Mala Pen Sleeves

It all started when I wanted to buy a small pen sleeve for my Kaweco AL and Brass Sport pens; now I could easily have bought the Kaweco version, which is very nice, but it comes with quite a price tag.

So, I decided to go and see if there was an alternative. I set off on my quest which started, as all good quests do these days, with Google, then via Amazon and this eventually landed me on eBay because as it turns out a pen sleeve of any sort is not the easiest thing to obtain and it’s even harder to find a nice one in leather and even harder still to find one that fits the Kaweco Sport range.

On eBay, I found The Object Shop selling the Mala range (large & small) of leather pen sleeves so I ordered a couple of the small sleeves with no great expectations particularly as they are very significantly less expensive that the Kaweco original.

When they arrived, I was pleasantly surprised by both the quality and the finish; the leather is soft and has a slightly matt finish, is very neatly stitched and near the top of the sleeve Mala have embossed their name. Best of all the small sleeve is a perfect fit for the Kaweco Sport range.

Before writing this review, I decided to spend some time testing them out; to this end they have spent several weeks in my pockets, my work bag and generally living with me and being impressed with them I ordered some large ones for my other pens. As you can see (pictured) I am currently using one for my Wing Sung 3008 which is a nice average sized pen for testing purposes.

In conclusion, I tested both pen sleeves for several weeks and at no point was I particularly gentle with them and none of the pens used suffered any ill effects; the only difference is that the pen sleeves have held their shape and started to mellow nicely.

These are good quality, well made, durable and definitely worth every penny; they are a cost effective alternative to the branded versions and they come in a nice range of colours.

Would I recommend the Mala pen sleeves, yes, I would; in fact, if you can buy these pen sleeves then there is no reason to pay considerably more for the branded versions.

On a final note, I would like to add a few words about the customer service I received from The Object Shop; it was superb. I placed an order for large and small sleeves and eBay incorrectly confirmed two orders for small sleeves. Several emails later, to Kristy, my order was confirmed as being what I thought and not what eBay thought. Nothing was too much trouble and in a world where we are just expected to accept mediocre service it’s nice to be able to recognise and thank someone for such excellent service.

Disclaimer: All of the pen sleeves were purchased with my own funds at retail price. The opinions expressed in this review are my own; and I am not connected with either the retailers or manufacturers in any way.