What's hot in The Bear kitchen? Carmy's traditional T-shirt

When the Emmys are awarded in September, everything points to a grand triumph for the dark comedy The Bear. The show about an award-winning chef reviving a sandwich shop, which returned to television screens this summer, has bagged a record 23 nominations.

Its popularity is also thanks to an unlikely protagonist: 30 antique knitting machines that are buzzing in the Swabian Alps, deep in Germany’s southwest.

The machines and their operators create the perfectly tailored T-shirts that Carmy Berzatto, the chef played by the American actor Jeremy Allen White, dons in kitchen scenes. White has featured in innumerable publicity shots and trailers, and the look has turned him into a fashion model and earned the show’s designers an Emmy nomination.  

The plain white T-shirt, with prices from a steep €70, is produced by the Berlin-based label Merz b. Schwanen. The label was founded in 1911 and still uses rare loopwheel knitting machines in its production. 

​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​                  Nick Alipour The Times