Shine On: The 10 Best Summer EDC Essentials

We’re currently in the dog days of the summer season. While the gear that fills your pocket this time of year won’t differ a whole lot from what you have during the rest of the months, you may want your everyday carry loadout to embody or evoke the feelings of the summertime. For this guide, we tested our favorite EDC gear for each category to best represent what summer means to us.

How We Tested

We admit it, this theme is highly specific yet fairly ambiguous. For our purposes, we went with unique men’s accessories that reminded us of the summer season, be it stylish earbuds or wallets that reminded us of playing summer league baseball – our ‘Sandlot’ days, if you will. To compile our shortlist for this guide, we referred to our years of experience in the everyday carry space, whether we had specific items in mind for each category or needed to put several products head-to-head to see which was best.

From there, we sourced our units for testing and got hands-on with products from each category below. We ultimately settled on the best of the best according to specific criteria for each product type. However, our core principles had to be present: blending form with function. The results are detailed below.

What to Look For

Utility: As with any piece of gear, its actual utility is of utmost importance, especially if it’s taking up real estate inside your pockets.

Aesthetic: A key attribute for building out your everyday carry loadout is how the gear looks when you’re actually using it. You know you’re own tastes and we, too, have assembled our guide with products that balance function with form.

Color: Like aesthetic, a uniform or complementary color scheme can be a fun way to assemble your gear, especially if you have multiple options for one specific category. Bright colors can be a fun summertime pick but so can sophisticated colorways. We chose a blue and brown palette for this guide.

Size: In the summer, clothing is usually more sparse than during other times of the year. As such, a proper EDC loadout won’t be riddled with large or cumbersome objects, especially if we don’t have the pockets to accommodate them.

Giantmouse ACE Clyde

Best Knife: Kicking off our guide is this ACE Clyde knife from Giantmouse, aiming to be an amalgamation of Scandinavia and Japan with a hint of Persia. However, what really drew us in was its deep blue denim Micarta handle, evoking memories of the baseball diamond we so frequented in our youth (regardless of how good we actually were) wearing our oldest pair of Levi’s.

Aside from denim Micarta, the ACE Clyde sports other beautiful materials like brass for its pivot washers, thumb studs, and backspacer –– the last of which is a signature of Jesper Voxnaes, who has been crafting knives since he was 18, prior to joining forces with industrial designer Jens Ansø to form Giantmouse. For summer readiness, we love how the ACE Clyde weighs just 2.7oz despite the inclusion of heavier materials. It also balances its good looks with utility, offering a nearly 7-inch profile consisting of a 3-inch 20CV satin-finished blade steel.

Everyman Grafton Super Matte Mini Pen

Best Pen: Although most people forego a classic ballpoint pen in their pockets in favor of a more tech-focused option, we have a soft spot for analog solutions, such as this miniature Grafton pen from Everyman. Housed in aircraft-grade 6061-T6 aluminum, this is a highly compact EDC writing utensil that stretches just shy of 5″ from clip to tip and has an 11mm diameter. Weighing just 0.8oz, this is right around the weight of your standard #2 pencil.

Essentially the same as the non-mini Grafton pens, this variant has been given a super matted body (in midnight blue here), now with even deeper grip lines near the tip to bolster utility. It also has a black anodized copper pocket clip that feels sturdy yet maintains enough flexibility to easily seat and unseat it from your pocket. Copper offers some benefits such as high corrosion resistance.

Public Supply Pocket Notebook 3-Pack Embossed

Best Pocket Notebook: After you’ve nabbed the Grafton above, you’ll need a high-quality notebook for jotting down anything you need, from shopping lists to your next million-dollar idea. The best part about even the best pocket notebooks is that they won’t break the bank, such as this one from Public Supply, which comes in three packs for even more savings. We love the range of options from Public Supply but we went with this handsome and understated embossed variant shown above.

Made right here in the United States, these books measure 3.5″ x 5.5″ and feature 48 pages in your choice of dot or lined ruling over cream-colored pages. For extra durability, these feature saddle stitching with staples. The best part is Public Supply donates 25% of its sales to high-needs classrooms that prioritize creativity. Pretty cool!

Fielder’s Choice Card Case

Best Wallet: There are leather wallets and then there’s the Card Case from Fielder’s Choice. Inspired again by the baseball diamond, these wallets are made from upcycled leather from baseball gloves, encouraging your connection to America’s pastime and ensuring that each model looks unique to the rest –– basically, each one will have a distinct color, patina, grain pattern, and markings.

Sourced from all over the country, the second-hand gloves are used to fashion the panels of this card holder, designed to hold 5 or 6 cards easily but can even stretch out over time to allow for a few more. Bolstered with full-grain steer hide, the interior gives the card sleeves a bit of structure as they’re each individually hand-sewn.

Nomos Club Sport Neomatik 42 Date Blue Ref. 782

Best Watch: A summer watch is not just a matter of durability and water resistance but visual appeal. Many of our favorite timepieces for this season convey fun and bright color schemes. However, they don’t always have to be loud about it, such as this navy blue variant of the Nomos Club Sport Neomatik, a 42mm sports watch from the German watchmaker that brings minimalist charm. We have an entire guide dedicated to the best watches for the summertime and we had a difficult time picking between the several eligible Nomos pieces. For that guide, we ultimately went with the darker Ahoi Atlantic but here we’re going for something a bit more playful yet still mature.

Combining a classic steel sports watch with an aesthetic that can be both dressed up and down with ease, the Club Sport offers a radiant sunburst blue dial and happens to boast 300m of water resistance for your aqueous activities this summer. The safety crown has a red stern to let you know you’re safe to jump in the water or not. There’s also a simple unframed date window on the dial and a center seconds subdial down below, powered by the in-house DUW 6101 automatic movement (visible through the caseback) featuring the brand’s patented SWING system, their proprietary escapement technology, and a 42-hour power reserve. It’s adorned by an equally durable stainless steel bracelet with high polish as well.

Bowers & Wilkins Pi7 S2

Best Earbuds: Earbuds are a desirable option no matter what time of year but during the summer months, they’re especially preferred over headphones, which can make your ears quite hot and sweaty. Our favorite is the Pi7 S2 from Bowers & Wilkins, which transposes the brand’s audio quality from their legendary standing speakers to a pair of compact units built for quality and comfort. Living up to the expectations of any serious audiophile, they offer a pair of 9.2mm drivers, 24-bit digital signal processors, wireless audio retransmission with essentially zero earbud-to-earbud latency, and proprietary adaptive Bluetooth tech.

You also get up to 5 hours of battery life, with up to 16 more hours from the accompanying carrying case. You can also get 2 hours of playback with a 15-minute quick charge. While the IP54 rating will serve you well for smaller splashes of water, we wouldn’t recommend taking these into the pool itself. We tried out the Midnight Blue color variant but B&W offers black and white colorways as well. As B&W recently updated the earbud series with the Pi8, you might start to see the Pi7 S2s come down in price too.

Craighill Wilson Keyring

Best Keyring: If you’re looking at unique takes on classic EDC tools, Craighill should be one of your first stops. Retaining the conventional utility of a standard carabiner, the Wilson Keyring is a one-piece unit that uses nothing but strong positive pressure to keep the joint firmly secured until manually disengaged. Using 1/8-inch brass wire to fashion the keyring, this piece is incredibly durable and will develop a beautiful patina over time, much like the backspacer from the ACE Clyde from Giantmouse above.

For this summer-themed loadout, we opted for the version of the Wilson featuring a blue enamel accent on the top segment, which adds just a touch of sportiness while adding the ability to recognize it amongst your other keys or keyrings. However, there are red, white, and black options too. Also, if you need a key blank, Craighill also makes a foam finger-inspired brass blank that pairs well with this keyring.

MOFT Snap Battery Pack

Best Charger: If you’re spending most of your day in an office, a portable charger might not be essential but when going out for the weekend or embarking on an extended vacation, they’re crucial to your enjoyment. And while there are a lot of external chargers out there, MOFT is a great pick for the summertime. Fully MagSafe-compatible, meaning there aren’t any pesky, tangle-prone charging cords to deal with, the Snap Battery Pack is lightweight at just 4.7oz while offering a solid 3,400mAh power reserve. With that, you’ll get a quick 7.5-watt charging speed, which is more than many of the 5-watt options out there. You’ll be informed of the unit’s overall power thanks to a strip of four small LEDs. And if you don’t want wireless, there’s also a USB-C port for quick charging too.

In terms of style, this magnetic charger won’t look super techy like many of its contemporaries. Instead, it’s wrapped in a vegan leather outer that goes great with a lot of leather EDC picks, such as the above card holder from Fielder’s Choice.

YETI Rambler 18oz

Best Water Bottle: Most of the EDC essentials listed in this guide favor compactness and pocket-friendly sizes (unless, of course, it’s something you can actually wear). However, a water bottle is an exception to the rule simply because of its necessity in the heat. One of the current kings of the insulated water bottle category is YETI. Their range of vacuum-insulated options can keep fluids cold for up to 24 hours, even when it’s hot outside.

For this guide, we recommend the Rambler 18oz for its ability to fit in most cup holders and its 100% leak-proof cap and thread infrastructure. Moreover, it’s built with double-wall food-grade 18/8 stainless steel that’s highly corrosion-resistant and dishwasher safe in this case. We loved the variety of cap options that YETI offers but this narrow mouth spout is perhaps our favorite for its versatility. You can also unscrew the entire lid as a single unit if you want to sip from the wide mouth opening instead. The two-part cap also makes it easier to add ice or clean the bottle.

Randolph Engineering Aviator 52mm

Best Sunglasses: One of the hallmarks of the summer season is a pair of sunglasses. And while cheap shades can be found everywhere, there’s no understating the feeling of wearing quality sunglasses. Randolph Engineering makes some of our favorites, such as this Aviator model with cobalt blue lenses and matte chrome frames in a 52mm size –– the smallest classic aviator size offered in their current range (55mm and 58mm are also available).

Randolph is most closely associated with the aviator style and for good reason. In the early ’80s, the Massachusetts-based brand won a contract with the U.S. military to make mil-spec shades for their troops. Pilots loved the flat, wide tips that could comfortably accommodate a helmet while offering a substantial field of view. The particular model we tested was made using over 200 steps during a painstaking handcrafted process. Polarized and scratch-resistant, the SkyTec Cobalt lenses feature a soothing green base tint that enhances greens and yellows in the field. They also offer Bluewave tech to combat blue light eye strain.

Tested: The Best Watches to Wear This Summer

Once you have your summer EDC assemblage, you can swap items in and out, such as timepieces. Head over to our guide to the best summer watches for some inspiration.