Denim Wallet Story

A long-winded explanation 

Ive always loved making things out of denim because it has structure.

In high school, I made a denim wallet once in a rush. It was very rough but I liked it a lot. I added a heart cutout and a window for my wawa rewards card to scan.

So I used this wallet for a few years. In the meantime I made a lot of other stuff you can see here.

I liked how the wallet wore in over time. Last spring, I was teaching an intro to sewing machines workshop, and I thought it would be fun to make fabric wallets based on mine.

It was a huge success. Super simple pattern great for learning simple sewing skills. And very functional.

Around the same time, a few things were happening. I wanted to start making something specific to start a brand, and I was introduced to laser engraving fabric.

Thats when I had the idea to make waxed denim wallets.

Everything made sense. Denim was very true to myself. Everyone needs a wallet. I had seen videos of people waxing outerwear and had the idea to wax my wallets too.

And most importantly these would be a super simple product to make. (lol i was wrong about that)

NAME

I knew I wanted the name to be a German word. Something sharp that looked cool and meant something relevant. I was thinking maybe paßt ("that fits") or völlig ("fully") or spüre ("feel"). Although it was my favorite German word ever, I did not initially want to do krass ("cool") because I knew people would read it as "crass." But I realized it was too perfect. Krass means "cool" but for the extremes of good or bad. And the existing krass.com was the coolest website I had ever seen-- literally a german rave wikipidia. So i knew I had the right word.

So with the name and initial idea, I started doing some denim engraving tests.

LOGO

I immediately realized my font looked way too Supreme-y. It was honestly a battle to un-Supreme-ify it.

I did not like anything for a long time. I asked my friends for help, but nothing stuck. I wanted it to be rough but cohesive. Unique, not just a font. But also not trying too hard.

It finally came to me while I was studying for finals in a Lau cubicle.

I liked this. It sorta mimicked the vibe of the zigzag stitching used in the wallets construction. It looked like how "KRASS!" sounds. It was balanced and interesting to me.

THE DESIGN
First Versions

I liked when the top of the k was engraved. But the laser didnt engrave the inside of the denim weave. So I had the idea to flip a portion of the fabric on the top so I could get the engraving on the inside and it would still be mostly right-side-out on the outside.

I experimented with other things too, like making the sides slanted and putting a logo on the outside.

That was all too much going on.

Summer 25 versions

Going into the summer, I thought I had the end design. Four panel stacked construction with a flipped panel on top. They were rough, with overlocked edges all around. I thought it looked cool, but I knew they still felt unfinished to some people.

So I got the idea to use the same rubber sealant people use to dip the ends of ropes as an alternative to folding over the seams. (blue edges in picture below)

I cut out 100 of these wallets and shipped them off to be laser engraved.

The day before they were supposed to be engraved, I realized something very painfully obvious. I could combine all the panels and fold over the outside edges without adding bulk.

So I canceled the engraving and started cutting out my new design.

This was my final design in the summer: folded outside edges, zigzag inside edges with rubber sealant over.

I liked it, but it was very complicated to produce and inconsistent due to all the cutting, rubber dipping, and visible zigzag stitching. I felt like I couldnt make it better without adding more bulk.

So I put the wallets down for a few months, got busy with school and other projects.

Final Version

When my friend asked me to do a collaboration for his brand launch, I picked the project back up.

But it was back to the drawing board to make the design cleaner. The goal was completely finished edges. 

The first new design was cool but way too much bulk.

Then we tried folding small flaps on each side and taht worked but left the corners fraying.

We iterated the design for a final time and everything clicked. No more frayed corners and not roo much bulk! And maybe even more importantly we started using the laser engraver to cut out the actual panels instead of cutting by hand. And also, I broke up the logo so it would be engraved as the panel was cut out, rather than having to fold and iron every one before engraving over the front(old way seen in second photo below). 

We layered his logo (DRAFT) underneath mine and added his signature NFC tags.

I launched the wallets officially on 12/6/25 at the popup sale.