"I love sweatshirts!," says Italian fashion designer Olmes Carretti, who founded the label Best Company in the early 1980s.

Vier5 visited Olmes Carretti for the first time in early 2003 in Reggio Emilia, which gave rise to an ongoing collaboration including several interviews with the designer. The book systematically documents and annotates individual shirts taken from different phases and lines in a series of full and detailed photographs.

Sweatshirts made from heavy cotton based on American "highschool-sweats." The use of involved processing methods as well as large embroidered areas, multi-coloured printing and specialised seams differentiated these Best Company garments from their American counterparts. The world of motifs derives from animals (flying ducks, wild animals, etc.) or sport (golf, tennis, winter sport or water sports, etc.). Caretti developed the motifs himself based upon precise nature studies and drawings.

The label was closed down in the 1980s. Since then it has achieved cult status.

Vier5

Including an interview with Olmes Carretti by Vier5, texts by Alec Lobrano, Manuela CassarĂ , and Franca Miele, as well as an extensive index of texts, shirts, drawings, embroidery patterns, patterns, and short introductionary texts on logo, labels, drawings, embroidery, textiles.
2009, 195 x 250 mms, 96 pp, 82 b/w full- and double page illustrations, colour silkscreen-printed cover page, softcover, 500 copies, ISBN 978-3-940215-00-0.
CA$ 25.00
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