It’s Father’s Day. If you forgot to send a card or gift (What? No phone call, either?) there’s always this updated version of a dad classic – a new wallet, especially suited to the sportsman father.

The company that makes Flowfold wallets was founded on Peaks Island by Charley Friedman. The idea came to him when he was still in high school and working for a sailmaker. After an old leather wallet he was using fell apart, he fashioned a new one from scraps of sailcloth.

“The cloth he was using was really high performance material for racing yachts,” said Nick Power, now a business partner of Friedman’s. “It’s a pretty unique material. It’s extremely durable. It’s one of strongest and most resilient fabrics in existence.”

Friends admired the wallet and started asking for them, and Friedman started giving them as gifts, Power said, “and it just evolved that way into a business.”

The sailcloth is made from DiamondFiber, which is made up of carbon fiber or Kevlar. If it were not repurposed as wallets (and now tote bags as well), this non-biodegradable material might end up in the trash. “We get scrap from the manufacturers that make this material,” Power said, “and it’s stuff they would definitely be throwing away if we didn’t take it off their hands.”

The company’s name refers to a geological term that describes layers of rock that fold smoothly over time without breaking – representing both strength and flexibility. The wallets float, too, which is good for sailors and surfers and other active sorts who buy them, according to a survey of customers. For now, the wallets are still made in Maine, though no longer on Peaks Island. Power said they will probably have to move manufacturing outside of Maine eventually as their sales volume increases, but “we are committed to keeping it in the U.S.” And Friedman’s mother, Karen, still handles all the shipping from Peaks Island.

Which is apt, or at least a good pun, since the company founders say their motivation is making a product that won’t fall apart during a customer’s “peak experience,” be that on a trail or at sea.

To order, or for a list of Maine retailers, go to flowfold.com.