Genealogy of "small thin wallets"
The first Hitoe Fold was redesigned and completed its role in 2021 .
(Photo shows the initial prototype at the product launch in 2019.11)
It is a very emotional product for us. We take this opportunity to reflect on the epoch-making role played by the first Hitoe Fold.
Through detailed research and your input, we have found 5 products, not including ours, before Hitoe Fold (2019.11) that have a type of wallet where the cards and coins do not overlap. (*Excluding long wallets)
2008.07 Sartore Wallet (Sartore)
2009.12 Thin Wallet (Value Innovation)
2017.01 Comodo (ULYSSES)
2018.06 Hitoe L-zip S (SYRINX)
2018.11 Piastra (M-Piu)
2019.09 Jitan ( (JACAJACA)
All of these wallets feature thinness.
However, they did not explicitly aim to be "small," such as a card pocket that can also hold a business card.
Then, in November 2019, after completing the patent application for the inner hook, the company released the Hitoe Fold, a small thin wallet with a thoroughly minimalist design.
In the crowdfunding campaign conducted to show its value to the world, it achieved a record of over 10 million yen in just 3 minutes after the start of the campaign. Despite recording the highest amount in Japan ( 51,795,439 yen), the crowdfunding campaign ended early after 18 days and 3,500 units ( originally planned for 80 days) due to the lack of stable leather importation due to the Corona. The waiting time for reservations on the official website then reached up to one and a half years.
The first generation Hitoe Fold received such a huge response and buzz that it changed the market trend from "thin wallets" to " small thin wallets ".
After a gap of several months since its launch in November, several companies have suddenly introduced similar "small thin wallets " with the Hitoe Fold's characteristicthree-dimensional gussets and card pockets just the right size for credit cards. Many of them even feature a coin pocket and a short flap.
However, to date (as of *2022.02.28), only the Hitoe Fold Aria ( 78.54 million yen) and Hitoe Fold v.2021 ( 55.48 million yen) have surpassed Hitoe Fold's crowdfunding record.
The first generation Hitoe Fold completed the lineage of the "small thin wallet" as soon as it was opened.