Oktoberfest t-shirts are loud and proud!

“Oktoberfest t-shirts”? Isn’t that what tourists wear? Well, yes. But so do Munich’s in-crowd, who’ve been doing it for years, especially isnide beer tents, where temperatures can get unpleasantly warm. Since not everyone wants to be sat in a shirt and collar and so, some of the lads just pull on their Bayern Munich strips, while others go for designer Oktoberfest t-shirts with printed slogans. There are, however, plenty of differences to the typical tourists versions with “Jimmy’s stag do” or “Oktoberfest crew” printed on them… Let’s not forget the girls, either, who were traditionally never supposed to wear lederhosen and so have no qualms at all about combining them with informal wear, especially skimpier fashion leather shorts, which would look odd with a full shirt.

Importantly, when it comes to Oktoberfest t-shirts, Bavaria is not immune from fashion trends, so overall changes in tops are reflected in tops for beer festivals: for example, the Shoreditch/Williamsburg/Kreuzberg trash-look is hitting Alpine fashion, delayed, but with all the more force: thin, pock-marked fabric, sometimes distressed, torn, or oil-washed is now appearing in Oktoberfest t-shirts, as are other designer t-shirt features such as unsewn hems, deep V-necks, and slogans.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So it’s Berlin meets Munich, big city crossed with big mountains. And it’s a lot of fun. The Oktoberfest t-shirts for him shown above are not just edgy and stylish, but comfortable and – above all – Bavarian. Cut, material, design: all of that is pretty modern, but the slogans are typically Alpine: “Da Berg ruft!” (The mountain is calling!) reads the print on the green Stockerpoint tee (left); or there are stags with the Bavarian flag in the background and “Alpenhero” as a slogan (right; guess what it means…). Then there’s the world-famous German beer purity law in t-shirt form: “Hopfen und Malz, Gott erhalts”, or “God save hops and malt!”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There’s no shortage of fun phrases for the girls, either. MarJo has one that will get you noticed by Germans at the Oktoberfest, shocked and delighted as they will be by pithy morsels such as: “Scheiß aufs Pferd, echte Prinzen kommen in Lederhosen!“ (“F**k horses! Real princes come in lederhosen!”). In trend terms, Krüger is at the cutting edge, going totally trash with a sequin heart and deer antlers on oil-washed, grunge-look fabric: Bavaria hits Berghain and has a crazy night… This has the strange effect of making the Stockerpoint t-shirts – once the raciest of the bunch – appear somewhat toned-down. They’re more feminine, cutsy-pie even, but still on trend. Everyone’s favourite over the last few seasons, for example, the dog t-shirt with the red-ribboned pit bull, is still doing the rounds.

If all of this looks a bit too “in crowd” for you, then we’d suggest either avoiding Oktoberfest t-shirts and simply wear your own with your lederhosen (entirely in the original spirit of rebellion) or going all-out traditional in a full Bavarian outfit with a shirt and loden coat or a dirndl and blouse. All other t-shirt options – especially the “classic” tourist ones – just don’t cut the mustard.