The Bear: Carmy’s White T-Shirts and Checkered Jacket

​

Carmy’s deceptively simple white short-sleeved T-shirts were the subject of much web speculation after The Bear debuted as fans investigated everything from sleeve to seam to try to identify who made them. Costume designers Cristina Spiridakis and Courtney Wheeler have confirmed that—after testing a range of brands ahead of the pilot—the screen-worn T-shirts were primarily the Merz b. Schwanen 215 (…).  

Merz b. Schwanen is a historic German brand dating back to 1911, though the modern iteration relaunched in 2011, three years after the original company ended operations. The Berlin-based company specializes in loopwheeled garments informed by classic workwear and produced using almost exclusively 100% organic cotton from Greece.  

“Wearing Merz b. Schwanen tees is the type of choice someone makes after cycling through dozens of other white tees in search of the absolute perfect one,” concludes Cam Wolf for GQ.

Carmy specifically wears the “Classic Fit” model 215, from Merz b. Schwanen’s “Good Originals” collection, made of 8.6-oz. loopwheeled cotton prone to showing a “calendar crease” due to the two-thread fabric process. The shirt can be differentiated on screen by its narrow ribbed crew-neck, triangular armpit inserts for comfort, and the rectangular outline of the Merz b. Schwanen label centered just below the back of the neck-line—manufactured on 19th century jacquard looms from hand-made punch cards, these woven labels are a brand signature.

​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​    Christopher Storer • BAMF Style ​