The Best Brands of Zero Waste Vegan Wallets
Willow Earth (Sussex) is a brand that makes nice cotton canvas rucksacks and totes, with cork detailing. It then uses the offcuts, to make pretty cotton canvas wallets, in many colours.
Most people have a wallet or coin purse. But previous brands tended to be made from leather or plastic. Leather is obviously made from animal skin, and is not a by-product of the meat industry. It tends to also be chemically tanned, and often made in countries with poor animal welfare.
Plastic is made from oil, and this contributes to the climate crisis and pollution, and also doesn’t biodegrade at end of use, ending up on landfills for hundreds or thousands of years.
You can donate unwanted wallets and purses to charity shops (choose smaller ones that don’t test on animals) or textile banks. If items are in good condition they are donated on. But other textiles can be kept out of landfills, as the materials are shredded to make insulation and other goods.
You can also choose a pure ‘cork wallet’. Cork has a similar texture to leather, and does not require trees to be chopped down. The bark is simply stripped from trees in the Mediterranean every nine years.
Keeping the cork industry alive (in a world of plastic wine corks) is important, as it keeps jobs in the forest, which in turn protects wildlife, so the trees are not replaced by others, to be chopped down for industry.
If you prefer, Willow Earth also makes pretty coin purses in a number of colours.
Corkor (beautiful vegan wallets from Portugal)
Corkor is a premium brand in Portugal, which uses locally stripped cork to make a number of vegan leather items, from belts to bags. Its wallets are created by a family company using artisan methods, to make items to last for life. Sold in gift packaging with optional engraving.
These wallets all have card slots, bill compartments, slip pockets and coin pockets. Many have RFID-blocking technology, to protect you from theft.
Oliver & Co (apple leather vegan wallets)
Oliver Co is a London brand, which makes luxury vegan wallets, made from ‘apple leather’, which is partly made from the waste in the apple industry (usually near Milan in Italy).
These wallets therefore combine luxury with zero waste innovation. They make ideal gifts for special people in your life, and are sold in a number of designs and colours, in easy-to-recycle packaging.
Watson & Wolfe (luxury vegan wallets & purses)
Watson & Wolfe again is a London brand, offering a line of luxury vegan leather wallets and coin purses. They are made with PVC-free materials, for eco-conscious shoppers, and know for their high quality and attention to detail.
With neat stitching and optional engraving, the understated logo is included on every item – whether a classic wallet or slimline card holder. Mostly in brown or black, but you can also find bright red and pink colours, too.
