2006: Concept
When I couldn’t find a wallet thin enough to go in my front pocket with a phone, I went back to my Industrial Design roots to create my own. During the process, i created over 100 prototypes and created the world’s thinnest wallet.
2009: Design Fairs
As something on the side, I initially just sold the wallet at San Francisco street fairs such as Renegade Craft Fair and Urban Air Market for several years. It was here that I realized how many other folks had the same problem as me and support for the product grew. A few boutique design stores around San Francisco started to sell the wallet as well.
2012: Online
There was a small online presence, mostly through ETSY but when a few blogs took notice, things started to pick up steam. Eventually, I needed to expand production beyond the seamstress in San Francisco who was sewing them part-time, but I keep production in San Francisco by finding a high quality sewing house who usually only does prototyping for high end soft goods products.
2013: MICRO Kickstarter
For the second version of the Tyvek wallet, I turned to the Kickstarter community to help fund production and was blown away by the response! Over 5,000 backers helped raise over $100k and the ball was rolling on the MICRO.
2014: Soft Shell Kickstarter
In order to custom produce this amazing material, I came back to Kickstarter in order to help meet the huge minimum order required. Both old customers and new backed the project and it was funded in 12 hours!
What’s next?
I’m continually improving current products and developing new ones. My mailing list is the first to know about sales, beta testing opportunities, new products, and Kickstarter projects. So sign up and let’s keep in touch! I can’t wait to tell you about what I’m working on...