Pioneer Carry Passport Wallet Review
Our second product review for the brand, this time we take a look at how their fabric wizardry works for holding your passport.
Pioneer Carry Passport Wallet Review Introduction
Pioneer Carry - the EDC carry company using some space age fabrics. Last year we reviewed their Global Pouch (which I still use as my go-to international travel tech pouch), and we’re going to kick off the first review of 2025 with another venture into their realm.
When it comes to wallets and things like passport holders, I’ll be honest I tend to be quite traditional. I like a “sienna” kind of color in a leather version. That’s basically my MO. I’m pretty much a Bellroy whore when it comes to this kind of thing (funny enough I just personally tested 4 different wallets in the past 3 months and guess what? Ended up just reordering my Bellroy Slim Sleeve). But, at times you need to branch out because how else would I know if I like things otherwise? Enter Pioneer Carry with their passport wallet.
This is my review of the Pioneer Carry Passport Wallet. I’ve had this for a while but since I only need it for international trips, it takes me a bit longer to be able to publish a review for these kinds of things. I used this for two recent trips abroad - one for London in November 2024 and one for Anguilla in January 2025.
For full transparency I did ask the Founder of Pioneer Carry if they were able to send out a unit for review and they kindly provided one. That said, this is not a sponsored review article and they did not pay me to write it. I do use affiliate links to help keep the site running, but those are of course at no additional cost to you. Thanks for stopping by!
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Passport Wallet Overview
Closeup of the 10XD
We’ll get into the setup and a few features of the wallet in a second, but just a quick overview first.
Above all, this is a tech-fabric focused passport wallet. It’s meant to be more practical than a leather wallet and pretty much lasts forever.
Pioneer Carry always focuses on the fabricating process and the fabrics they use, and this is no exception. In this case the wallet features a 3D molded passport sleeve - for the perfect fit (Pioneer’s words).
The materials are the focus for Pioneer Carry and they are squarely in the EDC “tech” space with this one. You have 3 options depending on the colors and I’ll link to a fabric page on their site for more details. But I have the black in 10XD which is their most premium fabric to date and this stuff is engineered to be 10X stronger than steel (by weight I believe). It’s coated with a DWR for sweat and water repelling qualities, but can even be tossed in the wash if you’ve been going particularly hard while using it. Most of the wallets have a pretty prominent cross-grid pattern on it.
The other fabric options are baby ballistic, and 3XD. You can read about their fabrics here: Pioneer Carry Fabric Details.
Additionally they’ve designed these to break IN over time, but not break DOWN in that same time. A key selling point. This is meant as a BFL product. It also produces some really interesting hand feel in practice.
The wallets run from $109USD-$119USD and come in quite a few colors: onyx, black, navy, earth, forest, slate, robusta. Again, those colors vary the material as well so pay attention to that when selecting.
Pioneer Carry Passport Wallet Features
Walk Along Bankside in London.
Aside from the actual materials themselves being the big selling point, the Pioneer Carry passport wallets do come with a small set of features that frankly I think are table stakes but in a good way. Meaning, they really NEED to have these or I’d never be interested in trying the wallet to begin with. Nor would I recommend them. But let’s quickly cover those and I’ll let you know how I use them.
Outside the wallet, nada. Easy peasy on this one. Not even branding which many people like.
Inside, you’ll find 4 different pockets. One for the passport, no surprise there. Then a slip pocket behind that (money, card, receipt, boarding pass folded, etc.).
Next on the left, you’ve got another back slip pocket with a divider. This is meant specifically to hold cards.
In front of that, another horizontal opening slip pocket similar to the passport sleeve but much tighter and slimmer.
How did I use these?
Passport Pocket: Passport
Card Pockets: Global Entry Card and my Emergency Services card (I get covered by a special Global program as a benefit through work; think natural disasters, emergency medical evac, political turmoil events and evac, etc.). Another neat trick here is that I was able to fit an AirTag card-style holder in here with an AirTag. So, you could use that instead to always know where the passport is.
Front Slip Pocket: COVID Vaccine Card (while virtually no one cares about this anymore, I do occasionally travel to China and you never know when they might ask as they are quite strict there on many things around forms and identification so I keep this handy as proof; plus it just fits here nicely so why not).
Add-on: My nearly 12 year old Bellroy passport sleeve came with a little tiny pen for filling out boarding cards. I took that and added it to this wallet which you can see in the pictures. Works perfectly and it’s great to have just in case.
The Good
Just super cool construction and materials on this thing. It’s kind of hard to make a passport holder “cool” - it’s one of those ultimate utility items. But Pioneer kind of upped the ante on that kind of thing with this. Practically, it’s nearly indestructible and they even use nice bartacking to reinforce high wear seams and such. But the materials are a cool feat of engineering and they need to be commended on that. Those into the tech EDC space should drool over these kinds of things. This is kind of going to last forever if you want it to.
I found the organization, while sparse, was exactly what would be needed. Again, there’s that utility rearing its head.
The looks, for me, are a win. But more on that in the next section. Every rose has its thorn, right? (Thank you, Poison).
While I’ve not used this heavily enough to really “break it in” since that takes much longer with passport wallets, I’m still going to note that I like the idea of manufacturing something to break in over time, even if it’s some modern tech material. So no “proof is in the pudding” on this - but I can tell you that the Global Pouch REALLY softened up in use, and I love that about it. So, it’s worth noting on the Passport Wallet, too.
I like that I can add an Airtag if I wish. It’s not built purposefully for it, but it fit in the card pocket when I used my “credit card” style Airtag holder.
The Bad
While nothing to note here from a functionality standpoint, there are two things to address that might hold people back from this one.
First, the price point. These cost more than most entry level, solid leather passport holders and that might make people scoff that don’t “get it”. By that I mean, they aren’t the kind of people that appreciate (or need, even if they appreciate it) cutting edge materials and manufacturing. And frankly, that’s OK. I think Pioneer would be the first to admit their stuff and materials aren’t for everyone.
Second, is the criss cross design on it. For those travel ninjas that just like “all black everything” - they aren’t going to be down with the pattern on this. I personally think it’s a separator and suits it as a “tech forward” item - but per usual that’s all in the eyes of the beholder. I think this is going to be an either/or scenario and can be seen as a love it or hate it route.
Final Thoughts On My Pioneer Carry Passport Wallet Review
Pioneer Carry always sets out to produce practical, and the most tech forward, products they can with their 10XD and 3XD fabrics. In that sense, I kind of put them in the same league as Black Ember, though a different product focus of course. They feed a specific demand out there, even if it’s not always the solution for the “everyperson”. But for those that are new to the high-tech EDC space - you might be surprised just how many people out there that covers.
The passport wallet is really no exception to this ethos. The material itself varies across colors to give you options, but each one is packed with the techiest fabric out there, really. It's designed to be BFL so it lasts forever. While it breaks-in over time, I think it’s going to hold its looks really really well, too, based on my previous product usage with the pouch.
While the price point won’t be for everyone, I found it passed with flying colors on the “in use” aspect. The pockets were well designed and were able to do just what I needed. I particularly liked the implementation of the card wallets on the left hand side. That built in divider was perfect in daily operation.
Looking to up your game with a super tech-forward passport holder and want to stand out from the crowd of leather/pleather options out there? This could be your bag. Or wallet. Figure of speech, folks. I can definitely stand behind their quality and materials based on my personal experience.
As always I recommend buying directly from the manufacturers to ensure the best experience. Click below to take a look.
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