Buyers Guides

There are a large number of brands manufacturing document wallets so which are the ones to look out for? here we will give you a brief synopsis of the top 6 manufacturers:

Snopake Document Wallets are manufactured from a range of plastics, mainly polypropylene. They are stylish and good quality - perfect for those external meetings. Many of the Snopake Polyfiles are clear in colour and many also have a coloured tint to them. They are not our cheapest brand but you get good value for money.

Elba Document Wallets are predominantly made from Manilla. They are good value with the most basic folders being less than 10p each (when you buy in volumes of 100+). As well as the manilla document wallets Elba also do a few Poly document wallets and some cardboard and pressboard ones too. The Elba Manilla document wallets are strong for the material but if your requirements are heavy use then you may be best off going for a plastic material. 

Rexel Document Wallets are mainly produced using polypropylene and other plastics. Again they are good quality and good value for money. The designs are great with a lot of attention to detail. they have many different styles of opening with the majority using poppers but many with fold over flaps and studs and also some are snap shut folders. Rexel also produce a range of Ecodesk document files which are manufactured using recycled plastics.

Guildhall Document Wallets are mainly made from Manilla and all come in either Foolscap (oversize A4) or brief sizes. They either come with elastic closures or with full length flaps. They are good quality and will last well. They are best used around the office for general filing and storage rather than for external client meetings (although they would also be fine for this purpose, they are not as stylish as the poly files).

Concord Document Wallets are good quality manilla envelopes, they come in a range of colours and the large packs are fairly cost effective. they are all made from Manilla, card or card with a Linen gussett, with the vast majority being made from manilla. They have strong green credentials as almost all Concord document wallets are made from recycled materials.

5 Star Document Wallets are our budgest range and they really do cover all bases, they have a good range of poly files, also manilla document wallets as well as products manufactured from a range of other materials.They have a good range of sizes and are good quality as well as competitively priced.

This is by no means to say the manufacturers not mentioned here are not worth considering, these are merely just the main producers of document wallets; if you like a product by another manufacturer and the price is right then go for it - we do not stock products that are not of a high quality.

Document wallets are produced using many different materials, some are more suitable for external trips and some are best for use around your own office, here is a summary of the key types and their suggested uses.

Manilla Document Wallets got their name from the plant that they are produced from - the Manilla hemp from the Phillipines. Manilla is a stiff card, usually beige, but can be coloured. Manilla document wallets are fairly smart but are really best reserved for internal use around your place of work, they do not have the style of some of the poly document wallets and are a simple and cost effective filing solution. Most of our document wallets come in Foolscap size, which is oversized A4 so that it can hold up to about 200 sheets of 80gsm paper. Foolscap manilla document wallets are probably our best selling document wallets due to their simple functionality and cost.

Polypropylene Document Wallets are a slightly more stylish product than the manilla wallets and are much more appropriate for protecting documents when travelling to client/external meetings. Poly document wallets are not as cost effective as Manilla document wallets but the added style factor more than compensates for the higher price. Poly document wallets are usually tinted with a colour but generally see through. Rexel document wallets and also Snopake document wallets both do a great range of very stylish poly document wallets.

Cardboard Document Wallets are strong and well reinforced by the thickness of the board. They are great for storage and also for maintaining documents in good shape on the move. Board document wallets are generally fitted with an elasticated closure and also come with capacity creases so that you can fit large amounts of paper in them. They are less cost effective than both the Manilla document wallets and also the Poly document wallets but they are a different product - these are for tougher storage and will not crease or bend easily.

Document wallets come in a range of other materials but these 3 cover 95% of the products.