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Articulate Wallets

Kramer LaPlante and Kevin Barth are two California college students who've crafted a wallet that combines a slim profile of a billfold and the ease of use of a "magic" wallet with elastic on the inside. Their Kickstarter campaign started with an initial goal of $10,000, but has quickly garnered more than $40,000 already. We caught up with the two young entrepreneurs to find out how they came up with this clever idea, what's next now that they've met their goal and how technology has helped them develop the product virtually.

Where'd you get the idea for this hybrid?

Nearing the end of our college career, we spent our Christmas break at home brainstorming several ideas and spending a lot of time on Kickstarter. We saw the success of wallets and loved the idea of a slim and lightweight money clip, but didn't like the idea of having to perfectly fold your cash to carry it around. And most wallets hide your cards inside little pockets so you can't see them, which is a pain. Our idea was to have the sleek design of a money clip, while making your cards easily accessible. The pocket on the back of the wallet is the most exciting feature for us. We realized that out of all the cards in our wallets, we used one credit card 95% of the time and wanted a way to make it easily accessible. You can simply slide your desired card out of the wallet with the push of your thumb without having to open the wallet. This allows you to purchase something with your credit card with one hand.

Since meeting their goal, the Articulate wallet guys are now aiming for a "stretch goal" of $55,000, which will result in special-edition wallets for the Kickstarter backers and details like RFID protection plates.

You guys have admitted to a competitive streak, how'd that affect the dynamic of working with each other and developing this product?

Growing up active kids in the same neighborhood, we would compete in anything from one-on-one basketball, to who could do the best trick on their scooter. Now a little more mature, we found better ways to resolve our arguments and disputes. Developing this wallet virtually over Skype and the phone, our disagreements on design and features were often resolved by outside opinions from roommates and friends. Now that we are doing very well, we don't have much to argue about ... yet!

In what ways does the wallet cut down on bulk?

Many modern wallets stagger the card pockets, which makes the wallet much wider then necessary. The Articulate is just wide enough (3 inches) to fit the standard US bill. We also eliminated the useless pockets and coin holders many wallets have. The X elastic design holds all your cards in the slimmest, most user-friendly way possible.

And tell us about the custom wallet program.

It's always difficult to find that exact wallet that suits your taste. With our custom wallet, we give you the ability to fully customize each part of the wallet with your favorite colors. We wanted our customers to have the freedom to make this wallet their own. They can choose from several different colored leathers, stitching, and elastic and can even emboss a short message or monogram on the back of the wallet.