Lululemon partners with Team Canada after Nike was called out for Team USA kits ahead of Paris 2024

Lululemon has partnered with Team Canada to come up with the country’s Olympics kit, making sure stars ‘feel their best’ this summer, a day after Nike was slammed for skimpy track and field leotards for female athletes ahead of the Games in Paris.

On Tuesday, Team Canada unveiled red and white kits – the country’s official colors – with a high-tech design focusing on thermal comfort while also paying homage to the country’s indigenous heritage. 

Barely 24 hours earlier, Team USA faced backlash over its ‘sexist’ kits due to a high-cut, light-colored leotard that barely covers the bikini line for female track and field athletes. Steeplechaser Colleen Quigley and hurdler Queen Harrison reproached Nike and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee for deciding to prioritize skimpiness over function.

Meanwhile, in designing their first Summer Games collection, Lululemon said it leaned heavily on product testing and feedback from 19 Canadian Olympic and Paralympic athletes across 14 different sports, including gold medal hopes such as tennis player Leylah Fernandez, decathlete Damian Warner and swimmer Summer McIntosh. 

Top of athletes’ concerns was having outfits that work well in the Paris heat and humidity followed by fit and function. The Games are set to run from July 26 to August 11.

The kits have a high-tech design focusing on thermal comfort to fight heat in Paris this summer

Lululemon said it leaned heavily on product testing and feedback from 19 Canadian athletes

Team Canada’s kit release comes barely 24 hours after the U.S. faced backlash over its skimpy track and field leotards for female athletes, designed by Nike

‘For the most part they really love the designs we created for them,’ Sun Choe, Lululemon’s chief product officer, told Reuters. ‘The story telling behind the prints we created is very authentic and intentional.

‘But mostly their concerns were how are you going to solve for how hot it is going to be, how different the temperatures might be at night, inside or outside so we wanted to make sure we took those things into consideration. We heard from athletes that comfort was key to being in the right head space throughout their day at the Games.’

Taking over from the Hudson’s Bay Company as Canada’s Olympic and Paralympic outfitter from the 2022 Beijing Olympics, Paris will be the Canadian athletic and leisure apparel giant’s first attempt at a summer kit which includes outfits for the opening and closing ceremony, medal ceremonies and another for media appearances.

The outfits athletes will actually compete in are determined by each sport’s national governing body.

Another key to the designs were tapping into Canadian culture from maple leaves to orcas

Lululemon succeeds the Hudson’s Bay Company as Canada’s Olympic and Paralympic outfitter

Canada will have outfits for the opening and closing ceremonies, as well as medal ceremonies and media appearances

As a Vancouver based company creating a collection for a Canadian Olympic team Choe said another key to the design was tapping into the country’s culture and iconic images from the maple leaf to orcas. The print design used in the closing ceremony outfit was done in collaboration with First Nation artist Mason Mashon and inspired by the aurora borealis. 

Lululemon has also designed Future Legacy Items that include ball caps, scarves and belt bags of which 10 percent of all sales will go to the Canadian Olympic Foundation and Paralympic Foundation.

‘Pride in nation, national pride, no matter what gets designed with our official outfitters it is very important that it represents Canada, what we want to see represented at the Olympic and Paralympic Games and I think they did a marvelous job,’ Canadian Olympic Committee CEO David Shoemaker told Reuters. 

‘And obviously the Future Legacy items are very important because 10 percent will be in the millions of dollars.’