New Zealand’s night sky and wide open spaces have been brought to life in the black, silver, green and blue uniform of the New Zealand Olympic Team to Rio 2016.
Designed by New Zealand artist and designer Shane Hansen in collaboration with long-term New Zealand Olympic Team clothing partner PEAK, the New Zealand Olympic Team casual and training uniform is dominated by classic black while featuring references to Te Mahutonga, the constellation of the Southern Cross, which sits high above New Zealand.
In reflective silver, the four stars feature across the casual range which also features sweeps of green and blue.
The range, revealed by eight Rio-focused athletes at this evening’s annual Prime Minister’s Olympic Gala Dinner, includes high quality PEAK microfiber training apparel as well as soft and comfortable wear for relaxing back at the Olympic Athletes’ Village. Casual footwear supplied by PEAK is also included in the range.
The silver fern features on all items as part of New Zealand’s distinctive Olympic rings and fern emblem.
‘My inspiration for this uniform was our motu, our land, and the journey our athletes take as they travel from New Zealand to Rio where they will test themselves against the world’s best,” said designer Hansen of the athlete-focused range.
“I really wanted to draw on who we are and where we come from and use these references in the clothing.”
Hansen says he was also inspired by the physical movement of athletes and their pursuit of excellence. ‘To watch an athlete at his or her peak is beautiful, exhilarating and inspiring,” he said. “It is an art and the way the body moves and coordinates this movement is one of the ingredients to giving any athlete an edge. I wanted to express this in the garments and create a sense of motion and beauty.”
New Zealand Olympic Team Chef de Mission Rob Waddell said he was delighted with the range. “Athletes have been the focus of this process and the collaboration between PEAK and Shane has had an outstanding result,” he said.
“The athletes look great and will be proud to represent their country in this uniform.”
Movement and colour panels are a key feature of the range with the Southern Cross star formation featuring in hood linings, pant piping, neck tapes and ‘motion graphics’. Subtle details create additional opportunities for athletes to engage and connect with their uniform.
The Southern Cross is also a feature of the night sky in Rio and creates a sense of connection to both New Zealand and the host nation for athletes.
Hansen says the Rio 2016 uniform design started with a ‘stadium of ideas’ and went on to include focus groups with athletes as a core part of the process from initial concepts through to sample checking.
“I had a few hundred notes and sketches to begin with,” he said, citing the tracksuit jacket and pants with their bold highlights as his favourite items. “For me it has been a real journey and now the destination has been reached I can look back and be proud.”
More than 21,000 items have been produced for the New Zealand Olympic team that comprises some 350 athletes and support staff members. Each athlete receives a suite of around 45 items including performance shorts, leggings and long and short sleeve t-shirts to the casual jogging pants, track suit pants, canvas shorts, hoodies, as well as footwear, bags, formal and ceremony wear. The official track suit is also featured which many athletes will wear on the medal podium and the iconic black singlet completes the range. Each item is constructed from technical sports fabrics from PEAK and designed for the Rio winter climate comprising warm days of an average of 28 degrees and cooler evenings.
The team’s formal wear was also revealed today, in simple black merino worn emblazoned with the rings and fern in clean white. The Opening Ceremony uniform also produced by PEAK will be revealed at the Maracana Stadium on August 5th in Rio de Janeiro.
Athletes will compete in traditional black with their team’s stylised white silver fern and the New Zealand Olympic rings and fern emblem. Each sport has developed their own technical equipment and clothing for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
New Zealand Olympic Committee staff will now spend some 336 hours individually packing each athletes’ gear bag and shipping them direct them to those still in New Zealand or making sure the right bag is in each athletes’ room before the team arrives into the Rio Athletes Olympic Village from July 24.
Black was identified as New Zealand's national colour early on in our sporting history. It soon became synonymous with the characteristics of our inspiring athletes. The silver fern was first worn by New Zealand athletes at the Olympic Games in 1908 when the fern featured as part of an Australasian team emblem. In 1912 Malcolm Champion wore our national colour when he won New Zealand’s first Olympic Gold medal, again as part of an Australasian team.
In 1920 New Zealand Olympic athletes marched for the first time under the New Zealand flag and wore black singlets with the silver fern embroidered on the left breast.
PEAK and the New Zealand Olympic Committee will sign their new extended agreement, confirming PEAK as the New Zealand Olympic and Commonwealth Games Team apparel partner through to the Beijing Olympic Winter Games in 2022 at a signing ceremony tomorrow (30 June, 12.30pm, Sky City) in Auckland.
The following eight athletes were involved in the official uniform launch this evening:
Selected for Rio
Dylan Schmidt - Trampoline
Eliza McCartney - Pole vault
Stuart Farqhaur - Javellin
Caitlin Ryan - Kayak (sprint K4)
On the Road to Rio
Anita McLaren (nee. Punt) - Hockey
Liz Thompson - Hockey
Tim Mikkelson - Rugby Sevens
Scott Curry - Rugby Sevens
About PEAK
Peak Sport is the official apparel partner of the New Zealand Olympic and Commonwealth Games Team since 2009. They first sponsored the team for the Delhi Commonwealth Games in 2010 .
It is is a leading branded sportswear company in China and is primarily engaged in designing, manufacturing and distributing sports products (including footwear, apparel and accessories) under the “PEAK” brand.
As one of the pioneers in the sportswear industry in China, the Chairman of Peak Sport, Mr. Xu Jingnan, started his OEM business on footwear products in 1988 and established the “PEAK” brand in 1991. The Company was listed on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (Stock Code: 1968.HK) on 29 September 2009.
As at 31 December 2015, the number of authorized PEAK retail outlets in China reached 5,999. The Company also exports its products to over 90 countries.
The Company promotes “PEAK” as an international and professional brand through associations with various international renowned promotion partners and provision of products with premium functionality and performance. Some of these promotion partners include Fédération Internationale de Basketball (FIBA), Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) and Stanković Cup as well as the New Zealand Olympic and Commonwealth Games Teams.
