Just Get Them the Fancy Version of the Thing

Once you’ve tried Davek’s umbrellas, you really can’t go back to using anything else. Our top pick for best umbrella, the Davek Elite has a top-grain leather-covered curved handle, a satisfying one-touch button to open, and a 50-inch canopy.

Of all the hair brushes I’ve owned over my lifetime, this one is hands down the best — better than the Mason Pearson brush. (For context, I have long, thick hair.) I have yet to try the Y.S. Park brush, though.

Sure, they might already have a $30 cast-iron pan, but a high-end one like this made-in-Wisconsin version from Yeti can be a joy to use.

Autumn Sonata’s vintage-inspired patterns are always so surprising, and the Agnes print on this hand towel is no exception.

A hand-blown universal wineglass from Zalto, the gold standard in glassware — and our best-in-class pick.

Fancy tea, specifically the “French Blue” Earl Grey from French teahouse Mariage Frères (which actress Isabelle Huppert can’t live without).

Here’s a handsome copper tea kettle from British maker Simplex to go with the Earl Grey.

For the matcha drinker, consider this gift sampler from Rocky’s Matcha that includes a single cultivar asahi from award-winning producer Kiyoharu Tsuji in Uji, Japan.

And some specialty coffee from Onyx Coffee Lab out of Northwest Arkansas.

If they don’t have counter space for a proper espresso machine, the stovetop Mk.2 from 9Barista is the next-best option. It was designed by a jet engineer and uses a twin-boiler system, where one boiler sets the brewing pressure and the other regulates the brewing temperature, resulting in what they company calls a real crema-topped espresso. (I tried the previous version, the Mk.1, and was impressed by the coffee as well as the mechanics of the maker.)

A bottle of olive oil is always a welcome gift, especially if it’s from a small-batch producer, like chef Massimo Bottura’s Villa Manodori line.

Skip the grocery-store panettone and get this one from Lower East Side eatery Una Pizza Napoletana. Like its pizza dough, this panettone is fermented and naturally leavened. It’s made exclusively for the restaurant in Verona, Italy.

You can’t get more decadent than cashmere socks meant for sleep.

And as far as throw blankets go, you might as well as splurge on a double-faced cashmere one from Sferra.

For the baby, a made-in-Germany merino-wool fleece blanket.

This is the black T-shirt that Susan Orlean has been buying for decades.

And for the men, the German heavyweight white T-shirt worn by Jeremy Allen White’s character in The Bear.

According to Kaitlin Phillips’s Gift Guide Substack, Yaser Shaw’s pashminas are the scarves of choice for a certain subset of women in fashion.

These shearling-lined mittens will keep fingers toastier than your standard pair of leather gloves.

Upgrade their Moleskine with a croc-embossed leather weekly agenda from Smythson. This one comes with a metal slide to keep it closed when not in use.