Ottavio Missoni

Ottavio “Tai” Missoni was born in 1921 in Ragusa, Dalmatia. He later lived in Zara before studying in Trieste and Milan.^[1,2]

In 1937, aged 16, he entered Italy’s national athletics team and raced in Paris. Eleven years later, he competed for Italy at the London Olympics. His athletic career sits alongside his later work in knitwear; the two chapters meet in the story of the Venjulia training suits.^[1,2,3]

In 1946 Missoni returned to Italy and lived between Trieste and Milan. In 1948 he began a knitwear business in Trieste with Giorgio Oberweger. Their small workshop, with four machines, made wool training suits called Venjulia, later adopted as the Italian national team’s uniform.^[1,2]