After much anticipation, Burton has unveiled the US Snowboard Team Uniforms for the upcoming 2010 Winter Olympics. This February, as the US Snowboard Team steps onto the World’s stage in Vancouver, they will look and feel unmatched with designs that speak to both individuality and heritage.
Burton already outfitted the team for the 2006 Games in Turin. In a playful nod to traditional American sports, the company at that time designed pinstriped jackets and pants that were reminiscent of the jerseys worn by the New York Yankees.
Burton held a roundtable discussion with top pro-snowboarders and Olympic hopefuls Elena Hight, Mason Aguirre, Danny Davis, Kevin Pearce, Jack Mitrani, Luke Mitrani, Steve Fisher, Scotty Lago and Louie Vito to review design concepts for the outerwear before arriving at the final creation.
“Since its inception, Burton has been a rider driven company,” said Jake Burton, Founder and Chairman of Burton Snowboards. “For the creation of the US Snowboard Team uniform, we listened carefully to the riders’ needs and used their input to ensure that the final fit, fabrics and overall design would maximize their performances and take these riders to the podium. It was also absolutely critical to ensure these Olympic uniforms were worthy of bearing the Burton name.”
Even though snowboarding is a very individual sport, I guess it is truly a team effort at the Olympics. In 2006 the riders turned to classic American team sport uniforms for inspiration. Paying tribute to American culture with styles inspired by vintage baseball uniforms, the Burton Olympic outerwear featured white fabric with yarn-dyed red and blue pinstripes, heavy embroidery and applications inspired by retro baseball uniforms.
At this Olympics the jacket will feature again red, white and blue as the main colors, but arrayed in a plaid pattern. Trying to pay tribute to more classic Americana fashion staples. Meanwhile the pants are exactly like a washed out jeans with minor tears in the fabric. All made out of Gore-Tex fabric.
Four years ago like a baseball player, this season like lumberjack or hillbilly and in 2014 perhaps like an astronaut or a cowboy?
Ugly.