A day at the Wiesn — as Munich calls its Oktoberfest — starts in the morning and ends somewhere after midnight at the U-Bahn. In between lie ten or twelve hours in which your phone, card, cash and keys all have to stay with you: in the crush, at your spot on the beer bench, on the walk between two tents. And the lederhosen that are supposed to carry all of it have roughly as much room as a pair of jeans that are too tight. More outfits come unstuck on this than on the colour of the shirt.
This piece works through it back to front: first what has to come, then where it should go, then what goes with it. If you would rather just see what is available — everything for the festival is in the Oktoberfest collection.
What has to come along for a full day at the Wiesn
The list is shorter than most people think, and it still will not fit in a trouser pocket:
- Cash. Paying by card at the table is not a given everywhere, and if you end up queuing at a cash machine you lose your seat.
- Card and ID. Both flat, and neither can go missing.
- Your phone. By the evening it is the only way you will find your people again.
- Keys. The lump that bulges out of every pocket.
- Odds and ends. Chewing gum, a charging cable, the spare hair tie for whoever you came with.
Five things. Sounds harmless. But three of them are hard and angular, and those are exactly why lederhosen sometimes look, after one day at the Wiesn, as though they have three years behind them.
Why a fat wallet does not belong in lederhosen
A pair of lederhosen sits differently from jeans. The leather is firm, the pockets are cut shallow, and the material does not give the way denim does — it bulges and it stays bulged. A stuffed wallet presses into the leather from the inside, and that bulge is not coming out again. It becomes part of the trousers.
Then there is the sitting. You spend ten hours on a beer bench, and everything in your back pocket spends those ten hours there with you. It is uncomfortable, and it is the fastest way to ruin a seam.
The solution is unspectacular: take a flatter wallet for the day. A card holder or a portrait-format wallet is far less bulky than a landscape wallet with a coin pocket and ten card slots — and the capacity you give up is capacity you will not need that day anyway. If you want to think it through properly, which format suits which routine is covered in detail in the guide to men's wallets; the selection is under men's wallets.
One option that has its own logic at the Wiesn: the wallet with a chain. In the crush, when four people bump into you at once, a wallet attached to your trousers is quite simply a wallet that is still there. It is a little bulkier than a card holder — but you cannot leave it behind.
On the belt or over the shoulder: what works when
There are three usable ways to get rid of your luggage, and they suit different kinds of day.
On the belt
The most obvious solution, because you are wearing the belt anyway. A belt bag sits at your side or turned slightly forward, does not wander as you walk and opens with one hand — which counts when the other one is holding a Maß, the litre stein. The token pouch (€34.95) comes from the hospitality trade and is built for exactly this: waiting staff wear one for eight hours at a stretch, reaching into it constantly. By comparison, the Wiesn is an easy day.
The drawback: on the belt it is not invisible. If you want a slim silhouette, a belt bag will feel like a lump. That is a matter of taste and there is no talking it away.
Over the shoulder or across the body
A shoulder bag takes the weight off your hips and can simply be laid on your lap when you sit down, instead of digging into your ribs. Worn across the body it stays at the front and therefore in view. The Ingrid shoulder bag in traditional Bavarian style (€59.95) is the version that looks like part of the outfit rather than something merely carried along — with 4.97 from 29 reviews it has the best feedback of any traditional Bavarian bag in the range.
If you would rather not have leather on the beer table — beer drips, tables are wet — take the shoulder bag in recycled PET (€39.95). To be honest: it does not look like traditional dress. It is the choice for the day when you do not care and toughness comes first.
No bag at all
The third option is to shrink the problem rather than carry it. The belt with a hidden compartment (€29.95) takes whatever absolutely must not go missing and keeps it on the inside of your waistband, where nobody can get at it. It does not replace a bag for your phone and keys, but it takes the importance out of the bag: if that disappears, not everything has gone. It comes in waist sizes from 85 to 115 cm, the Ratschkatl version from 70 to 100 cm.
The five ways to carry it, compared
The table above puts the five options side by side with price and rating. A quick word on each, because a table cannot say everything:
- Token pouch on the belt — the most pragmatic solution. Fastest access, sits firmly, looks functional.
- Belt with a hidden compartment — not a substitute for a bag, but the safety net underneath it. Cheapest item on the list.
- Ingrid shoulder bag — for when the bag should be part of the look rather than just along for the ride.
- Heart bag — the heart bag (€49.95) sits under our Ratschkatl label and is mostly worn by women. If you are looking on behalf of your companion, that is the answer to the question.
- PET shoulder bag — hard-wearing, inexpensive, visually neutral to out of place. For the day when function beats appearance.
Every bag in the range is listed in the bags overview.
What goes with lederhosen
The question of Oktoberfest accessories for men comes down to three pieces in the end, and none of them is the bag.
The belt. It is the piece that makes carrying the bag possible in the first place, and it is the only piece of leather sitting right next to the trousers. If the depth of colour roughly matches, that is good enough; it does not have to be identical, and with leather it will not stay identical over the years anyway. The selection is under leather belts.
The hat. A leather hat does more for the overall impression than any other single item — and it is the item where the size most often goes wrong. Medium is a head circumference of 56 to 57 cm, Large 58 to 59 cm, XLarge 60 to 61 cm. Measure once before you order. The Lumpi hat (€49.95) is the plainer shape, the Bavaria hat (€59.95) the more eye-catching one.
The shoes. Ten hours of standing and walking are ten hours. Haferlschuhe — the traditional Bavarian shoe with side lacing — (€79.95) come in sizes 41 to 46. New shoes on a Wiesn day are a decision you regret by the evening; break them in two or three times beforehand.
On the trousers themselves: men's lederhosen run from 48 to 56, women's models from 36 to 44. The Hodalump lederhosen (€149.95) have 122 reviews at 4.77 — what to look for when buying is covered in detail in the article on how to recognise a good pair of lederhosen.
Three mistakes that keep repeating
Taking too much. Everything you bring is something you can lose. The power bank you pack “just in case” ends up under the beer bench.
Everything in one place. Cash, card and ID together in one bag means one careless moment and the day is over. Split it up. One part on your body, one part in the bag.
Wearing the bag at the back. In a crowd, anything you want to keep belongs at the front. That is not paranoia, it is what follows from very many people on very little ground.
The short version
A flat wallet instead of a fat one, because otherwise the lederhosen keep the bulge. A bag on the belt if you want fast access; a shoulder bag if you want to put it down while you sit. Valuables split up, one part in the hidden compartment. A hat in the right size, shoes broken in. That is all it takes — the rest is weather and company, and no bag has any influence on those.
Whatever of that we stock is gathered in the Oktoberfest collection.