7 Best Women’s Wallets: Card Cases, Coin Purses, Continental Styles

Continental-style wallets from Radley London and Quince.

Photographer: Audrey Melton for Bloomberg Businessweek

The humble everyday accessory gets a reboot.

Through the ages, wallets have carried it all: paper money, coins, business cards, even snacks. Their everyday, obligatory nature disguises their role as a perfect accessory. Unlike the investment with a capital “I” that a new handbag can feel like, the banal rectangular shape of a continental or card case gives the same thrill without any of the angst.

Wallets are at the forefront of the current growth in the market for small leather goods, according to Benjamin Bond, principal in the consumer practice of Kearney Inc., a strategy and management consulting company. “Asia in particular is set to be a hotbed for this surge,” he says. The global market is expected to grow at a compound annual rate of 6.4% through 2028.