VANCOUVER — Remember the over-the-top Chinese/Canadian hodgepodge of graphic designs that dominated Canadian Olympic wear for the Beijing Games last year?
Critics felt it was psychedelia run amok.
Hudson’s Bay Company president Jeff Sherman knows his retail chain dropped the design ball on that one and he expects the 2010 Olympic to receive a far better reaction.
It was unveiled Thursday morning at The Bay’s new Olympic Superstore in Vancouver.
With its latest Olympic clothing line, HBC – a national 2010 Games sponsor and the official clothing supplier to the 2010 Canadian team – chose to embrace heritage and tradition, Sherman said.
Long-term fashion played a major role in the design of typically Canadian winter wear, including parkas, knitted sweaters, toques, scarves and mittens.
“We have designed product to make sure it is something people will be happy to have as part of their wardrobe long after the Games are over – not just something they’ll want to wear for two weeks during the Games,” he said.
While Team Canada’s official look won’t be unveiled until the Opening Ceremonies on Feb. 12, these products should give people a sense of what Canadian athletes will wear next year.
Key elements include:
“¢ Canadian colours. The colours of the collection are represented by a traditional palette of red and vintage white, strengthened by black and combined with an athletic heather grey.
“¢ Canadian graphics. Influential work of many great Canadian graphic designers from the modernist era in the “˜60s and “˜70s inspired the design team to revisit a classic clean design aesthetic to the collection.
“¢ Canada word mark or graphic identity. Clean and symmetrical, the Canada word mark features the letter “˜A’ pointing upward to represent the mountain ranges and slopes of British Columbia, Host province the 2010 Winter Games.
Vancouver Sun
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