Designing an icon: Sportscraft’s 2024 Olympic Team uniform
Sportscraft
Sportscraft is known for its premium, contemporary Australian fashion pieces and the 2024 Olympic uniform is no exception. Since 1984, Sportscraft has been the proud designer of the official formal uniform for the Australian Olympic Team.
Ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, we spoke to Samantha De Kauwe, Head of Brand Creative, Marketing and Online at Sportscraft to discover the inspiration behind the 2024 Olympic uniform, and some of the iconic features that are part of this year’s design.
The inspiration behind the 2024 Olympic uniform
With iconic monuments like the Eiffel Tower and Le Louvre, the host city has so much inspiration to draw from. However, Samantha explains that it was, “the city of Paris itself" that provided the most inspiration for the uniform's design.
The unique and iconic features of the design
Within the uniform itself, there are several key features that make this year’s design so special.
Firstly, "every single gold medallist prior to the 2024 Australian Olympic team's name is printed on the internal jacket lining,” Samantha says. She explains that “there's also the Australian Olympian's Oath, which is printed and placed in the heart level of the internal lining of the jacket.”
Image credit: @sportscraft
In a historical first, the Olympic Oath has been incorporated into the official uniform design.
The uniform also features artworks by two indigenous artists, which have been integrated into the design on both the men's blazer and the women's scarf.
Fit for everyone, and fit for purpose
With over 680 athletes to fit, Samantha and the Sportscraft team had a huge task to, “create a custom uniform that needed to fit all different body shapes, sizes, and a range of specificiations.”
Making the brief even more complicated, Samantha tells us that "the athletes were located all around the world as well! So, it's quite a logistical feat to be able to create a uniform for everyone.”
The Olympic uniform is such a special and unique item and to receive that uniform for the first time in the Olympic village is a memory that will sit with an athlete forever. “And also, it's something that they're going to wear and cherish forever,” especially when they look back in years to come and reflect on “one of the biggest occasions of their life at the Opening Ceremony,” Samantha adds
Showing Australia's true colours
With national colours of green and gold, which as Samantha stresses, “aren’t the most commonly worn colours... it’s quite a feat to make them fashionable and chic”.
Samantha shares that, “we've made the colour a deeper teal, with a blue undertone. We've also introduced an ombre, which is quite on trend, into the women's skirt. What we’ve really done is grounded it with some neutrals, as well as the base colours so that the green and gold are a nice highlight.”
Choosing a favourite is never easy
With Sportscraft having designed over 11 uniforms, it was always going to be hard to pick a favourite.
When asked the question, Samantha divulges her favourite design, saying, “I'm pretty biased, but I definitely think this one is my favourite. It still looks really chic and quite smart, but it's also a little bit on trend.”
She adds that comfort is a big factor in designing the uniform and agrees that the ahtletes will not only feel comfortable, but chic as well, wearing this year’s design.
Share your support with Supportscraft Hub
Samantha and the team at Sportscraft are encouraging all Aussies to share their message of support to all the Australian athletes, explaining that “the reason Sportscraft creates the Olympic uniforms for our Australian athletes is we really want to just get behind them and support them.”
As a brand, Sportscraft is so passionate about sport and encouraging a “sporting inspired life” which is why they want all Australians to support our athletes. You can find more out sharing your message of support here.
Supporting the team in Paris
Finally, we asked Samantha about her experience with supporting the athletes in the lead up to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and she tells us, “after working on the Olympic Games for Sportscraft, it's been so amazing to meet all the athletes. Everyone is so passionate and it is going to be amazing to see them all bringing their dreams to life, making their dreams come true, and I think it's amazing that we can all get behind them.”
Looking for more Olympic content?
Catch all the action and enjoy Olympic themed events, live music and more at your local Westfield during the Olympic Games.
Read about these 5 Aussie Olympians and teams to watch.
Make sure you visit our Paris 2024 Olympic Games page for all the latest information and Olympic-inspired content.
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