July may be behind us but, technically speaking, there’s still more than half of summer left. That means half of summer to sit back and enjoy a campfire. Half of summer to pour cold cocktails on a veranda, to the delight of your friends and family. Half of a summer to sport your new favorite swimsuit, your new favorite shoes, or a beach-inspired, eco-friendly sweater made for barbecue ‘fits and evenings by the sea.
Biolite – FirePit+
Just because you’re dining outdoors doesn’t mean you have to get…dirty. Biolite, a company known for environmentally-friendly cooking, heating and electrifying accoutrements for the rugged and the not-so-much, has a campfire that has all the bright delight of a roaring campside inferno, minus all that smoke. The FirePit+ reimagines outdoor flames with 51 internal jets and a battery-powered air-flow attachment that you can control with an app to adjust temp and even flame size. The attachment doubles as a power pack to charge your devices when the fire-time is done.
Plus, unlike the campfires of your youth, Biolite’s version actually radiates heat outward, eliminating both the need to hover close and the certainty of singeing loose hair or, say, setting fire to the high-end sweater you wore—a sweater that’s now dangerously close to an open flame. Even cooler, perhaps (or shall we say, hotter?) is the convertability of the FirePit+. It goes from fire pit to hibachi-style grill with a little charcoal and a rack that’s included. Brag-worthy dinner and burn-free clothes, guaranteed.
TINCUP Adventure Pack
Bourbon’s big splash. Designed for days on the trail, the beach, and everywhere in between, TINCUP’s new adventure pack is a double-walled, stainless steel bottle filled with single malt that’s made to be enjoyed outdoors. Based in Denver, CO, TINCUP’s named for the eponymous mining town nestled in the Rockies, where miners once drank their own brown liquor out of—you guessed it—tin cups. The modern homage is a more refined affair with notes of cinnamon and caramel with a rye spice finish. While swigging bourbon from a steel bottle may add a more rugged vibe, the Adventure Pack’s bottle top doubles as a shot glass that practically screams campfires and starry nights.
Left on Friday women’s swimsuits
The brainchild of two former Lululemon designers, Left on Friday is a woman-owned, independent brand that has achieved what no company has before: it created the most stylish-but-sporty, super-comfortable, looks-good-on-literally-every-body bathing suit ever known to womankind. The secret is a combination of their patented, smooth-as-butter double-layer material, which they’ve dubbed Smoothing Dream Fabric™, and a range of mix-and-match modern silhouettes. The result is a shockingly versatile line of swimwear that turns heads in Tulum and kicks butt on the beach. Literally: LOF is the official swimwear sponsor of Team Canada women’s beach volleyball team.
Long Wharf Supply – Edgartown SeaWell Quarter Zip
Just because you have Edgartown tastes but a Jersey Shore budget doesn’t mean you can’t dress like a New England baller. A family-owned business inspired by a mix of work-hard yuppiedom and play-hard outdoor bonafides, Long Wharf Supply Co.’s SeaWell™ Collection of beach-ready tops and sweaters is made of recycled oyster shells, plastic bottles and natural yarns. No, slipping on this sweet fisherman’s sweater won’t get you free access to its namesake’s swanky yacht club. But you’ll fit right in on the Martha Vineyard ferry, even if you’re staying at the hostel—not the hotel.
Jetty x LowTides Dune High Beach Chair
If $169.99 sounds a little steep for a beach chair that you might, if you’re lucky and have summer Fridays and maybe call in sick on a Monday, use a mere handful of times each year, let us ask you this: how much is having a healthy ocean, safer marine life, and unspoiled days on the sand worth? Doesn’t sound so luxurious now, does it? In fact, spending nearly 200 bucks on a chair that helps reduce ocean-bound plastic, gives back to recycling programs and lets you finish that Grisham book in stylish comfort, thank you very much, starts sounding like a deal when you think about it that way. Before another summer day passes you by, sink into one of these comfy, planet-helping chairs. There’s no time to waste.
Chaco customizable sandals
We know. Looking cool but staying comfy can often be at odds, especially when it comes to travel-friendly, warm-weather footwear that manages an all-day jaunt across Rome without building its own city of blisters—but still look multo bello when it’s time for an aperitif. Chacos—those trusty camp shoes worn by people who own more than one kind of backpack and a fleece in every color—have traditionally not been those shoes. But between the company’s customizable option (all black, anyone?), sustainable materials and robust sandal repair program, ReChaco, it’s hard to spurn such rugged, packable, do-everything shoes that, finally, look kinda cool.
However you spend the second half of summer, with whatever new gear, gadgets or wardrobe pieces you pick, there’s really only one thing that’s a must-have: pure joy, on a beach or beyond. Which, of course, will never be for sale.
