• Perkele Bear t-shirt in black, worn by Katja at a Helsinki café terrace in summer, Very Finnish Problems
  • Perkele Bear t-shirt in black, worn by Katja at a Helsinki café terrace in summer, Very Finnish Problems
  • Perkele Bear t-shirt in black, worn by Mikko sitting on a lakeside rock, Very Finnish Problems
  • Perkele Bear t-shirt in navy, worn by Tuomas fishing from a lake jetty, Very Finnish Problems
  • Perkele Bear t-shirt in white, worn by Jojelli grilling sausages at a summer cottage, Very Finnish Problems
  • Perkele Bear t-shirt in burnt orange, worn by Venla buying strawberries at a summer market, Very Finnish Problems
  • Perkele Bear t-shirt in forest green, worn by Anneli picking bilberries in a spruce forest, Very Finnish Problems
  • Close-up of the Perkele Bear print on a black t-shirt, Very Finnish Problems
  • Size guide for this t-shirt: your chest measured all the way round, then the t-shirt laid flat, in centimetres and inches, sizes S to 3XL, Very Finnish Problems
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Perkele Bear Finnish Language T-Shirt

Perkele Bear Finnish Language T-Shirt

€27,95 EUR
€27,95 EUR
Sale Sold out

Free shipping worldwide, no minimum

Taxes included.
Colour: Black
SizeSize guide
In stock, created to order
Expected delivery
  • EU (Finland)13 to 16 November
  • UK13 to 16 November
  • North America13 to 16 November
Any 3 tees for €69 Mix any three t-shirts and get The Real Deal Guide to Finnish Happiness free, worth €14.95. The price drops in your cart.
  • Free worldwide shipping, no minimum
  • 30 day returns
  • Created to order, never mass produced
  • Machine wash cold, inside out

Designed in Finland. Crafted to order in the EU, UK, US or Australia, depending on where it's going.

This is soft, combed ring-spun cotton. Combing pulls out the short fuzzy fibres, then ring spinning twists what is left into a finer, tighter yarn. The result feels softer, wears better wash after wash and gives the print a smooth surface to sit on. Think of it as the shirt equivalent of a Finn after their first coffee, smoother and noticeably less prickly. It is 100% cotton at 142 g/m², light enough to wear most of the year.

More Finnish problems

What people buy alongside this one.

The brown bear is Finland's national animal, and it has the right idea about winter. In the north it crawls into a den in October and sleeps until April, which is still the most sensible response to the long dark anyone has come up with. This one has stayed up. He has pulled on a bobble hat and a pair of aviators and boiled his feelings about the whole business down to a single word.

Perkele is the swear word Finns reach for when ordinary language gives up. It covers the car that won't start at minus 25, the bus that leaves a minute early and the moment you realise nobody switched the sauna on.

On a t-shirt he is dressed for a blizzard and you are dressed for July. Between you, that covers most of a Finnish year.

Size guide

Shipping and returns

Shipping is free to almost everywhere, with no minimum spend and nothing added at checkout.

Your order is made for you, then posted from the print site nearest to you. Most arrive in 7 to 10 days, and you get a tracking link as soon as yours is on its way.

You have 30 days to return it. If the fit is wrong, email joel@veryfinnishproblems.com and we will sort it out. It needs to come back unworn and the return postage is yours. The refund policy has the full details.

Care and materials

Machine wash it cold and inside out, then tumble dry low or hang it up. The print will thank you for it.

The design is printed straight into the fabric (direct to garment, or DTG) rather than pressed on top, so it stays soft and will not crack or peel the way a transfer can. Every item is made to order, so nothing is mass produced and nothing sits in a warehouse waiting for someone to love it.

About Very Finnish Problems

VFP was started by British author Joel Willans, who met his Finnish wife in London and moved with her to Helsinki in 2002. Over the next two decades his observations of Finnish life grew into a community of 1.3 million people worldwide. Every design is inspired by real Finnish life and created by Joel and his team in Helsinki. Joel is also the author of the Very Finnish Problems books, written after many years of living in Finland and still not fully understanding it.

View full details

More Finnish problems

What people buy alongside this one.
  • 5 stars: 9 (100%)
  • 4 stars: 0 (0%)
  • 3 stars: 0 (0%)
  • 2 stars: 0 (0%)
  • 1 star: 0 (0%)
M
Mika Torvinen

Just what I suspected, perkele

A
Anonymous

What's not to love? It's perfect!!

A
Anonymous

Perfect!

S
Simon

Great quality shirt, cool bear 🐻‍❄️

I
Ilsa Williamson

I love it. Really comfy and love the design.

M
Matti K

Perkele!!! Love the bear. Got lots of comments already

R
Rob S.

My Finnish mate said the shirt is excellent but my pronunciation of perkele is terrible 😂

M
M.L.

Reflects my attitude very well. Now everybody knows what to expect when approaching me.
The Shirt is very comfortable to wear and the print looks great.

J
J

Looks exactly like picture. Very happy

Joel Willans, founder of Very Finnish Problems

Designed in Helsinki by someone who actually lives here

Very Finnish Problems is run by Joel Willans, a British writer who moved to Finland over twenty years ago and never quite got around to leaving. Every design comes out of real Finnish life he's had with his Finnish wife, Anna and their kids, and a community of more than 1.3 million people who know exactly what no niin means.

Read Joel's story