North Star Leather Horween iPhone 6 Card Sleeve Review – $40

A couple months back I broke my brand new iPhone 6. It was my last day at a job and I was helping a customer out by looking something up for them. In their excited gratitude, they accidently smacked my phone out of my hand and shattered the screen. Since then, I have always kept a leather sleeve or plastic case on my phone. The North Star Horween iPhone 6 Card Sleeve has proven to be an excellent choice to protect my precious iPhone 6.

North Star Leather Horween iPhone 6 Card Sleeve

About

Michael Batson, son of Steve Batson, said, “My dad started North Star Leather in 1969 doing street vending in Boston (fringe belts, floppy hats, and other “hippy” items). Little by little he grew the company and eventually moved to the rural south; the small town of Ruby, SC, population 354. That was more than 35 years ago and we’ve been making quality leather accessories here ever since. We have 15 employees (4 of whom are family) and are proud to have been able to keep making our products here in the USA without ever considering outsourcing production to cheaper countries.” This is another great example of a company who started years ago, building themselves up to be a successful craft leather company.

North Star Leather Horween iPhone 6 Card Sleeve

For more information on the North Star Leather company, head on over to their About Us page, you’ll find their lifetime warranty information, a little more company information, and several testimonials from North Star Leather’s customers.

Construction

As you can tell from the title, this iPhone sleeve is constructed using Horween Chromexcel leather. The leather is stitched with heavy-duty contrast stitching, giving the flexible leather a nice sturdy feeling. Measuring 5.9” long by 3.6” wide, the iPhone sleeve snugly fits a caseless iPhone 6. North Star Leather has added a simple card pouch on the exterior of the sleeve, which adds only a minor amount of heft to its construction.

North Star Leather Horween iPhone 6 Card Sleeve

North Star Leather Horween iPhone 6 Card Sleeve

Function and Aesthetic

The iPhone 6 sleeve has performed flawlessly. I usually am wary of some leather sleeves because they will be too loose and allow the iPhone to slide out. This is not the case with North Star’s version. The sleeve is slender enough to put in your front or back pocket comfortably. There is plenty of room in the card pocket for several cards and a few bills. If all you need are your driver’s license, credit card, and some cash, this iPhone 6 card sleeve will hold it all.

The leather has already started to develop a nice patina from everyday use. It will continue to scratch and mark up becoming a very broken in, full of character leather accessory. The Horween Chromexcel leather in natural color provides a nice, classic look. The North Star Leather Horween iPhone 6 Card sleeve does come in several colors: Red/brown, natural, russet, and black. Each color will develop the desired patina overtime.

North Star Leather Horween iPhone 6 Card Sleeve

North Star Leather Horween iPhone 6 Card Sleeve

Conclusion

The North Star iPhone 6 Card Sleeve has been an excellent product. Like the Horween wallet we reviewed a while back, North Star has kept the price relatively low. They have succeeded in providing high-quality leather products for a manageable price. At $40, North Star’s leather sleeve is an appropriate choice to protect your expensive iPhone 6, especially if you are on a tight budget.

North Star Leather Horween iPhone 6 Card Sleeve

Economic Wallet Roundup

This article will be an ongoing coverage of less expensive, quality leather wallets. If you’d like your company’s to be considered, please email [email protected].

We love the highest end goods out there, but sometimes one needs to enjoy leather and save the bank. Here we’re going to bring together some of our favorite recent wallets that fall within a lower price range.

North Star Leather Horween Leather Money Clip – $45

It’s becoming more and more rare to carry cash these days. So much so that most people had to ask me what the clip part of this wallet is! For those who do still practice the art, let me present the North Star Leather Horween Leather Money Clip.

Made of Horween’s Chromexcel, you can be sure the leather itself is of high caliber. I have the red brown version, and it’s offered in natural as well. The design is simple and good looking. The stitching varied a little, actually getting closer to an edge than I would have liked in one place, but not enough to cause any durability issues.

Functionally this will favor those who like to carry just a few cards and like a big space for their cash and receipts. The card pockets on each side held two cards each for me; you could probably manage three. Then there’s the money clip, which functioned well and held as much as I ever needed to carry. Pop it open, lay things flat, pop it closed, and hold it together with the rest of the wallet.

For those who do recognize and appreciate a good money clip, you’ll like this wallet. There’s no frills but at only $45 it’s a shoe in for our economic wallet roundup.

Kendal & Hyde Simpleton 1

Most of Kendal & Hyde‘s customers can’t get enough of their boots, belts, and bags. Their Simpleton 1 wallet is made with the same fantastic leather concept and is a great minimal card carry.

The Simpleton uses a classic wrap-and-sew card holder design, with a main storage pocket and a single easy access slot in front. I’ve found an ideal fill to be about four cards in the main pocket. This makes them fit snugly but leaves some room for cash or receipts if needed, and doesn’t put too much pressure on the single card slot.

kendalhyde_simpleton_1

Edges are gently burnished, and stitches are a nice thick marine grade polyester, machine sewed. The construction leads me to believe this little cardholder will last a lifetime.

kendalhyde_simpleton_2

The Simpleton 1, sadly, isn’t sold anymore on Kendal & Hyde’s website, but we’re told they have some other wallet ideas coming out soon. If Kendal & Hyde has taught us anything, it’s that sometimes the best products are worth the wait.

Update (March 2017): Sadly, Kendal & Hyde is no longer in business. Many of their designs have been revived by SALT Co.

E3 Supply Co Holster Style Slim Wallet – $39

Gotta love a design unique enough that it’s hard to know what it is: I showed E3 Supply Co’s Holster Style Slim Wallet to a friend without cards in it, and was immediately asked “…what is it?” Once I put cards in it, that confusion turned to envy. Something about the open corners design feels both cool and rugged, and being made of thick, strong, and supple Chromexcel obviously doesn’t hurt one little bit.

e3_holster_slim_wallet_1

Functionally, the Holster is a single, slim card pocket. It needs at least a few cards in order to keep things snug, and will get hard to use with too many. I’d say 3-6 cards is ideal. With a single large pocket it is sometimes necessary to pull out all of the cards to reach one, but thankfully you can put your most common cards on the outside of the pile to make them easy to access. Folded up cash and receipts slip in nicely.

e3_holster_slim_wallet_2

Once you get used to where you place your fingers as you take cards in and out (at first I kept accidentally pushing out all of my cards!), the design is great to use, and is overall extremely minimal. If you just need to carry a handful of cards and love the rugged look, the E3 Holster Style Slim Wallet is inexpensive, made with the incomparable Horween Chromexcel, and should last for years to come.

Great and inexpensive wallets will continue to be added to this roundup as we come across them! Email [email protected] if you’d like your company’s to be considered. 

North Star Mystery Braid Leather Button-Stud Watch Band – $16

Being a leather enthusiast has a habit of leading you into many different expensive hobby’s. It doesn’t take long before you find some really excellent watch straps and subsequently to an expensive watch. Luckily I’m about to introduce you guys to what I believe is one of the best values you could hope for in a watch strap.

Construction

The North Star Mystery Braid Leather Button-Stud Watch Band is a new take on a fairly common idea. It is just a single piece watch strap held together with a button stud. When making something simple like this it’s crucial that the the materials be top notch. North Star Leather has turned to Horween and SB Foot (Red Wing Boot’s in house tannery) and solid metal hardware to construct their watch bands.

They use several different colors from each tannery ensuring that there is a color to fit your preference. Each band is woven into a braided design, and depending on the level of commitment you make to their Kickstarter can include a small leather bag.

Function

I’m quite an enthusiast of the button stud watch band design, since like many others I spend a large portion of my day on the computer. Due to the lack of a clasp, and the closure of the band sitting above your wrist, resting your wrist on a desk all day with this band isn’t going to cause any discomfort. You can be free to move your wrist in any manner and you’ll still be comfortable throughout the day.

Aesthetic

The braided design of the band lends itself to a more casual watch, and casual wear. While it may look out of place on a diver or dress watch it looks right at home on field watches and any thing else with a casual look.

The simple design of the button-stud band paired with the extra effort to braid the band gives it true beauty while still being understated. By being constructed with tried and true hard wearing materials there shouldn’t be any issue with durability or longevity.

Conclusion

If you can’t tell by the overall tone of this review I’m quite smitten with these watch bands. They are a phenomenal watch band made with top tier materials at an incredibly low price. North Star Leather has been in business for over 40 years so their Kickstarter is something you can fund with the utmost confidence. Go place your order now and get a great deal on a great watch band!