This is my review and thoughts on Loyal Stricklin’s Edison Wallet, a Field Notes sized wallet, in the Honey colorway.
Loyal Stricklin is a American made small company that started with its owner Michael Stricklin. Loyal Stricklin’s most iconic product is their Aviator Mug, a leather sleeve with a handle made to fit perfectly over a mason jar. The Aviator Mug is available in many different leathers including Horween Chromexcel, Dublin, and various bridle leathers. It acts as coozie for taking your beverage on the go including hot coffee, iced coffee, or tea. The Aviator Mug was my first purchase from the company back in 2014. While my sleeve has taken on several water stains, it has many more years of life even if the mason jar were to fall and break.
The honey bridle leather takes on a patina easily and maintains a sheen.
Let’s move onto the Edison Wallet, which I would also say is one of their better known products. The Edison Wallet is a Field Notes style sized wallet designed to carry a pen, a notebook, cards, and a handful of cash. It also has enough room to stuff receipts in its pockets. The item listing also includes a Loyal Stricklin branded twist pen and one blank Field Notes book to get you started. The Edison Wallet fits notebooks sized 3.5in x 5.5in (9cm x 14cm).
I wanted to switch things up from a typical pull-up type leather such as Horween Chromexcel/Dublin, so I went with the honey color after scouring the web for some pictures of how the leather would age. The honey leather is a harness leather that starts off as a bright chestnut-like color. The leather is really smooth and consistently keeps a sheen without any conditioning so far. The wallet’s edges are burnished very well, and the stitching is altogether great without any missed holes.
The area where the pen is held on the interior is most visibly darkened.
During my first outing with the Edison wallet placed in my rear pocket, I noticed the leather near the bottom spine creasing in an undesired manner. I figured it was because the length of the pen I slotted didn’t reach near the full length of the wallet. I attempted to purposely push the pen down before closing the wallet, but that didn’t help much. It’s not something that bothers me anymore because the creasing worsen much after that.
There are two notable differences from my One Star Leather Park Sloper Senior Wallet (my review), a similar sized Field Notes style wallet designed to carry similar items (pen, cards, cash, receipts).
The first difference is that Loyal Stricklin’s pen slot is stitched on the inside to sit the pen at the wallet’s spine when closed. In terms of volume, this does make the wallet a few centimeters narrower in width at a cost of making the spine area bulge when equipped with a pen. This can be a positive if One Star Leather’s Park Sloper Senior is too wide to fit in a desired pocket such as the rear. My Park Sloper Senior does snugly fit in some of my rear pant pockets and not at all in others – it depends on the brand of the pant. However, One Star Leather does make a “no pen slot” version if width is an issue.
The second difference is that the Edison Wallet’s card sleeve slots are vertically slotted in a set of three. The slots stack upon each other. Three slots is great especially if you place the frequently used cards at the front. However, if you have too many cards, they will stack upon each other and make the Edison Wallet very bulky.
My absolute favorite leather from Horween is Chromexcel – specifically Natural Chromexcel. I love the color depth and variation when the leather ages. I’ll show a before and after conditioning of my 3-year old pair of Viberg Service Boots in Natural Chromexcel. Horween’s other leather/tannages such as Cordovan, Chromepak, and Dublin all come really close as my runner-up favorites!
Here is a tannage chart taken directly from Horween’s website. Out of the 51 leather types listed, I narrowed the list down to 8 of the more commonly used tannages for leather goods. I highlighted what I feel are the key characteristics that makes Chromexcel unique, and I’ll briefly go over each.
Horween Tannage Chart
Because Chromexcel is a tanning process and not a leather type, you can have both cowhide and horsehide. It is also known as the “original pull-up leather”.
Combination tanned: Chromexcel is both chrome tanned and vegetable tanned which brings in qualities of both processes! Tanning is the process of permanently altering the structure of animal skin. Chrome tanning is a faster method using chromium and makes the leather soft and water-resistant. Vegetable tanning uses organic tannins from trees and other plants along with other oils/waxes and creates a very durable leather. Veg tanned leather is not water-resistant, so water may stain.
Hot stuffed: Chromexcel is heavily nourished with oils and waxes that creates the pull-up effect and water resistance.
Air dried: Chromexcel is naturally air dried for about a week such that the leather shrinks to its original size.
Aniline finished: The leather is saturated with soluble dyes such that the texture/irregularities of the leather is left untouched which is ideal for a raw enthusiast like me!
My Natural Chromexcel Leather Goods:
These are a few of my other small goods in Natural Chromexcel. The most wears are probably seen on the One Star Leather Park Sloper and Hollows Leather Rail Belt as they were worn/used nearly every day. Both these are at about 3 years plus of age. If you don’t want excessive stretching on a belt, I’d shy away from CXL as it initially stretches significantly!
One Star Leather Park Sloper and Hollows Leather Witherward Belt Loop both in Horween Natural Chromexcel
The leathers of both pieces started off as a light brown oak color. The leather color darkened quite quickly within the first few months to a rich brown by oils, dirt, and abrasion. I noticed that direct sunlight also sped up the darkening process. The leather also picked up significant indigo dye from my raw denim. After the initial and drastic color change, the color becomes quite saturated and will not darken all that more.
Hollows Leather Rail Belt in Horween Natural ChromexcelTeranishi x 3sixteen Travel Coffee Kit in Horween Natural Chromexcel
I have not felt the need to condition the leather, and they both still display a lot of pull-up. With the amount of oils/waxes in the leather, most superficial scuffs/nicks have been easy to rub away with my fingers.
When I purchased this pair, there weren’t too many pics of Natural CXL Vibergs online. There has been at least one similar spec MTO arranged by Styleforum around 2014-2015 but with an unstructured toe.
I purchased this pair of Vibergs from Mr Porter back in mid 2015. I believe it was the second restock of this makeup on Mr Porter. When I received it a few days later, I was blown away by how thick the Natural Chromexcel was. The leather arrived with a significant sheen to it. It took quite a while for any visible crease to form (in contrast to my Viberg Color 8 CXL pair). For the price of $720 USD, I’m glad Viberg used high quality hides!
Fairly scuffed heel counter
The boots arrived with a small, adorable 1oz jar of Venetian Shoe Cream, a pair of flat waxed cotton laces, and a spare pair of brown rawhide leather laces in the box. I initially kept the flat waxed laces as I wanted the laces to accentuate the sleek, narrow 2030 last. Yet, I had a hard time deciding which laces suited the boots best. I eventually switched over to the leather laces after a few months. The flat laces reminded me much of the laces used on Alden’s boots (although this Viberg pair of laces were thicker and sturdier), and I feel that the leather laces fits the rugged Viberg brand aesthetic well.
I like the pairing of brass eyelets with this leather. They seem to make the rich brown tones “pop”.
The toe box is partially structured and is further reinforced by the thick Chromexcel leather. While the right boot’s toe area has flattened a bit, the toe box is still quite firm to the touch on both boots.
The boot tongue is also made of a thinner, softer Natural CXL which was different than my color 8 CXL pair that had a black contrasting oil tanned tongue. The black oil tanned leather is the standard go-to tongue for Viberg boots. I feel the CXL tongue fits this boot better than a contrasting one would. The leather used here is very much pliable, soft, and shows creases from the laces well.
Soft leather tongue
Conditioning/Care:
For conditioning/care, I’ve kept to a simple regimen of applying Venetian Shoe Cream every 6 months or so. I apply it onto the palms of my hands (minimizes loss from using a rag) and rub the cream onto the boot. I let the cream dry for a couple of minutes, I brush them down with a horsehair brush. Initially, the cream darkens the leather and provide a glossy sheen. The color lightens back near to its original after some time outdoors. Every few wears, I wipe the boots down with a damp rag and brush away any dirt with a Horsehair Brush.
The cool thing about CXL is that you can rub away most scuffs/scratches because of the oils/waxes embedded in the leather. Down below is an example of superficial scuffs that went away after some VSC and brushing. I used a polished deer bone in circular motions in the area to create friction so the cream penetrates.
Before conditioningPost conditioning/brushing
Here’s a rear heel counter shot of a few pairs. You can see that the natural chromexcel pair on the left has minimal creasing compared to the color 8 CXL and Olive Chromepak.
Natural CXL, Color 8 CXL, Olive Chromepak, Color 8 Cordovan
Compared to the other 3 pairs, the captoe on this makeup seems a bit shorter, but I hardly notice it when it’s not next to my other pairs.
In conclusion, I think that Natural Chromexcel is an easy to care for, interesting, and beautiful leather. The selection of hides that Viberg uses on their boots is second to none. If I were to only own one pair of Vibergs, this pair of boots would be it! Although this exact makeup isn’t readily available, a handful of retailers such as Lost & Found, Brooklyn Clothing, and the Viberg.com site recently have stocked a Service Boot with this leather.
