The fashion scene of Berlin is as diverse and colorful as it can get and I think that is one of the best things about the city. You will find something for everyone. There are those designers who are clearly inspired by the Scandinavian minimalism, you have those who do totally wearable everyday clothes that sell like bread, those who make quite crazy stuff that you can only wear for fashion week, and so much more in the middle and around, it’s impossible to list it all. With our new series A Guide To Berlin Fashion we would like to give you an overview of the different styles that we find here and show you some of our favorite designers from Berlin in each genre. We are definately not going to be able to name all of them, because the number of labels is impossibly high, so see this more as an example of some of the most notable ones.
For the first edition of our new Berlin Fashion Guide we would like to start with one of the most obvious contemporary trends: Sportswear-inspired streetwear. The sporty style has started to penetrate the collections of young designers and avant-garde labels for a handful of seasons now and with the Wang x H&M collaboration finally reached the mainstream. I think the revival of the sneaker that has been going on for the past years has played an important part in it and all the sneaker brands should be more than pleased to be so highly relevant and important in fashion right now. During my last visit of the Dissonance Area at the Premium Exhibition it felt like every second collection had jumped aboard the trend using a lot of active wear materials like neopren and mesh with wide boxy cuts.
Here in Berlin we have a couple of labels that fall into this category that we would like to introduce you to. They are either inspired by certain types of sports or have a generally sporty aesthetic to them, but all of them seem quite on point with their fashion in this day and time. And the best thing about it? You don’t even need a gym membership anymore to look sportive, these labels sure know how to create the illusion. Enjoy our guide to sporty Berlin fashion after the jump.
Muschi Kreuzberg is probably the most renowned and oldest label in our list. They started with a line of cheaky and catchy slogan shirts and tote bags that became a big success and made them the successful brand they are now. They still have a few of those funny slogans shirts, but their collections are more refined and elaborate these days. Their latest collection Scars & Stripes is a collaboration with accessorie label Djinn’s and features a line of pieces inspired by Baseball outfits. And of course slogans are still a part of this new line: Barely Legal is stitched and printed over the caps, shirts and socks. You know how it is down their in Kreuzberg: Bad boys and bad girls for life!
Available at:
Depot 2, Oranienburger Str. 9, Berlin-Kreuzberg
Select Store, Grünberger Str. 54, Berlin-Friedrichshain
The Shit Shop, Rückerstr. 10, Berlin-Mitte
Eté Store, Bergmannstr. 18, Berlin-Kreuzberg
Muschi Kreuzberg Online Shop
photos: Obi Blanche
Apollo Krieg is a quite young Berlin-based label and artist collective. Their focus is on quite unique graphics which I have loved and admired from the first collection on. Their designs include of pretty basic pieces such as wide t-shirts, tanktops, sweatshirts and sweatpants using their signature graphics in allover prints or as inserted segments. Their line of t-shirts with big photographic or abstract prints by various artists should also be noted.
Available at:
photos: Nora Heinisch
For the next label in our list we are taking a tiny detour to neighboring Potsdam which is where Rotholz is based. The fair-trade label started off with unique carved wood printed T-shirts but have now developed into a full streetwear label also featuring sweats, jackets and accessories. Their style is very casual and sporty and covers both very minimalistic and simple pieces as well as graphical and printed stuff. They also have a cool artist line of skateboard decks with artworks from their earlier T-shirt line.
Available at:
Ress, Oranienburgerstr. 4-5, Berlin-Mitte
Workaholic, Kastanienallee 60, Berlin-Mitte
Goods, Zeppelinstr. 20, Potsdam
Rotholz Online Shop
Wup Wup is another one of those companies that can’t simply be described as a fashion label as they also do music production, event management and booking. Their fashion line kind of developed out of their slogan “Tanzen ist auch Sport” which means dancing is also a sport. It started off with T-shirts, sweats and totebag backpacks with this slogan but now also includes other designs that generally have a very sporty feel to them. One of their other notable designs is their Berlin metro cap in collaboration with Unseen with the iconic pattern from the subway seats.
Available at:
Our final example from our sporty Berlin Fashion Guide is also the most avant-gardistic one. Their runway show at the last fashion week in summer was one of the big surprise hits of the season and they got a lot of applause for capturing the spirit of contemporary fashion and combining them with important trends in such a smart way. Here we have the best examples for the boxy cuts, neopren and some sheer and perforated fabrics that are so strong in fashion right now. The bulky shoulders in some of the looks remind me a lot of American Football outfits which is a really cool sport inspiration. Their upcoming fashion show in the end of January at Fashion Week is one of the most anticipated ones for me. Make sure to visit them in their own store in Berlin-Mitte.
Available at:
LNFA Store, Bikini Berlin, Budapester Str. 50, 10787 Berlin
photos: Paul Aidan Perry
We hope with our guide to sporty Berlin fashion we could give you some cool local alternatives to the big high street brands to get the avant-garde sportswear look so popular right now. If you can think of any other Berlin designers that would fit into this list feel free to use the comments below to add them. Our next Guide to Berlin Fashion is coming up soon with a new style category. Stay tuned!
