Today, Polo Ralph Lauren unveiled the uniforms that Team USA will be sporting to the 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in Pyeongchang, South Korea, on February 9—and they are peak Americana.
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Designed in a color palette of red, white, and blue, the uniforms feature modern, tech-enhanced performances pieces punctuated by classic folk references: slim-fit moto jeans, fringed cowboy gloves, a tricolor wool knit sweater, a navy bandana, and brown suede mountaineering boots with red laces.
“At Ralph Lauren we’re always trying to celebrate the American spirit, but we also want to have a point of view. The red, white, and blue sensibility is something we believe in, but we also wanted to reinvent that sensibility for the modern spirit of today’s athletes,” the six-time official outfitter of Team USA told InStyle in an email.
They did so in part by embracing wearable technology, embedding the athletes’ limited-edition down parka with an interior heating system made of conductive carbon and silver ink and printed in the design of an American flag.
“Beyond adding extra warmth, the technology added a modernity to the iconic style of the Olympic outfits,” the company said, explaining that the battery-powered tech, which offers three heat settings and lasts up to 11 hours, is meant “to keep [the athletes] warm, to keep their muscles limber, to make sure they didn’t tighten up before the challenges of the next day and the following two weeks.”
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Engineered and manufactured in the United States, the uniforms were created using fabrics sourced from local vendors, in keeping with the project’s Made in America approach.
Keeping scrolling to see the uniforms modeled by Olympic freestyle skier Gus Kenworthy and Olympic snowboarder Jamie Anderson—plus more of Polo Ralph Lauren’s official sketches of the opening ceremony looks.
The Polo Ralph Lauren Team USA 2018 collection will be available for purchase at select Ralph Lauren stores and at RalphLauren.com and TeamUSAShop.com.