While overly-thick wallets are not an oft discussed problem in our modern world, having a big fat wad of a wallet in your pocket can lead to back strain and unsightly bulging of the pants. The folks over at Big Skinny have an ingenious (although blindingly obvious) solution: a line of thin, lightweight wallets.

We got our hands on two of their most popular models and took them for a spin. Check out our review after the jump, as well as our Big Skinny wallet image gallery.

The Big Skinny wallets are similar in size and thickness to the average money clip with a card slot, but offer far more storage space for cash, cards, and receipts. Their clever design and thin construction materials allow a mind boggling number of credit cards, insurance registrations, video club memberships and the like to slide into your pocket in a single slim package.

How did they do it? The Big Skinny is made from an ultra-light nylon microfiber. The corporate website claims that it’s the same fabric that made Prada famous, but we find that it actually feels a bit cheap - particularly when compared to the luxurious feel of fine soft leather. That being said, the Big Skinny wallet is less than half the thickness and weight - fully loaded - than our favorite leather wallet. So if small is what you want, it’s well worth giving up the dead cow skin to lose a few centimeters of bulk. Big Skinny also offers a leather version (called the Skinny Cow) for a few dollars more, if you want to keep leather in your life, but our guess is that you would either sacrifice some of the thinness or end up with leather so thin as to be easy to damage.

We tested two of the Big Skinny models: The Super Skinny and the Thin Mini. Both were slim and trim, but we ended up preferring the Super Skinny. It has a larger surface area than most wallets, but was able to stay thin when loaded up with all 18 cards we could get our hands on. If you don’t need 18 cards (or even 10 for that matter) the Thin Mini might be a better option, as when folded up its dimensions are barely larger than a credit card, yet it keeps the thin profile for your pants.

FINAL VERDICT
If your wallets thickness doesn’t bother you, then the Skinny Wallet might not be your thing - but for any consumer either looking to showcase their booty in a fine pair of jeans without unsightly bulges, or that suffer back pain from ‘thick’ wallets, the Big Skinny wallets are right up your alley. These things will ensure that your pants only bulge where they are supposed to, and really, isn’t that all that matters?

Available now on the Big Skinny website.