Filofax A5 Malden - Revisited

I have been quite a fan of the Malden, particularly in the early years of this model. I can't vouch for more recent versions as the place of manufacture has changed and some small design details have changed. 

I bought this one some years ago as pre-owned, I have used it quite a bit and as you can see it's stood up to usage very well. Marks etc give it character like an old pair of cowboy boots that I once owned! 

The A5 Malden is very 'floppy' in design, there is no stiffener between the inner and outer leather. Like most Filofax A5 organisers, it has two pen loops, but once again I found I had to use the left hand pen loop for my largish pen and the right-hand one for my mechanical pencil. 

The Malden has a decent range of pockets on the inside front cover. It has a notepad slot in the back cover, which can give the cover a bit of stability if you require it. 

The contrast stitching isn't to everyone's taste, but I quite like it. 

The A5 Malden comes with 30mm rings although some in the first batch got fitted with 25mm by mistake. I have two grey A5's one with 25mm and a replacement with 30mm rings! 

You will find our extensive range of posts about the Malden here. 

My next A5 to use has been chosen to use for the next 2-3 weeks and I've 'moved in'. 

Guest Post: Distressed Leather Filofax Malden

Greetings my name is Marios, I live in Hellas and I love anything analog.

I like pencils (mostly Blackwings) fountain pens (Kaweco, Waterman etc.) and of course notebooks, organisers and good old vinyl records.

A month ago I decided to acquire a Malden in brown colour that I wanted it for a long time.

Unfortunately half of the rings  was slight misaligned and with gaps... (Filofax why? really why ?)

Anyway they didn't have another, so I decided to buy it and fix it myself,  I used pliers with plastic tips I was able to perfectly correct the rings.

But as the days went by I didn't like the way that the leather looked and also it didn't feel right to the touch.

I regret that I didn't buy an old Malden from the web, so I decided to distress the leather and to remove the paint so to see how it looks.

DECLAIMER: This procedure is irreversible and it may void your warranty in a new Filofax. So do it at your own risk.  Also, I don't think that it will be good with other colour Maldens like the black or the blue. Make a test in a small area inside the Filofax first.

I used rubbing alcohol and with cotton wool I did small areas without forcing too much.

You have to be gentle and giving time for the leather to dry out and evaporate the alcohol, before you continue.

It took me over an hour to fully clear the Malden inside out, and then I cleaned the residues with a wet cloth.

I let it dry and then I saw a beautiful leather that needed it to be moister.

I didn't have any leather conditioner so I used the next best thing, that was Vaseline.

I let it soak for an hour and then I wiped out the rest of the Vaseline.

And there I was with a new beautiful distressed Malden that now has character and some extra benefits:

• First, the smell of the leather is more intense.
• Second, (Neil from ''Flatability'' will love this...) the flatability went from 70% to 100% effortless.
• Third, now I can see the grain of the leather and most important as I use it, the natural oils of my hands are starting to make the leather darker. This is so perfect, the leather binder reacts to my touch.

I took some pictures but they don't make justice to the real thing.

I hope to inspire others to transform their Filofax. 

Marios has since treated the leather with a wax leather conditioner. Here is the result. 

Thank you to Marios for their post I think their Malden now has a lot more character, what do you think? 

Filofax Malden Popularity

Unless you have been in a deep sleep and not reading the Philofaxy Video Web Finds, recently you can't have missed how popular the Filofax Malden currently is. 

A recent Video Web Finds had a large number of Malden videos in it (~25%) 

• Came out in 2010;
• Initially only in Personal and Pocket sizes; 
• Mini discontinued at one point only to come back again;
• Many colours released over the years;
• It looked like the model would be discontinued at one point but it has soldiered on for many years;
• It has been made in all sizes except A4;
• Many accessories too, wallets, phone holders, tablet sleeves, e-reader sleeves etc 
• Fake 'Malden style' organisers exist but low quality and sold on various on-line sites:
• The leather quality and quality of manufacturing has varied over the years, people tend to like the earlier examples more than recent ones. 
• Orche has been in the range since day one. 

 

Do you own or have owned a Malden? 

Filofax New Releases

If you are on the Filofax mailing list you will have seen their recent announcements about the Filofax Norfolk and the Compact Zip Malden. 

The Norfolk is a new model in Pocket, Personal and A5 sizes, with 25mm, 30mm and 35mm ring sizes respectively. 

Each one is available in four colours: Almond, Sage, Lavender, Taupe (Brown, Green, Purple, Light Grey!) The leather has a small amount of padding under the surface. 

Each size has a full width back pocket. The credit card slots are in the inside back cover, with a zip pocket in the front inside cover. With full height slip pockets in both front and back inside covers. The Pocket and Personal size have a single elasticated pen loop attached to the back cover, the A5 has duel pen loops on the front and back covers. 

The rings are sadly riveted in. But not surprising I guess given the prices in UK: 

• Pocket - £80
• Personal - £95
• A5 - £130 

These prices are comparable to say Moterm. However Filofax do include a full set of inserts with 'A Week on Two Pages Diary insert' printed on 80gsm paper. 

With Filofax products like these being made in China now, it's not surprising that prices are similar. 

The Compact Zip Malden is a re-release of an earlier version with a few differences

The Compact Zip Malden was originally released in about 2012/3 in Ochre, Navy and Purple. It was fitted with 15mm rings and lots of pockets and an external pocket as well. 

The 2023/3 version of the Compact Malden Zip has a removable 15mm rings, removable in the sense that they are mounted on a board that slips in to an inside pocket. There is also a removable 'wristlet'. It comes in either Pink or Black. 

The Compact Zip Malden is released at the UK price of £113 compared to £83 back in 2012! In 2012 there was a pocket zip Malden as well. No sign of that (yet) being re-released. Never say never!!

You can read my review of the Compact Zip Malden from 2015 here.

The internal pocket layout on the 2022 version looks very similar from the photos on the Filofax website. It also has the external slip pocket as well.

With the ring mechanism removed the Compact Malden Zip can be used as a purse/wallet. The outer pocket will take most smart phones comfortably as well. 

I would say that these are two welcome additions to the Filofax range. 

The Norfolk range and the Compact Malden Zip are available from Filofax UK and other sites around the world.

Filofax videos: 

• Norfolk Collection - Premium Leather Organisers
• Malden Zip

Filofax Norfolk Unboxing - StephenieSays - a full review by our friend Stephenie in Germany. Take a look. 

Malden - New Release

Filofax have today released a new Malden Pink range. 

As far as the colour goes it is a definite pink, not a washed out pastel colour or a neon bright pink, a fairly neutral pink I would say. 

They are making it available in all the usual sizes, Mini, Pocket, Personal and A5. 

See it today at Filofax UK  

Guest Post - Prototype Malden - Sally

Thank you to Sally for submitting this post. We know prototypes or pre-production samples do find their way out in to the wilds. I have reviewed a Holborn that turned out to be a pre-production sample and I own a prototype/evaluation sample of an Eton Compact that never made it in to full production. 

I acquired this organiser a couple of years ago. There are a few differences between it and the pocket Malden that went into production, as illustrated in these photos.

The popper is flat.

The inside embossing only has the Filofax name, not the model name or the description ‘antiqued leather’. 

The pocket configuration of this organiser is identical to the regular pocket Malden except the prototype lacks a full height pocket on the inside back cover.

The last photo shows the comparison between the smooth, vibrant red leather of the prototype and the much darker, textured leather of the crimson Malden.

It’s an interesting addition to my Malden collection.

Thank you Sally for sharing this with us all. 

Silent Sunday

After the post this week about the Filofax Malden, I was asked what does my 'collection' of Malden items look like!

L-R Top to Bottom:

• A5 Grey with 25mm rings, A5 Ochre, A5 Grey with 30mm rings. 
• Personal Grey, Compact Ochre, Personal Ochre, Personal Crimson
• Pocket Ochre, Mini Grey, Pocket Grey
• iPad Slip Case Ochre, A5 iPad Organiser Case Ochre, eReader (Kindle) Slip Case Ochre
• iPhone 4 Case Black, Portrait Wallet Black, Business Card Case Black

The Filofax Malden

Did you know that the Filofax Malden is nearly 10 years old?

It first appeared in the 2010 catalogue in Personal (£65) and Pocket (£55) sizes and in just three colours (Black, Crimson and Ochre)

My own personal feelings when I first saw it in the Filofax shop in Neal Street, London was 'not for me' but within a few months I had bought the Crimson Personal, which is very much sought after these days!

Move forward in to 2011 and the Personal and Pocket sizes had been joined by the Mini and A5 sizes. Crimson had been replaced by 'Vintage Pink' and Grey had been added to the colours for Personal and Pocket.... although Grey was only available in Germany, but I managed to get a Grey A5 in the London shop.

There was a production error with the first batch of A5's, a lot of them got fitted with 25mm rings instead of 30mm rings... guess who pointed this out? Yep me!

I had got a Grey A5 with 25mm rings, it just seemed odd, and oversized... It was eventually replaced with one with 30mm rings a few weeks later. So I have two A5 Maldens in Grey one with 25mm the other with 30mm. Something to check if you are buying one pre-owned.

There was also a range of accessories available in the Malden design.

Moving in to 2012 the range of colours reduced to just Ochre and Purple.

As well as zipped folio

In 2013 the range expanded yet again with Zip organisers in Compact (Personal) and Pocket sizes. But the Malden Mini was no longer listed.

The range of accessories had also expanded too

By 2014 we were back to just Pocket, Personal and A5 in just two colours again.

2015 was more of the same, they were also heavily in to tablet cases as well by then.

This was the last full paper catalogue that Filofax produced so using the web archive of the Filofax Website we can see that in 2016, the colour range had expanded again.

Moving forward to 2019 the current range looks like this:

One thing that I noticed whilst writing this post was how the price of the Pocket size has gone from £55 to £75 and Personal £65 to £89 over the nine years.

Each year we have wondered if this was the year that the Malden was going to be phased out or not. However, it must be quite a best seller to have continued for so long. There were even copies of it being sold on Ebay and Amazon under the name of 'Sherwood' at one time.

I know not everyone likes the Malden, for various reasons, but personally I quite like the overall design of the organiser. It has some quirks in some sizes, but overall I think it works for most people.

I've kept most of the ones I've bought the only one I didn't bond with was a black Pocket size. I have Maldens in nearly all sizes, but not all colours!

Do you own or have you used a Malden in the last decade?

Filofax Malden A5

I have loved the Filofax Malden since it came out in 2010, at first I wasn't sure about it, but when I held one in my hands I just loved the softness of the leather and how 'floppy' it was compared to my rather stiff Finsbury A5 that I was using at the time.

The Malden first appeared in 2010 in just Pocket and Personal size. It was initially available in three colours Black, Crimson and Ochre. The first one I bought was a Crimson in Personal size. I picked up an Ochre one via our own Adspot page again in Personal size.

In 2011, Filofax expanded the Malden range with the Mini and A5 sizes. Crimson disappeared to be replaced by Vintage Pink and Grey to add to the Black and Ochre. Strangely in UK they initially only offered Vintage Pink and Ochre in the A5 size.

I quite liked the Grey and just by chance asked if the A5 was available in Grey whilst visiting the Filofax Neal Street store during one our meet ups. To my surprise they had an A5 in Grey. At that time it was supposed to be only available in Germany.

It eventually appeared in the UK store in Grey. For some reason they have never made a Black A5 and the Crimson was only ever available in Pocket and Personal size.

There was also a bit of an oddity with the A5 I bought in London. When I got home to France I started to use it, but something didn't seem right with it. The outer cover seemed to be oversized, the pages seem to be a long way inside of the edges of the cover. So then I measured the rings as best as I could at the time. At first I thought that the catalogue was printed incorrectly, it stated 30mm rings and no matter how I measured mine I couldn't get that measurement. I started asking people is it the external or internal diameter. I compared other organisers and checked them in the catalogue. Must be an error...

It turned out that the first batch of A5's had been incorrectly fitted with 25mm rings instead of 30mm rings! Filofax Customer Service were excellent about it, they thanked me for pointing this out, and a few weeks later when the next batch arrived they sent me another Grey A5 with 30mm rings.

Spot the difference, the covers are identical

Just the rings are a different size

Confirmation!

So if you are buying an early A5 check the size of the rings. I've seen Vintage Pink A5's with 25mm rings as well!

The other oddity with the A5 design compared to the Personal, whilst on first sight the internal layout looks the same, just a different size. Look closely and on the Personal there is a slip pocket that goes behind the notepad pocket on the rear inside cover. That pocket isn't there on the A5, it is sewn closed. I didn't notice this at first, it wasn't until I was comparing them one day and I noticed it.

You will also notice that the A5 outer cover is in two parts with a vertical seam on the back cover, were as the other sizes are all one piece. I wonder if at one point they intended to put an external outside pocket in the back cover, but then found it didn't work because of the flexible nature of the organiser design so they just joined it instead.

Each year I've always wondered if the Malden will be phased out and discontinued. One colour that has continued through its whole life is the Ochre, it has that natural rugged look about it. It marks very easily. The Malden range expanded to include Zip Compact and Zip Pocket models. The Zip Pocket is the only size I don't have in my collection!

The Mini size has been discontinued completely on all models now, but the Malden continues with regular Pocket, Personal and A5.

It must has been a big success for Filofax, so much so that copies of the design have appeared on Amazon and Ebay under a 'Sandringham' name. Filofax should defend their intellectual property more actively, because these copies were not like the real thing at all.

I realise that the Malden isn't universally popular, but I think for a modern design it has been a great organiser.

Malden Compact Zip Revisited

Have you ever had an organiser that you have bought, but when you started using it something wasn't quite right about it for you? So you put it back in the box and left it on the shelf for a while, may be even forgot about it.

However, a few months later you change something in your set up and that causes you to reconsider the forgotten organiser... you try it again and bingo it now works for you.

Well that has sort of happened for me, but it has certainly been more than a few months since I bought the ochre Malden Compact Zip from our old friends City Organiser from the shop in Bow Lane. Anyone who has been reading this blog for a few years will have seen my collection of Malden's and Malden accessories grow over the last 3-4 years!

I only have two compacts, the Malden Zip and a Holborn. For one reason or another I couldn't get on with the Malden one very well at first.

If you recall from my post in 2012, the design and layout of the Malden Compact Zip is the same as the Pennybridge Compact Zip. There is an outside slip pocket and a great internal layout with lots of card slots (14 in total!) a zip pocket. A single elasticated pen loop and another secretarial pocket in the back cover.

I've tried to use this as a combine organiser/wallet and to carry my phone. The phone at the time was my iPhone 4, which was a bit too thick and chucky to comfortably sit inside of the outside pocket. it had a habit of distorting the shape of the organiser, which I wasn't happy about so I stopped carrying my phone in it.

A few weeks ago I changed my phone for the iPhone 6, which although it is bigger than the iPhone 4 it is considerably lighter and much thinner.

With only 15 mm rings this might be a bit small for some people, but as a combine wallet/essential pages only organiser I think the Malden Compact Zip or a Pennybridge Compact Zip might work well with modern day smartphones as a companion communicator/organiser.

Back in an Ascot and finding A5 peace

I've been on the verge of giving up on the A5 size for some time now.

I'm sure it's not just me, but I seemed to have a choice of lovely binders which just weren't right and I was getting fed up with it all. All I wanted to do was just settle down with something that ticks all the boxes, and get on with using and enjoying it.

As per my previous post, the final part of my A5 journey initially involved these three beautiful filos:

• the glamorous red Amazona - it took me a while to work out why this wasn't quite right, but I just find the leather too hard and bumpy when compared with an Ascot. Sounds like a silly reason when written down like that, but it obviously bugged me enough to be a problem 
• the vintage red Mulberry planner - such a gorgeous binder, but it lacks a notepad pocket, has smaller rings and I find it's a bit too floppy for writing on my lap. I realised that I do most of my writing in an A5 either sat on the sofa or on our bed, so a more structured model would be better for me 
• the ochre A5 Malden (returned as faulty) - after some more thought, I found that not wanting a replacement puzzled me. In theory, how can you go wrong with an ochre A5 Malden?? (unless you're not a fan of the Malden anyway) I was dissatisfied with my post, no more A5 Maldens for me, and it didn't really come up with any answers for me. Like the Mulberry, I find the larger Malden model a bit too floppy for writing on my lap, but surely I could overlook this con for all the other pros... However, as my little collection only consists of two binders, I think I realised that it would be nice to have something different, rather than two Maldens.

Uh oh, now what?

Reading back through some of my older A5 Philofaxy posts, I realised that the bronze A5 Domino snake would tick all the boxes, so I offered the Amazona up for a trade, but ended up just selling it instead to a lovely lady in the US. I never browse in the Facebook selling groups as I don't want to be tempted into increasing my collection, but as I scrolled down to find and edit my post, my eyes were drawn by the words 'red... A5... Ascot'! I still have a very big soft spot for the Ascot model, so it occurred to me that this could be just what I was looking for. As soon as I heard that it was still available, I was saying, "Yes, please" and the lovely Rebecca helped it be an easy and pleasant purchase.

It's a lovely burgundy red, which I'm finding hard to photograph but I think this is probably the closest to its colour in the flesh.

By changing the angle, I can better show the slight glossiness of the leather.

I love the contrast between the patterned exterior and the brighter plainer interior.

On the left hand side, there is a non-elasticated pen loop, five card slots, a small slip pocket below with 'Filofax A5/FSO Ascot made in USA' on it, a full length secretarial pocket and a full length zipped (non-gusseted) pocket behind. Looking around online, it seems that the small slip pocket was designed to hold a floppy disk.

On the right hand side, there's a notepad pocket and another non-elasticated pen loop. It lies flat and is quite supple, but I think it must have some stiffener inside which makes it good to lean on whilst writing.

The condition was accurately described as 'well loved', and I just think that it adds more character to an already beautiful binder. I love how you can make out these impressions on the right hand side from where a previous owner has leant on it whilst writing. On further inspection, I think that I can make out the date 3rd September and possibly the name Gina Walis.

I don't know much about the Ascot model and when I asked Filofax UK, they said that they didn't have much information available and the person thought that they'd been manufactured in China. However, I did find some more details here.

The Ascot and the Malden are my two favourite models, so I feel very fortunate to have found them in the perfect size and colour combination for me.