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Australian Olympic uniforms fail TV test
The ceremony uniforms for the 2016 Australian Olympic team are revealed . . . but there's a problem.
PT0M40S 620 349Are our new Olympic uniforms a sartorial symbol of the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement?
For Rio, Sportscraft, an "iconic Australian lifestyle brand", partnered with the Australian Olympic Committee to create the new official threadsfor the seventh time in the label's 102-year history.
Sportscraft is owned by Australian apparel company APG & Co and according to chief executive Adrian Jones works with "a global network of suppliers to produce their collections".
Sportscraft unveiled the 2016 Australian Olympic team Opening Ceremony Uniform at Bondi Icebergs last week. Photo: Dallas Kilponen
The company is a signatory of the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, however, received a D-grading from the Ethical Consumer Group, a not-for-profit advocacy group for fair trade, for its efforts to address worker exploitation.
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Fairfax confirmed with Jones that elements of the 14,000 Olympic uniforms and 411 different size patternshave been produced in Australia and China.
"They [Sportscraft] have suppliers globally who produce different aspects of the uniform, so there are elements that are produced on and offshore, depending on their global network of suppliers and in producing their finished product."
The kit features white shorts and skorts as well as lightweight cotton seersucker blazers lined with the name of every Australian gold medallist. The jackets have also been embellished with our coat of arms and burnished gold and have Australian Olympic coat of arms buttons. The women will wear silk scarves printed with the Southern Cross motif and the gents will rock a gold tie ��� think John Burgess in Wheel of Fortune years.
Jones said the Rio 2016 uniforms took two years to create from inception to last week's launch and were manufactured offshore as "the customisation required to outfit so many athletes enabled them to meet the deadlines throughout the project".
It is not the first time fashion labels have outsourced production of official Olympic uniforms. In the United States, Ralph Lauren, a brand famous for championing Americana in its clothes, came under fire in 2012 when it was revealed the opening ceremony uniforms for Team USA were made in China.