Sportscraft MD Elisha Hopkinson details the behind-the-scenes process of designing the official opening ceremony uniforms for the Australian Olympic Team for Tokyo 2020.
Please describe the process of designing the uniform – what factors did the design team consider?
The Tokyo Olympic uniforms were designed very much with the athletes in mind – it was of utmost priority in the design process to ensure that their requests and requirements were prioritised to ensure that they were really happy with the end result.
The feedback was quite overwhelmingly that the uniforms needed to be practical, while also being stylish and refined.
With Tokyo slated to be one of the hottest summer Olympic Games, we knew that the fabrications needed to be light and made with natural fibres for maximum breathability and comfort.
We worked closely with the Australian Olympic Committee on incorporating design elements from the host city’s vibrant and colourful aesthetic into the uniforms, while ensuring that the iconic green and gold was a significant component of the overall look and feel.
That is what we’re known for on the international stage after all!
What challenges did the team face during this process? How did you overcome them?
In the design phase, it’s important for us to ensure that each Olympic uniform has a distinctive look and feel that is unique to each specific Games.
So the challenge was to create a blazer that would be visually tied to the Tokyo Games, while also being appropriate to wear to all official functions following the Games.
This led to the decision to create a neutral colour – the grey linen blazer – that could serve both purposes, however it did mean not having a green or gold blazer this time.
But we hope the green shorts and highlights on the dress more than make up for this.
We worked with almost every Olympian to make sure that the fit was suited perfectly to each individual - these are elite athletes, in peak condition with wildly varying body types that required customisation at the fitting stage.
We had to create a design and roll out uniforms that would look and feel great on a shot putter or Rugby 7s player as well as a gymnast, so this was no small feat to individually fit 955 athletes and supporting officials once the uniforms went into production.
This is Sportscraft’s eighth year supporting the Australian team - what benefits does Sportscraft glean from a partnership such as this?
The Olympics are one of the few global events that still retain a huge engagement with all walks of life, in this day and age of extremely fragmented media consumption.
We don’t take lightly the prestige of being associated with the most premium sporting event in the world today.
And it really is an honour for our business to dress the finest athletes in our country and in some small way support their athletic goals.
Internally, the Olympic partnership has been a wonderful project for our design team particularly, as it’s amazing to see our creations on a global platform.
From a brand association perspective, it’s really important for us to be perceived as a brand for all of Australia and the Olympics are one of the few occasions where Australians do feel that way about it.
Therefore it really reinforces our brand proposition in a very cohesive way, hence its importance to our business.