The Facts
Specifications according to the manufacturer:

- Material：Corduroy with magnetic button closure and D-ring on the back. Surface-washable. Machine wash not recommended.
- Colors：Black, blue, green, pink, tan.
- Carabiner: included with your choice of one of 5 metallic carabiners clips for hands-free carrying convenience.
- Magnetic clasp for easy open and snappy close.
- Price: US $15.00

Construction and Materials
The Kiwali Mineon corduroy pouch is a fabric pouch that features a silky lining and a top flap that closes via a magnetic button. The flap has a large cutout in it for access to the headphone plug so you can plug in headphones while the pouch is closed. There is a strong metal D-ring sewn onto the back of the pouch alongside a fabric belt loop. A color-coordinated carabiner comes with the Mineon. A small stylized flower logo (at least that's what it looks like to me) is sewn onto the front of the pouch and the word Kiwali is sewn onto the back.

The materials used to build the Mineon are very nice. The corduroy is a soft and fine grain fabric that feels comfortable. The lining is slippery and helps the iPod slide in and out easily.

I received two pouches for testing, a black and a green one. Since the pouch's lining is not sewn shut at the inside bottom of the pouch, the black pouch's corduroy seam at the very bottom shed little particles onto the bottom and into dock connector of my iPod. Thankfully, this shedding subsided after a few days and it no longer seems to be a problem. The green pouch never seemed to shed on my iPod.

With that one exception, the build quality is very good. Seams are straight and the sewing is neat and clean. The pouch seems strong and durable. The magnetic button is a great feature on the pouch - closing reliably and yet easy to use. I'm relieved that the sewn flower logo is not too girly, in my opinion.

My one criticism of the design of the Mineon is that the cutout in the top flap for the headphone plug is too large. Since the fabric is flexible, a small slit would suffice, but the cutout in the flap extends fully to the headphone icon on the top of my mini and exposes approximately a third of the top of the iPod.

Usage
Life with the Mineon was as cool as I thought it would be. It's easy to use - just slide the iPod down into it and close the flap. You can't really access the iPod's controls when it's inside the pouch, and you can't see the iPod's display, but you can at least play/pause the iPod through the fabric.

By nature, the corduroy fabric and inner lining provides some slight padding and protection for the iPod inside. I felt that my iPod was well protected in the Mineon for normal usage and felt fine just throwing it into my bag or leaving it sliding around in the door pocket of my car.

Another benefit to the corduroy material is that it's washable to some degree. Kiwali recommends surface washing only, and that's fine. They will admit that the Mineon pouch survives machine washing, but it's not recommended. Either way the corduroy should get better with age as it shows some wear, in my opinion.

I discovered another use for the belt loop sewn onto the back of the pouch. My headphones wrapped around a Tunewear Tuneclip would clip into the loop snugly and made for a neat little package to carry. I'm sure you could just bundle up your headphone cord and push them into the loop by themselves as well. How convenient.

The Bottom Line
The Kiwali Mineon is a refreshing alternative to the endless amounts of silicon and leather cases on the market. The corduroy material is durable and soft and it feels nice in your hand and in your pocket. Although the Mineon has a strong fashion element to it, it doesn't skimp on practical features like the belt loop and D-ring/carabiner combination. I really like this case, think that it's well built and the fabric is very nice, and the $15 price makes it a bargain. I do wish that the headphone port cutout was smaller but that is really the only misstep in a very nice effort from Kiwali. If you're looking for something unique and stylish, but still practical, the Kiwali Mineon is a very good choice.

The good: Stylish and cool; well made, nice features.
The not so good: Headphone cutout larger than it needs to be.

For more information: Kiwali.com

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