I love my new Prada Saffiano Wallet

jade

O.G.
Jan 15, 2006
1,571
1,365
I have been looking for a new wallet for the past few months. Here is my epic saga about my wallet hunt!

My old wallet was a Coach medium sized wallet. In a sunny pastel yellow. It held a lot, but I started to feel like it was a little too thick. I loved that it was short, and fit into many bags, but I wanted something a little darker. And I had packed it to the brim. Also, I didn't love how deep the bill pocket was.

Before that, I have had and rejected a bunch of wallets.

Right now, I use an ID case, with a chain strap as my everyday wallet. It holds my ID, primary debit card, transit card, and has a zipper so I can keep a little cash and a little change. I use this for going to the gym, when I am bringing a small purse..... so I didn't need a "big" wallet with an ID slot. I just bring both the big and ID cases.

A few nights ago, I bought a lovely Coach wallet, in a fun patent purple. I got all my stuff in. Took it out. And put it my purse. It was a great price at the outlet. But something was wrong. It had about 6 side load card slots, and another 6 top loading slots with several pockets. The size was OK, but it just seemed a bit thick. On the positive side, there were so many pockets.

I figured it out today. The side loading pockets do not work for me. I usually put a single card in each slot for my primary cards. Then I tend to double, triple up for the store rewards cards, gift cards and so on. Once that happens, and I use the other pockets behind the card slots, it gets to be huge.

During the week I went to Nordies and Bloomies, and I looked at a few wallets. I realized I liked the envelopes and frames more than the zip arounds. But it seemed like more of the zip arounds had all of the top load card slots. The envelope styles seemed to mix the top and side load card slots.

I went to almost every store available to me that had leather goods in recent weeks. I had looked at all of the contemporary designers, and found some maybes, but not any 100%s. There was a great Tory Burch option, but the color wasn't quite right. (On the red side of orange).

I had sort of pondered moving up market into a more "designer" wallet. I hadn't established a firm budget for a new wallet. I was thinking around $200 or so, but I was open to spending more on the right wallet. I didn't see anything right in the Bloomies and Nordies. (I didn't go to Neimans, Barney's or Saks, I thought those places were way out of budget.)

So today, I went over to the outlets to return the Coach wallet, and find a new wallet that met my newly refined criteria:
1. bright color (on the darker side, not red)
2. At least 8 top load card slots
3. Zipper for coins
4. extra pockets for the loyalty cards
5. slim profile

Sounds easy right?

My outlet mall had a Bloomies, Neimans, and Saks. So I started at Bloomies. Not a lot of options basically a few Michael Kors and that was it. I went to Saks, and found something I liked. Longchamp. Purchased it. And then went to finish up my outlet shopping.

I realized I had forgotten that this outlet mall had Armani and Prada, and I thought, hey.... it would be fun to see what's available at a higher price point.

I hoped into Prada. I saw an OK wallet in the front, but the colors were either too basic or too light. And then I went over to the other display and found the fun colors. A denim blue, a turquoise-y blue, a medium pink, I looked at the zip arounds and continentals. There was a lovely denim-y distressed blue smooth leather wallet, a zip around style. But when I put my stuff in, I realized I wanted more pockets for organization. I ended up testing out the continental wallet in the medium pink. I liked the pink. But there was a darker pink that wasn't available in the continental style. But I like pink, and it was still fun. And I could go a little lighter since saffiano is so durable.

Eventually, after putting my stuff in, and feeling like things fit well. I was ready to pull the trigger. Even though it was a bit out of budget. I decided it was worth it to splurge ($350); the size/profile was perfect. The SA brought me out a new wallet, and I started inspecting it. And then boom! The Amestista continental wallet just showed up. Which was really the perfect color for me!

So I got that one...and now you can see the pics!

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I just finished getting all my stuff in, and organized, I am still happy. Plenty of space. And I can even fit my iphone! (Not that I would...)

And I just jumped into the designer wallet game with two feet! (This wallet is more than almost all of my purses :P. My purse collection is solidly contemporary/mid-range: Coach, Michael Kors, Kate Spade and Furla.)

The only problem.....last year I went on a spree to make all of my inter-purse stuff silver hardware, from wallets to wristlets. And now my wallet is gold. I might be looking for some gold hardware wristlets and pouches soon.
 
Ooh, do you mind me asking how much it was, since it was an outlet? It's such a gorgeous colour! Normally I'd be scared of getting a wallet in any colour apart from black, but the saffiano leather seems to makes everything okay :smile:
 
Ooh, do you mind me asking how much it was, since it was an outlet? It's such a gorgeous colour! Normally I'd be scared of getting a wallet in any colour apart from black, but the saffiano leather seems to makes everything okay :smile:
$350.

A bit more than I budgeted, but not outrageously so (I was shooting for around $220 initially). there were a bunch of wallets in the $250-350 range at my outlet. Not too horrible in my book. The bigger ones were above $300.

There were "normal" colors and "weird" colors in the outlet.

Personally, I like to keep my wallets colorful so they are easy to find in my purse. My last few have been: sky blue metallic, autumn-y orange and pastel yellow. :biggrin:

This one is downright tame and ordinary in comparison. I was also super tempted by the dark turquoise color. And there was a lighter pink.

TBH, I found the zip around ones to be a little "boring" only because they didn't seem to be any different than the Saffiano leather zip arounds available from Kate Spade and Michael Kors. They all had exactly the same pocket/slot layout.

But I don't really like the zip around ones, so I was specifically looking for a roomy flap or frame wallet. These choices were much more limited, and I went to pretty much every place, full price and outlet (I didn't see Burberry, Barney's or Gucci options).
 
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Thank you! The dark turquoise sounds amazing :smile: I'm so glad you got one you love, at least this one will last a really long time and it fits all your specifications! And I do agree, a brighter wallet really does help you find it in your bag, especially if you're like me and you have a habit of carrying the biggest bag possible in every situation :cool:

Sort of mentally preparing for a trip to the US hopefully, so I might just hold off on that Prada wallet I've been eyeing until I go, and if I don't find anything even in the outlets then I'll just suck it up and pay retail in a boutique there because either way it'll be cheaper than here in Australia :biggrin:
 
love the colour of your wallet!!
i have the same one except its a blueberry colour and almost twice as expensive as yours....i wish i had an outlet where i live. but i don't regret my purchase one bit