Now that the party in Vancouver Canada has died down after the closing ceremony I think it’s time to give props to the designs at the Bay(or their agency) for the fantastic job they did with the athlete’s wear this year. All of it anchored with the excellent retro-chique “Canada” wordmark displayed across the font.
In the past Canada’s olympic wear has been just “meh”, stuff that looked ok in the opening ceremony, but not something you’d really want to wear on the street. Typically it was all red & white, and lacked any real character or class.
CANADA written out in a clean sans-serif font and stitched across a red beret just wasn’t something most of us would wear to a hockey game.
But the mark this year (using Avant Garde) was a great mix of classic & modern, yes it looked retro, but the slight letter modifications (alternating the direction of the A’s, sweeping the C/A together) gave it a decidedly modern look. We’ll only know for sure in a few years, but I suspect this will end up being a timeless look, while the official Vancouver 2010 branding (sweeping blue & green organic shapes) will most likely look very 2010 in a few years, I think the Canada wordmark may just be strong enough to outlast it’s year of release.
March 2nd, 2010 at 3:32 pm
While the wordmark is ok, those quilter bar star jackets where up there with the Roots berets if you ask me. The Bay was a bad choice.
Would’ve been a great opportunity to give the contract to a current, Canadian based athletic gear manufacturer….maybe one based out of Vancouver…Lululemon would have owned it, and done it so much better than Roots or the Bay ever has. Let’s get it right next time.
March 2nd, 2010 at 3:42 pm
Eh maybe I just feel that ROOTS/HBC both set the bar low in past years, and finally this year they set the bar high and cleared it.
Then again I’m not a fan of Lululemon, aesthetically I don’t feel they do anything that nice, and I take issue with their corporate messaging that some how buying a $80 t-shirt is empowering to women and the community as a whole.
But that’s a whole other topic, in general I never agree with the “solving the worlds problems through shopping” angle.