickness.
Design
Some aspects of a key holder wallet are purely cosmetic, such as choosing between full-grain and top-grain. Here, we’re considering the exterior design of the key holder. Do you want the cover to feature a brand logo or an imprinted design? Or would you rather have the cover be blank?
Keep in mind that a high-quality polycarbonate, nylon, or leather key holder wallet will be with you for many years, so choose a design that you will enjoy long term. If the brand goes out of style, you might not enjoy your key holder as much. If your tastes change, you might not want to use it simply because of its appearance.
The safe option is to choose a key holder wallet with a subtle design that won’t go out of style.
Purchase Options
Speaking of style, another way you can personalize your key holder is with color. You’re not stuck with brown and black leather. You can find models that come in an array of colors. Just think about who’s going to be around while you’re using your key holder wallet. You might not want to pull out your pastel pink key holder in front of your co-workers.
Packaging and Gift Boxes
Once you’ve decided on a key holder, ask how the seller is going to send it to you. It should be secured in its own product box with packing materials around it inside a second shipping container. You don’t want to buy the product only to have to return it when it was damaged in transit.
Also, ask to see a picture of the product box. Sometimes, companies will advertise that their product comes with a gift box when all it is a plain product box. It makes wrapping the wallet easier, but it isn’t a gift box. A gift box doesn’t need to be wrapped. It’s decorative and can be presented without any other embellishments.
Price
So, how much should a nylon, polycarbonate, or leather key holder wallet cost?
The price of an item should take into account material quality, material cost, craftsmanship, and scarcity. If a key holder wallet is low-quality because it was quickly made from low-cost materials, it shouldn’t cost more than $15. Such is the case with genuine, bonded, or fake leather key holder wallets. The factor that rightly drives the cost up for these items is that there aren’t very many models. Everyone uses wallets; not everyone uses key holder wallets. So, because there are fewer choices available, sellers can charge more for them, raising the price to $25-30.
Nylon and polycarbonate are durable materials, but they don’t cost much to make. Taking scarcity into account, you could rightly pay $30-50 for a key holder wallet made from these materials.
Finally, full-grain and top-grain leather are durable, relatively expensive materials. You could fairly pay $45-80 for a well-made leather key holder wallet, keeping in mind that it will last a lifetime or more.
The one factor that drives prices up unfairly is branding. If a company has a well-known name or if they want to make themselves appear as a fashionable brand, they mark up their prices to give the impression of higher quality. They want you to think that the item is better just because it costs more.
But now you know how to evaluate a wallet’s real quality. You can ignore branding and determine how much the wallet is actually worth. If you find a wallet of the same quality but priced lower because they’re a lesser-known company, you’ll be able to make a wiser buying decision. You’ll be able to enjoy a quality product without spending more than you need to.
Quality and scarcity should determine price, not branding.
Conclusion
Which leather key case should you choose? In our opinion, the Rustic Town key case makes the most fashionable gift, the Ikepod the most durable and convenient option, and the Heshe keyring wallet the most useful for work, exercise, or space-saving purposes.
Note that most key wallet designs do not accommodate key fobs. The keys in a key case wallet are meant to lay flat in a row and cannot be so wide that the covers will not meet and snap. Leather key holders are best used with standard house keys or smaller. If you need to just carry a single key, such as a spare house key, you may find it easier to use something like a vertical bifold wallet.
