Finding the perfect gift for the outdoorsy person in your life can be surprisingly tricky - especially if they seem to already have all the gear they need or are notoriously picky about what makes it into their backpack!
Whether they’re into wild swimming, hiking, trail running, surfing, or adventures with the family, we’ve rounded up a selection of funky yet practical gift ideas that’ll go down a treat.
From clever gadgets and the latest gear innovations to camping accessories and the good ole simple hiking sock, these gifts are designed to inspire folks to spend as much time as possible outside - whatever the season.
Black Diamond Distance FLZ UL Trekking/Running Poles | £145
Speed your way to the summit in sustainable style with these pioneering three-part trekking/running poles. Debuting recycled aluminium content for the first time this summer, these eco-friendly poles showcase Black Diamond’s commitment to reducing the environmental impact of its most-used material in hardgoods manufacturing.
Fully adjustable, foldable and supremely packable, they’re light yet sturdy and come with heaps of impressive design details. Fancy features include FlickLock tech that enables speedy adjustments on the fly, EVA foam grips, and breathable, moisture-wicking straps. Available in a variety of lengths.
Cotopaxi Losdos Zip-Off Pant | £100
Combining functionality and style, these versatile convertible pants from Cotopaxi are just as at home on the trail as they are in the pub at the end of the day. Designed for adventures in unpredictable conditions, they feature zip-off bottoms that transform joggers into shorts when the temps rise.
And here’s the clever part - the cargo pockets double as mini stuff sacks so you can neatly store each pant leg! Made from recycled materials, they’re stretchy, moisture-wicking, and come with heaps of well-thought-out pockets for snacks, phones, and other essentials.
Groundtruth UNDA 25L Roll Top Dry Backpack | £285
Founded by three sisters, Groundtruth is a super-impressive green technology brand developing and producing pioneering technologies and travel gear for the modern explorer. Recipients of the Fast Company World Changing Ideas 2024 award, their patent-pending world-first hardware formula, GT-OCO-CO2, integrates captured CO2 emissions into recycled plastic.
Developed in partnership with PADI, this fully waterproof submersible dry bag backpack comes with a host of impressive features including a standalone 20L tote with laptop compartment, two-way roll top closure system, exterior water bottle pockets, bungee cord front cage system, and more.
Helinox PLAY Collection | £40-£145
This new range of premium portable games builds upon Helinox’s raison d’etre - to bring people together to enjoy the outdoors. As you’d expect from the Korean brand, all four of the games in the new collection are lightweight, packable, supremely well designed, and built to last. Choose from Yutnori (a traditional Korean table game), StringTrees (based on the US game of shuffleboard), HeliDrop (a beanbag throwing game), and HeliDisc (flying disc game) – and head outside for some fun.
La Sportiva Prodigio Hike GTX | £165
Following the successful 2024 launch of the Prodigio trail running shoe, this innovative new hiking shoe from La Sportiva is built to move at speed and designed to endure. A fast and light hiker that offers protection on the trail, it’s fully-waterproof and comes with a wide toe box and stretchy knit high collar to protect and reassure those dodgy ankles!
Cushioned yet responsive, there’s heaps of tech to admire here including the abrasion-resistant upper, protective extended outsole, 4.5mm lugs, and La Sportiva’s Impact Brake System to help keep you upright on technical descents.
Suunto Aqua Headphones | £175
Wild swimmers and triathletes will love these super-impressive, waterproof bone-conducting headphones from Suunto. Brand new for 2025, they weigh just 35g and come with an IP68 waterproof rating, and 32GB of storage - that’s a whopping 8,000 songs!
Battery life impresses too, delivering 10 hours of playback, and they charge super-fast – 3 hours of listening time from just 10 minutes of charging. A full charge takes less than an hour. Fave feature? A built-in AI-powered swim coach to help improve your technique.
Lifestraw Go 2-Stage Water Filter bottle | £47
Make any water safe to drink with this lifesaving bottle. Fill up the main compartment at a lake or a river, and the built-in filter will remove all mud and bacteria. It's great for keeping weight down when out walking, and for travelling when you're not sure if tap water is safe.
By buying a Lifestraw water bottle, you're also donating to provide safe drinking water for a child for one year.
Western Digital My Passport SSD | £100
For any travelling photographer, videographer or blogger, a reliable external SSD is a must for managing your files and ultimately making your workflow easier. Western Digital’s My Passport SSD comes in a tiny and lightweight form factor that’s easy to slip into a backpack pocket, laptop or camera bag and is ridiculously light for what is a relatively high capacity drive.
The My Passport is shock and vibration resistant as well as being drop resistant from 1.98m meaning you can trust it with your most precious memories or indeed your work. It comes with an ultra-fast USB 3.2 connection via either USB-C or chunkier USB-A and in our experience transfer speeds are excellent.
HJ Hall Protrek Adventure Socks | £18
These midweight socks from HJ Hall are made of a tough, moisture wicking wool and polyester blend that's super comfortable to wear. Unlike normal socks the Adventure socks offer a range of walking specific features to make sure you don't get blisters and that your feet stay warm and free of excess moisture.
Arch support and ankle bracing cradles your feet and supports in all the right places, and the ventilated mesh zone helps moisture escape. The reinforced heel and toe areas ensure that the Adventure Socks don't wear out too soon either.
DU/ER Performance Denim Slim | £90
These DU/ER jeans look so stylish it’s hard to believe they have any performance properties. With a blend of cotton, Coolmax and Lycra though they really do though. Despite a slim fit we’ve been out and about on photo and video shoots with these moving about and sorting and carrying kit and have found the Performance Denim Slim jeans to be perfect for the job. They look smart but let you get on with what you need to do without uncomfortable fuss.
There’s a little bit of stretch making them super comfortable to wear and Coolmax is great at regulating body temperature and wicking away sweat. If things do get a bit heated the anti-bacterial Silvadur treatment helps. Overall a great pair of jeans for regular day to day and adventure travel.
Coros Vertix GPS Adventure Watch | £359
Unlike many other watches in this sector, the Coros Vertix has been designed specifically with outdoor adventure in mind. Great looking, rugged, lightweight (76g without silicone strap), affordable (comparatively), and super intutitive to use, the Vertix offers 45 days battery life in regular mode, 60 hours in full GPS mode and 150 hours in UltraMax mode.
A fully charged Vertix battery will last about twice as long as the much-lauded Garmin Fenix 6 and takes half the time to re-charge from empty. Throw in a whole host of other kick-ass features including customizable watch faces, 24/7 heart rate monitoring, back-to-start navigation, barometric altimeter, compass, and it’s little wonder that Coros has attracted some of the world’s leading ultra and mountain athletes onto its pro team.
