You might want France’s Olympic gear, even if you’re not French
You might want France’s Olympic gear, even if you’re not French
The hometown team for the Paris Olympics hired a streetwear designer to make its kits. Oui, please.
Leave it to France to outfit its Olympic athletes in a kit so cool it might convince us Americans to switch teams.
The hometown team for the 2024 Paris Olympics tapped Stéphane Ashpool, the founder of the Paris streetwear label Pigalle, to work with sportswear brand Le Coq Sportif on a line of gear that athletes will wear both during and outside of competition.
The directive seems to have been “look like a French flag, but not actually like a French flag.” Ashpool nailed the brief. The designer used blue, white, and red as the starting point, and blended the colors into a gradient design that wiggles across jackets and pants, swooshes across cycling helmets, and plasters sports shirts.
Ashpool also came up with clothing to be worn in the Olympic Village that is slightly less sporty but nonetheless very cool. The collection of roughly 150,000 items includes pieces that medal winners will don on the podium. (Berluti, a leather maker owned by French luxury giant LVMH, is handling the outfits for the opening ceremony.)
Ashpool, who was named the artistic director of the French Olympic and Paralympic teams last year, is perhaps best known for the Pigalle Duperré Court, the famous Paris basketball court that his label and Nike have been redesigning in new color schemes since 2009.
Le Coq Sportif, which made clothes and uniforms for the French national team for Olympic competition from 1912 to 1972, returned to dress the team since the Tokyo Games held in 2021.
Ashpool told Vogue after landing the job that he met with French athletes who told him they wanted to look cool and French, “but we don’t want to be a walking flag.” Ashpool said for some newer sports without many athletes slated to compete, like skateboarding and breakdancing, the garments were “made semi-bespoke.”
While some of the items are available for purchase, including hats, jerseys, and the unisex cotton sweatsuit in the “Village” collection, Le Coq Sportif hasn’t made everything from the collection immediately available. If you want one of its handsome letterman jackets, your best bet might just be competing for France’s national team.
The Paris Games will open July 26 and run through August 11.
Fast Company – co-design
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