👕 Last 10 years of Hacktoberfest merch, a journey through time 👀

Bap - Oct 19 '23 - - Dev Community

Hey friends 👋

I thought it would be cool to revisit all the Hacktoberfest tee-shirts created over the years!

When coding (and contributing), we all enjoy having something comfortable to wear.

Knowing this, Hacktoberfest has created a couple of gems for us to code with. 💎

For those who have not gotten started in contributing to Hacktoberfest yet (or you just want to find cool projects to work on), you can use this free tool to find all the projects to contribute to.

Simply sign in with GitHub and click on Contribute.

Now, let's check out the evolution of their tee shirts over the years! ⬇️


2014

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A classic grey-coloured shirt with a bit of beer as a reference to Oktoberfest. Love it 👏

You have to give some extra points for being one of the OGs, so I'd give this a:

4.5/5


2015

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No more reference to beer this time. We are now in pumpkin land and eager for Halloween to arrive. 🎃

I love the event, so it means I'm 100% biased 😄
I'll give this a:

3.75/5

I know, a bit anal about the scoring lol.


2016

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A darker grey shirt with a more minimalistic vibe - not my favourite, but still quite good-looking.

I think it is reasonable to give this:

3.5/5

PS: I could not find a better pic, if you have one, send it over!


2017

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We stay on a minimalistic design with a blue background that is, this time, slightly darker.

The colours harmonise well together. For this, my score would be:

3.5/5


2018

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Now, I really like this one! This is the first time we actually show a computer.

It has a retro/gamer vibe that really works. This deserves a strong:

4.65/5


2019

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There is a nice futuristic vibe here with very bright colours.

I can understand how people may like this one. Personally though, it isn't my style.

Still, I'd say a fair assessment would be:

4/5


2020

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Grey, pink and burgundy are the main colours for this edition.

It looks really cool, but it does not have as strong a "personality" when comparing it to the other tee shirts.

My final mark for this one is:

3/5


2021

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This is a tee shirt that just gives off a cosy vibe of just coding and chilling. The patterns also call for Christmas design, which is never a bad thing 🎄

4.5/5 (mainly for the nice vibe 🔥)


2022

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This shirt is so dope, IMO.
It feels modern, relevant and just cool. There is a dark version (the one advertised here) but also a lighter version.

Looking back at some comments, the community definitely loved that one a lot.

I'd give this one a:

4.9/10


2023

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This shirt is really nice. It is very clear, and...

OK, I'm fudging with you a little bit here.

If you see a blank space, it's completely normal.

There is no 2023 tee shirt.

This year, Hacktoberfest's parent company, Digital Ocean, decided to stop the free tee-shirts.

This was due to a mix of logistics complexity tied to the event growing and environmental concerns in producing that many tee-shirts. I think that's fair.

Also, I have not found the 2013 edition. Was there actually a tee shirt in Hacktoberfest's first year? If so, please drop a link so I can add it to the article.


All in all, these were all the Hacktoberfest tee shirts created over the years. I hope you enjoyed this little journey in time.

Please let me know if you think my judging was 💩, I am no expert lol.

What about you? What is your favourite one? ➡️ Copy this template below and paste your score in the comments

  • 2014: x/5
  • 2015: x/5
  • 2016: x/5
  • 2017: x/5
  • 2018: x/5
  • 2019: x/5
  • 2020: x/5
  • 2021: x/5
  • 2022: x/5

If you want to contribute to projects, head over to quira. sh to get started with your new hacktoberfest contribution!

If you haven't yet, you should join our discord server if you want to join the self-proclaimed "coolest" server in open source (😝). We are also here to help you in your journey with open source. 🫶

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