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.