How Will the Patina Change My Leather Wallet's Color?

Allett’s leather wallets are unique. These are the highest quality leather – known as “top grade leather” or “Nappa Leather” in the accessory world. We use only this fine leather to make our wallets, in order to create the designer appearance and improve the durability and feel that our wallets provide each and every customer.

But we’re also a little bit different. We don’t limit ourselves to traditional leather wallet colors, such as brown and black. We also have wallets that are unique colors, like blue and maroon. We want you to be able to find a wallet that fits your personality.

Leather Wallets and Patina

One thing that you may know about high quality leather is that it is known to develop a patina as it ages. Patinas are a color sheen that develops on the surface of the leather over time, caused by the effects of moisture, oils, and more. It makes the leather even softer, and also changes the color of the leather in a way that gives it more personality. 

Most people appreciate, if not prefer, the way patina affects the color of leather. It is considered one of the benefits of using a high quality grade. But of course, if you’re buying a leather wallet because you like the color, it’s natural to wonder weather the patina to that leather is going to affect the color in a negative way. 

Most of the time, the patina of leather darkens the color. If you have a bright brown leather wallet, for example, you can expect that the leather will be a darker shade as it ages. If you’ve seen aged brown leather, chances are that it started as a much lighter color that darkened as it ages to be leather’s more characteristic deep brown tone. 

But what about these other, more interesting colors?

• Midnight Blue – Midnight Blue leather starts as an almost matte medium dark slate blue, but as it darkens with a patina, it becomes a deeper and more enriching blue while the leather softens.

• Merlot – Our merlot color, which starts as a brown with a hint of red, patinas to what can best be described as a merlot mahogany. It is a fascinating color that most people adore. 

• Chocolate Brown – Our hazelnut brown wallets are actually the wallets that become the color we traditionally connect with leather. Chocolate brown is a darker brown that, when it patinas, becomes a deep, dark chocolate color that will have you craving a taste every time.

We choose our wallets based both on their original color *and* their patina, so you can feel confident that the wallet will become a tone that is highly prized by its owners. 

But it will change.

We still strongly encourage you to select the color you love, because we’re confident that it will patina to a color that you will continue to adore. But, traditionally, any high end, high quality leather wallet you choose and handle is going to develop a darker, smoother, slightly more naturally glossy tone that speaks to the high quality of the leather. It will also get softer to the touch and more mobile as a result.

Try our wallets out for yourself. You should quickly see why so many of our customers are repeat business, and why the patina and sheen that the wallets develop is one of the reasons they are so prized by owners.