Ralph Lauren's Olympics Uniforms: A Firestorm Of Controversy Ensues

Gawker:

Apparently there's a firestorm of controversy over the uniform Ralph Lauren designed for the U.S. team to wear at the opening Olympic ceremonies, and it's not hard to see why. For starters, the damned Ralph Lauren Polo logo totally upstages the Olympic rings logo. It's huge!

Also, as shown in a picture after the jump, the uniforms look pretty cheap up close, probably because they were made as part of a rush job sent to Chinese "tailors" at the last minute.

Read the whole story: Gawker

Comments

[trinity]

11:42 PM on 08/13/2008

I actually thought some of the designs on Project Runway, especially from the top female design contestants, were quite stylish and very red/white/blue....

As long as the U.S. tasked an American designer to create the outfits, they would have been made in some Chinese sweatshops somewhere on the mainland or Saipan: Donna Karen/DKNY, Tommy Hilfiger, Ralph Lauren, etc. Never understood how they got away with charging top $$$ for these clothes that are actually being made by workers making pennies/hour.

[RGKahn]

06:50 PM on 08/12/2008

I have a different take on this problem. Our olympic uniforms were made in China? We don't have clothing manufactures here at home who could have made them? When the US Army went over to the new beret style hat a number of years ago, it was revealed that a company in mainland China got the order. A Chinese company making parts of American military uniforms is so wrong on so many levels. We are becoming a source of raw goods to be sold to China who then produce finished products that they sell here. We are becoming a nation of middlemen who's sole reason to exist is to re-sell chinese goods here.

There is a great comment at Gawker.com about this photo "...the US Olympic Synchronized Posing Team demonstrating a textbook Blue Steel."

[poliscibabe]

06:08 PM on 08/12/2008

I liked the look but not the logo!

[jojojo]

04:05 PM on 08/11/2008

why does anyone care about the CLOTHES they wore?

[johnnygoodwud]

03:20 PM on 08/11/2008

i like polo, fits me well, and usually of pretty good quality,,,,,,,,,BUT i refuse to wear anything that has any sort of polo label,,,,,,,,,that's so 80's. like the blazers looked great to me, although i would have tossed the polo player insignia, and those nasty lids. i agree, a cool baseball hat with american flag on front would have been better. even ralph misses on occassion.

[fluentinsilence]

10:59 AM on 08/12/2008

A gaudy basbeall cap with a boring flag embroided on the front would have set the uniforms back tenfold.

[Topfeeder]

02:30 PM on 08/11/2008

I thought the uniforms looked great, total Americana.

[keebler28]

01:55 PM on 08/11/2008

yah...the logo is cheap.

[NotaBeliever]

01:43 PM on 08/11/2008

Can't see the logo on my 13" tv screen anyhow, so it's definitely the hat that stands out. Now *that* is a hat ... kind of like those berets they're making the military folk wear these days. They're making a statement, not necessarily a statement they'd want to make, but a fashion statement. I'd go for blue jeans and Big Dog t-shirts myself, but I got no sense o' style. I got a pink baseball cap which would look pretty snappy with an ascot and a blazer. Oh yeah.

[MagisterLudi]

01:40 PM on 08/11/2008

1.Nice the dig at the Chinese tailors. Note that the green uniform ( wth lights) for the Olympic ceremony for 2000 performers was perfectly tailored in 3 days by Chinese workers.

Certainly the cheap quality it had NOTHING to do that Lauren, in best American corporate traditions, used the cheapest sweat shop labor they could find.... hmmmm
Actually THE ugliest uniforms of the century belonged to the Hungarian women. The whole stadium was laughing.

[ZimboChick]

04:54 PM on 08/11/2008

oh my gosh they were so hedious I laughed so hard

[chinationreport]

12:54 PM on 08/11/2008

What's wrong with RL? I see it is hard to please. Chinese people are upset about their atheletes uniform as it made them look like a Chinese dish called Tomatoes with Eggs (red and yello). They think Americans look great in their outfit. I liked US uniform better too.

http://www.chinationreport.com/ for balanced China news and views

[msmaggie]

12:48 PM on 08/11/2008

Finally, a story of huge importance!!!

Seems to me, you pick Ralph Lauren, you pretty know what you're gonna get. I'm still trying to find someone who lives like the people in his VF, NYT magazine spreads. Hell I have a golden retriever but he just won't pose with the tartan throw. Bastard.

[ZimboChick]

04:57 PM on 08/11/2008

u speak the truth!!!

[drauz]

12:12 PM on 08/11/2008

looks ok from a distance, but maybe the RL logo needs to be bigger... more in proportion to his ego.