Canadian Olympic Team's Wardrobe Raises Eyebrows

Fashion designer Tu Ly's ''urban camouflage'' fabric print used for the Canadian Olympic team's wardrobe has raised eyebrows.

Ly's collection for the athletes, which is also being sold at Canadian department stores, has become a target of derision among newspapers (including this one), bloggers, Canadian talk-show hosts, and sports pundits.

The specific pieces that have Canadians talking are pants and hoodies that are made from a fabric print that Ly calls "urban camouflage."

The red pattern incorporates the Canadian maple leaf, the number eight, which is a symbol of the Olympic games in Beijing, along with symbols culled from Chinese poster art and apocathary labels. The fabric is used in clothes that the Canadian team will wear in the Olympic village.

A key difference between Canada's uniforms, and those worn by other countries in the village, is the manufacturer. Many teams have uniforms that are being created by athletic apparel companies such as Adidas or Puma. (The US team is outfitted in preppy tennis white designed by Ralph Lauren.) The department store Hudson's Bay Co. is behind Canada's uniforms, which allowed Ly to take a different approach to his design.

"The reason why we could do what we did is that HBC is a department store," he says. "It gives us leeway to approach the uniforms from a fashion perspective, and I think that's what sets it apart."

Canada has a history of Olympic uniforms with an influence that goes beyond the Olympic village. In 1998, Prince William was photographed wearing the poorboy cap designed by Roots for the 1998 Nagano games. The hat was later seen on Robin Williams at the Oscars. In 2006, HBC created a sensation with its neo-fur trapper hats.

Sources: The Boston Globe