Missoni represents a unique style in ready-to-wear knit classics. What started off as a tiny workshop belonging to a newly-wed couple has become the leading trend-setter for knitwear in the world. Ottavio (known to everybody as Tai) was born in 1921 in Dalmatia and brought up in Trieste. In the late 1940s he was producing track suits with a friend to be worn by the Italian national team at the 1948 Olympic Games in London. Rosita who had gone to watch the games saw Tai run as a finalist in the 400 meters obstacle course and decided that he would become her husband.

Their first big break came in 1964 when they met designer Emmanuelle Kahn and decided to make a knitwear collection together which they showed in Milan two years later.

Ottavio and Rosita like to be called artisans because they developed their business by dreaming up colorful designs, mostly influenced by folk art. First they started with stripes, the easiest design. They use up to twenty different fabrics, including wool, cotton, linen, rayon and silk and some 40 different colors for each of their collections. Their clothes range from sweaters to skirts, dresses.accessories,bags,sunglasses and jackets. Ottavio Missoni has also diversified from clothes to tapestries and carpets. In spite of their rapid expansion and their growing international sales, the Missonis have kept their traditional ideas and maintained quality an important priority.