Lederhosen are not just for Oktoberfest anymore. At least that's what Wiesnkoenig, the official supplier of the traditional German pants for the Munich Oktoberfest, is hoping Americans will come to believe now that it has opened its first flagship store in the U.S. inside the Christian Moerlein brewery in Cincinnati.
According to the company's website, "Wiesnkoenig playfully transports traditional elements of Bavarian apparel into everyday life. Worn by young, dynamic and trendsetting people across the fashion capitals of Europe, this high quality fashion inspired by dirndls and lederhosen is coming to the U.S."
"We're not selling costumes to make it look like Germans," Oliver Pfund, a Wiesnkoenig consultant, told The Associated Press. "We want to show people here in the U.S. you can wear the lederhosen with Chuck Taylors, you don't have to wear the suspenders. Or you can wear the dirndl with cowboy boots."
Wiesnkoenig, which operates five standalone stores in Germany and also sells its products in department stores in that country as well as Austria and Switzerland, chose Cincinnati as its entry point into the U.S. because it is a sister city to Munich and also because it is home to the largest Oktoberfest in America. The company doesn't currently offer online orders, but its website says an online shop will be available shortly.
