Otto and Spike make two beret models, both in unfelted pure Australian lamb's wool: the Otto & Spike Basque Beret in black and 6 colours @ $59.00 and the Tam o' Shanter-like 'Whippet' in black and 3 colours @ $54.00.
All berets are handmade in Melbourne, Australia of old-world quality; exceptionally comfortable and warm.
Les Mananov migrated from Macedonia to Australia in 1959 and, after starting as a paperboy in a gritty inner-city suburb, he trained as a mechanic in textile factories. He met his future wife (from Sicily) at a knitting mill and Les started his own business, upstream of the existing knitting mills, making fabric lengths for others. At that stage, there were around 600 knitting businesses in the area. While practically all others moved their manufacturing to China, he kept his LMB knitwear factory on the corner of Victoria and Sedgman Street in Melbourne for 25 years, until 1991. Son Anthony continued the business, renaming it after his children: Otto and Spike.
So, for more than 1/2 century, Otto and Spike have been knitting in Brunswick, Australia. creating and producing high-quality knitted goods.
Otto and Spike use the finest lamb’s wool for their berets, sourced from all over Australia and knit on an amazing collection of knitting machinery; enough to document the last century of knitted history. Unlike the felted Basque berets, Otto and Spike's are made of raw lamb's wool, similar to the original shepherd's berets of old in the Pyrenees.
Otto and Spike's knitted berets are ethically and sustainably* manufactured in Melbourne, Australia.*Ethical Clothing Australia credited
