The annual leather migration to the German Capital, Berlin, was a busy as ever in September. Chris Malford reports…

If there’s a start to a leather season , then unarguably it’s Folsom Europe in Berlin, each September. And this year’s long weekend fest certainly didn’t disappoint in numbers and events. In conjunction with BLUF@Bristol, Leatherwest created a leather first: a live continuous steam of events and news in the build- up and throughout the hub- bub of the weekend via Twitter and Facebook, which proved to be instant hit with plenty of followers and positive feedback since.

Numbers going to Berlin from the Bristol, the South West and South Wales were up on previous years, despite these times of economic woe, as one local leatherman said “there were certainly ten guys on the Thursday flight out and back on Monday, that doesn’t include the Friday to Sunday crowd, but certainly up on previous years”. Excitement was evident from the chatter that exploded onto BLUF Bristol’s Facebook group page and Twitter feed, with local guys responded to the questions by LeatherWest: “What you wearing on board?” to “Managed to stay within the weight limits?”, “Are you all packed and ready guys?”

Local BLUF guys were lucky to have one guy staying at the Kinky Tulip, right in the epicentre of happenings, dubbed ‘ground zero’, or the ‘knocking shop’ from reported incidents on Twitter in the venue. “This became the group’s den, handy for leaving things and using the toilet”, said Andy from Gloucestershire (always an issue on with bustling bars and clubs!) Clubs and bars were packed out with thousands of guys flying in from across Europe, “..almost too much in some cases with it getting far too hot for full leather.

By the second night people were dressing down to in attempt to stop the sweat pouring out”, said Mike from Bristol, “nevertheless”, he added, “there was a great buzz, bumping into faces you hadn’t seen for along way and meeting guys from across the world.” The daytimes saw the streets of Schöneberg busy, but not as crowded as on previous years.

One veteren Folsom Europe attendee, Paul from Somerset, said he sensed that numbers were slighty down, “there less guys from the UK. The was a near total absence of guys from Ireland, usually with a good gang coming from Dublin. They just weren’t there. The shops were as busy with people at the tills as before.” Paul’s observations were echoed by others.

Mark from Wiltshire noticing that “Mr B and RoB and Gear Berlin were selling alot of T- shirts, but not the big ticket leather items. Before you would have seen boots and pants at hundreds of Euros being bought: not this year. People were saving their cash for going out rather than a big leather Berlin shopping trip.” Getting money conscious at Folsom Europe was a new trend, where previous abandoned spending would ordinarily be evident. One new feature was for stores, such as RoB, to have a rack of second hand leathers (previously unheard of) and one new ‘pop- up’ store by the venerated fetish club Mutschmann’s selling only second hand gear and boots.

“That place was really popular. One of those places were you need to be going in regularly to spot an item and have a think about it. Two guys I know got great jackets from just €50 each”, said Josh, a first timer at Folsom, from Exeter.

The Saturday street part in FuggarstraBe, didn’t disappoint in numbers and mix of guys in gear and by country. The predicted weather for a not too warm, not too cool September day came true, with no rain, high overcast clouds and a breaking of sunshine in the afternoon. Some change to people’s movements was that the street party didn’t start filling up until after 2pm, in previous years at midday, and went on much later until the early evening, where as before people starting peeling off to get a club nap at about 5pm. Reportedly more guys had travelled from the States than in previous years, with the usual huge numbers form Germany and Holland.

“Though what was noticeable was that the Berliners were at the street party but not in the bars and clubs - just too many I guess, to fit in to what is a small number bars in the area to accommodate the mass leather arrival. They just stayed away”, observed Paul from Cardiff. For those guys who have attended before, reports coming back into Leatherwest confirmed a trend that has emerged: that is Folsom Europe is becoming more a social ‘leather fest’ then a ‘big bang sex fest’.

“You’re just not gonna cop off with some horny guy in a bar during Folsom. There’s just too many people. Men looking for the next ‘better’ thing to pass by. Even if you clock someone, it’s unlikely in that big a crowd you’d catch them again”, said Ian from Bristol. He added, saying “I was lucky to be in a group and by the Saturday night we decided to give the big Saturday night party PIG a miss and just relax, chill and got out, do a bar crawl and just have a laugh together - with a total absence of intending to have a shag. In fact, it took the pressure off and we had a right laugh.”

Despite the big parties on the Friday and Saturday night being heavily promoted, few attended, with tickets starting at €25. One that did, David from Bristol said “the venues were packed, a huge army of boys and lads in chaps, jock and harness, plenty of dancing and then at 3am a dive into the play areas”. He thought, “organisers were saying 6,000 were at the PIG party. Whether there were not I don’t know, but certainly the parties were well organised with different themed areas of music, so you had room for the hard- core techno crowd to the mellow loungy style rooms. Something for everyone.”

Adding up all the comments and experiences it does appear that the social relaxed aspect of daytime events and wanders through Schöneberg, throwing in a bit of sightseeing and cultural ‘stuff’, tending to be the most popular, “Just loving wearing my leathers and boots in the day and no one, I mean no one, batting an eyelid, expect those eyeing you up! I mean, where can that happen except Berlin?”, said one.

Despite, some of the obvious downsides to such a big global leather event, Leatherwest asked each guy we contacted if they would be going again. Not one said no. “For sure, I’ going next year, There’s nothing like it”, Paul said, though admitting that a a bit more planning and organising to get costs down was going to be a priority. On average, Folsom Europe is not a cheap option, with the typical length of stay being Thursday to Monday (most apartments and hotels in the Schöneberg ‘zone’ insist on an minimum stay of four nights) can result in a bill of at least €500 and in some cases topping €1000 when all costs of travel, accommodation, tickets, food and socialising are added up.

As Leatherwest went to press, we learned that in response to this, that local BLUF members who’d gone out plan to club together on apartments to get a better deal and reduce the cost of the event. “I can go to the Med for a week for the cost of going to Folsom for a couple of days”, said Joel form Weston- Super- Mare, “Getting a group of four plus together and getting a large apartment means you can save loads.” Joel added that he’d be booking his flight in January when tickets become first available. Folsom is now generally accepted to be a global gay leatherman’s heaven for a few days. It’s a place to meet and catch- up, to relax in gear and enjoy everything that city has to offer as well (hopefully for some or many) the men as well. Will Folsom Europe grow bigger is anyone’s guess, but certainly its draw is as strong as ever and shows no signs of diminishing. The annual leather migration to the German Capital, dubbed, by some as the Republic of Leather, seems a dead cert for 2012.

• Leatherwest will be publishing future articles on Folsom Europe, the aftermath and how to plan and organise for the global event in Berlin with tips, suggestions and ideas on how to save your hard- earned cash and get the most out of the ‘Folsomfest’