Find out more about this exclusive drop here and visit one of the shop tour events near you:
- Tomato Salad Days collection
- Tomato Salad Days – tour dates at Blue Tomato shops
- The Dudes Bio – get to know these guys
- Interview with Mcbess – The Dudes co-founder and illustrator
Tomato Salad Days collection
With the Tomato Salad Days Collection by The Dudes feat. Blue Tomato, we are celebrating collaboration, friendship, and carefree energy. A nostalgic nod to the golden “salad days” of youth – when everything felt new, easy, and fun.
The Dudes creative spirit is about a certain type of humour, we definitely don’t take anything too seriously.
Mcbess, co-founder and illustrator of The Dudes
Tomato Salad Days brings that unfiltered joy back – limited pieces with real artistic fingerprints, humor, and story-driven details like patches, NFC chips on shirts and collectible items. It's a mix-and-match celebration of contrasts: light vs. shadow, carefree vs. chaotic, naïve vs. wise. The collection feels personal, not mass-produced. Discover this exclusive drop here:
Tomato Salad Days events and shop tour
Six stops. Fresh styles. Good vibes.
The brand-new The Dudes x Blue Tomato collaboration is coming – and we’re bringing it straight to the shop floor. Berlin kicks things off with a pre-launch, before we head out across the country with five more stops.
Tour Dates
All events start at 2 pm. Just click the shop name to get more event facts and photos on instagram.
- 23 Apr: Blue Tomato Shop Berlin City – Pre-launch event
- 25 Apr: Blue Tomato Shop Hamburg City
- 30 April: Blue Tomato Shop Freiburg
- 1 May: Blue Tomato Shop Innsbruck
- 7 May: Blue Tomato Shop Vienna Neubaugasse
- 9 May: Blue Tomato Shop Linz
What to expect at Tomato Salad Days events
- Tattoo Glory Hole
- DJ set
- Frisbee golf
- Bear Ping
- DIY patches
- Free beer
- Wheel of Misfortune
Come along, grab a drink and check out the new stuff right here. See you on the dance floor!
The Dudes Bio – get to know these guys
THE DUDES
The Dudes is a Berlin-based collective and lifestyle brand founded in 2010 by a group of friends, including illustrator Mcbess (Matthieu Bessudo). The Dudes centres on the distinctive visual language of Mcbess’ illustration, combining irreverent humour with references to music, food, and underground culture. Drawing on shared interests in art, strong drinks, loud music and social ritual, The Dudes has developed an international following within contemporary graphic and streetwear communities.
Operating across apparel, accessories and printed artworks, The Dudes prioritises responsibly sourced materials and collaborates with production partners committed to sustainable manufacturing practices. The collective’s output reflects an intentionally raw aesthetic, balancing spontaneity with considered design processes, while maintaining a consistent emphasis on reducing waste and producing durable, thoughtfully constructed garments and objects.
MCBESS
Mcbess (Matthieu Bessudo) is a French illustrator and multidisciplinary artist based in London. His graphic language merges early animation aesthetics, particularly those associated with Fleischer Studios, with bold contemporary typography, symbols, and shapes. His distinctive visual identity references 1930s rubber-hose cartoons while remaining rooted in modern design culture.
Recurring motifs in Mcbess’ imagery place the artist as a character within surreal, looping environments populated by musical instruments, amplifiers, vinyl records and anthropomorphic food.
As co-founder of The Dudes, mcbess designs their seasonal apparel collections and produces screen prints, accessories and lifestyle objects extending his visual universe into commercial design contexts.
Interview with Mcbess – The Dudes co-founder and illustrator
What is the idea behind the Collab and art in ‘Tomato Salad Days’?
The Dudes creative spirit is about a certain type of humour, we definitely don’t take anything too seriously. And that’s a spirit that we hold on to as we develop the brand. It’s about youthful energy, and ‘Tomato Salad Days’ is a playful way to sum this up: it’s a nod to the collaboration and the ‘salad days’ of times gone by, when things felt carefree, easy and fun.
What does a graphic illustration on a T-Shirt or Streetwear piece mean to you? Art? Self-expression? A message?
A graphic illustration can be art, self expression or a message, but it’s up to the person wearing it to give it that meaning. We’re living in a time of upheaval in almost every area of life and our way of dealing with that is to laugh at it, to be subversive by being playful and bold.
The Dudes is celebrating its 15th anniversary. Looking back to the early days: How do you think fashion and art in fashion have evolved since then?
We were very proud to celebrate our 15th year in business. Culturally, a lot has changed since then, but we’ve never chased trends at The Dudes. What we do is a response to what we see happening around us. There are echoes of Y2K fashion here but this is our take on that rather than a reproduction of anything from that time. This is also reflected in the two ‘worlds’ of the collection: the rebellious, playful, vibrant colours contrasted with the chaos and mischief of the darker pieces.
The Dudes places importance not only on the synergy between art and fashion, but also on the harmony between nature, people, production, materials and the final product. Do you see the symbiosis of slow fashion and art as a niche trend, a reflection of the times, a socially responsible ‘duty’, or perhaps a general shift towards a new era in clothing?
We’ve always run The Dudes from the perspective of what we would like to see in the world - and we are demanding consumers. When you buy a piece of clothing, you have a huge number of brands to choose from. You aren’t just making a practical decision, you are also signalling your allegiance to a certain tribe, making their story part of your own story. So, make it a story worth telling; something that is designed and produced with care and attention for everyone who is involved in getting that piece of clothing to you.