7 best streetwear t-shirt trends in Europe

Analysing the 7 best t-shirt trends in Europe

By Rob Shillcock

We might not have quite as many opportunities to show off our sense of style in public as we have in other years, but who cares? Streetwear tees are all about attitude, and that’s something we’ll all need a little more of if we’re going to live well in the forthcoming twelve months. And if there’s one thing we’ve learned from 2020, it’s that even during a global pandemic, people will always find innovative ways to ensure their apparel makes an impact. In this blog, we’ll run through some of the 7 best streetwear t-shirt trends of the year.

2. Back Prints

Mystery is hot, and don’t you forget it. You can lay your cards on the table with a bold and provocative front-facing design, but there’s power in getting the message across as you walk away. Backprint streetwear tees have been around for a while and shows no signs of cooling off.

back-print-tee
Back print tee. Found on Pinterest

1. Tie-Dye tees

Is it any wonder that we’re collectively looking back to a period that was more fun, more hopeful, more free? After a year of confinements and other restrictions, the care-free days of years gone by seem to be very far away indeed. Will they return? Surely. In the meantime, we can dream of a better future by copping a load of the return of tie-dye t-shirts, a crafting method that stretches back thousands of years but which in recent times is better known for its connection to 1960s counterculture and 1990s acid house music.

kuldrop-Tie-dye-tee-streetwear-t-shirt
Tie-dye tee. Found on Pinterest

3. All Over Print tees

What’s the king of the jungle right now? Chaos. Chaos is everywhere: in the halls of power, in our minds, and on our tees. All-over print shirts lack composition and can often be jarring to glance at, but take a moment to look at these shirts fully, and you’ll find many a message worth taking on board, as well as a nod to graffiti-style styling. It’s pure madness, but that’s how we like it.  

All-over-print-tee
All over print t-shirt. Found on Pintetrest

4. Abstract tees

These thoughts in our heads can’t always come out as words. Sometimes, all we can hope for is that we can express them through art. That’s the idea behind our graphic tees here at Kuldrop, which typically feature geometric shapes, basic colours (if any at all), gradients, and abstract typography. And who are we kidding? The ideas are important, but the free-flowing and non-linear nature of abstract geometry design simply looks dope on tees.

Abstract tee collection from Mirza Talovic. kuldrop

5. Techno tees

Techno is the answer to your problems. Yeah, we miss the dripping, dark clubs and the catharsis they provide, but the music lives on. If you’re wandering into a dystopian future that you have no way of controlling, then the least you can hope for is a banging techno track — and perhaps the apparel to match. Techno tees encapsulate all we love about the culture: dark, rebellious, and cool as fuck. 

In the t-shirt above, you’ll see all the staples of techno clothing: fine lines, a nod to 90’s techno fliers, and a depiction of the world that signals unity, just not in the way normies understand it.

techno-tee

6. Fast Food tees

Few things say more about our society than fast food. Largely unhealthy and environmentally problematic, they’re iconic in the sense that all of us spend at least some of our money in those chain restaurants, even though we sometimes wish we didn’t. Whether you wear one ironically or as a badge of acceptance of who you are, the style of fast food tees, which are usually mono-colour and promote burger, Chinese, and doner kebab restaurants, will draw you in.

street food t-shirt
street food t-shirt. Found on Pinterest

7. Classic Painting Prints

Virgil Abloh may have declared streetwear as dead, but 1. We don’t believe him, and 2. We forgive him for those blasphemous comments because he started a graphic t-shirt trend that we adore. Placing classic paintings on tees isn’t new, but how producers do it continues to evolve. Who doesn’t love a remix? You’ll find classic Renaissance paintings given a modern makeover that’s fit for these times; just like the paintings, these t-shirts disrupt the status quo.

Classical-painting-tee