All About Team U.S.A.'s Olympic Uniforms

For Two Weeks, They’ll Be the Most Visible Clothes on Earth—and Gold-medal Marketing for Ralph Lauren. 

- Robert Klara

THE SEAL It’s the all-important Olympic rings that denote official merch. While Ralph Lauren is a domestic sponsor, not a worldwide one, it still gets to use those famous rings.

THE LOGO Here’s where Ralph Lauren’s sponsorship investment pays back: The Polo logo—nice and big— instantly identifies the brand and is visible on TV, too.

THE BOTTOMS The logistical beauty of RL’s Olympics designs is that many of them resemble the clothes RL sells anyway, like these white twill cotton shorts ($98.50).

THE ACCESSORY Still another opportunity to use the national colors, this belt will be worn by Team U.S.A. in the games’ closing ceremonies. It can be yours today for $98.

It really wasn’t Ralph’s fault. Last week, right after Team U.S.A. took to Twitter to release a photo of what its 2016 Summer Olympics uniforms would look like, the pundits pounced. Their fashion sense was offended, apparently, by the effect created by the way the Navy blazer (designed, along with the rest of Team U.S.A.’s gear, by Ralph Lauren) closed over the red, blue and white-striped crew neck beneath. It looked, cried the offended, like the Russian Federation’s flag.