2022 Beijing Olympic Uniforms -- DEEP DIVE
The Colorado Snowsports Museum, in collaboration with Spyder, presents “2022 Beijing Olympic Uniforms: Spyder & Haze Collaboration.” This exhibition highlights several Spyder uniforms worn by the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Team at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games. Disciplines represented include Alpine, Aerials, Freestyle, Freeski, and other accessories worn by the entire Team. The following provides a deeper dive into the uniforms.
Fashion is one of the best expressions of art because it is living art. This exhibition represents that idea and melds the worlds of both fashion and function. Spyder and Eric Haze have created a collection that gives athletes the freedom to compete while wearing comfortable uniforms – allowing them to be the best athlete they can be.
Eric Haze. Photo credit: Max Ryan
Spyder, one of the world’s most recognizable active lifestyle brands, has unveiled the U.S. Ski Team uniforms for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games. Spyder, which is owned by Authentic Brands Group (ABG), has been an official apparel partner of the U.S. Ski Team since 1989 and will be represented by more than 60 Olympic athletes.
The 2022 Spyder U.S. Olympic Team Collection is outfitted with Spyder’s latest technology and highest performing materials to date. Every detail of all 29 styles of the Collection, including the apparel and goggles, were developed with direct athlete feedback and uses discipline specific functionality.
The uniforms are designed by world-renowned artist and designer, Eric Haze. Haze is a New York City native, who has lent his unique artistic style to everything from album art for legendary American musical acts including the Beastie Boys and LL Cool J to internationally recognizable brands.
Eric Haze began his career in the early 1980s, exhibiting artwork alongside friends like Keith Haring and Jean Michael Basquiat. After founding a design studio in the late 80s, then his own clothing label in the 90s, best known for his iconic hand lettering, Haze remains one of the most sought-after creatives in the worlds of contemporary art, design, and artist driven brand collaborations.
“It’s such an incredible honor to put my fingerprints on the U.S. Ski Team uniforms, especially on such a huge world stage as the Beijing Olympics. I can’t wait to see the teams actually competing in them.”
Inspired by the American flag, the Collection features outerwear, base layers, and accessories that are sustainable, technically advanced, and stylish. Eric’s iconic lettering, signature STAR icon, and hand-painted pattern work can be found on all the collection pieces.
“February of 2022 will be our 9th winter Olympics outfitting the U.S. Ski Team and with each Olympics our goal is to provide products that give our athletes a competitive advantage while incorporating comfort and protection from the cold. This year is no exception and working with Eric Haze has allowed us to bring a fresh design perspective while infusing the technology and performance the athletes and the team expect from Spyder. This collection will give our athletes the edge they need to perform at their best and bring home the Gold,” said Brady Collings, Global GM of Spyder.
All outerwear styles are composed of Gore-Tex fabrics, Primaloft ECO insulation and YKK zippers. The Freestyle and Freeski team outerwear uses 100% recycled polyester fabric with Gore-Tex Laminate and PFCecFree DWR and PrimaLoft SilverECO insulation, and the Alpine outerwear uses a brand new engineered woven face fabric with Gore-Tex Laminate and PFCecFree DWR. A new baselayer technology will be introduced as well, in a cut-resistant, proprietary Kevlar/graphene stretch knit pant.
For the first time in Spyder’s history, the brand designed, developed, and produced an Aerials one-piece kit and a Skier-Cross Race Suit, both of which use individual athlete measurements to optimize performance and fit. The fit in the pants and training shorts in all three disciplines were designed to optimize comfort, warmth, and performance specific to each sport. The center-back full-length zipper on the Alpine athletes’ outerwear jacket increases the functional fit while the athletes are wearing their back protectors and race suits during pre-race warm-ups.
To complete the uniform, Spyder and Eric Haze partnered with Dragon to design the NFX Spyder Goggles. The goggles feature a frameless lens providing added peripheral vision giving athletes the ability to locate the best lines on the mountain. In addition to the googles, a new optical style that comes in a classic, modified rectangle shape and three metal colorations will also be making its debut.
“Spyder and Eric Haze have created an amazing collection by blending fashion and function that represents the U.S. in all aspects – allowing our athletes to look and feel their best,” added Wesley Chu, SVP of APAC, Spyder and Volcom at ABG. “We look forward to watching them compete next month.”
With all the excitement surrounding the latest launch of the 2022 Spyder U.S. Olympic Team Collection, it’s easy to forget about Spyder’s roots. But here at the Colorado Snowsports Museum, it’s our mission to celebrate snow sports history. Did you know that Spyder was founded in Boulder, Colorado by Colorado Snowsports Hall of Famer, David Jacobs? It began as a small mail order business from David’s kitchen and became a multinational ski apparel giant. Our exhibition not only celebrates the accomplishments of the US Ski Team, Spyder’s design team, and Eric Haze, but also pays a special tribute to David Jacobs.
Born October 1, 1933, in Montreal, Canada, David Jacobs began skiing at age thirteen. His first race was at age eighteen. At twenty-one he won the Quebec Kandahar, proving that he was on the fast track to becoming a nationally competitive skier.
Obtaining his Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics from St. Lawrence University and spending one year studying mechanical engineering at MIT, proved only to be distractions from his skiing. In 1957 he captured the title of Canadian Downhill Ski Racing Champion. From 1957 through 1961 Jacobs was a member of the Canadian FIS Team.
Unfortunately, he was forced to withdraw before competing in the World Championships at Badgastein, Austria when he fractured his leg during a downhill training run. As the first full-time head coach and program administrator for the Canadian National Ski Team from 1964-1966, Jacobs continued his contribution to the sport at the National level.
From 1966 to 1969, Jacobs was President of Lange-Jacobs Inc., the manufacturer of Lange plastic ski boots in Montreal. After that company merged with Lange USA in 1969, Jacobs moved to Boulder, sat on the board of directors, and was the company’s Vice President from 1969 to 1972. During this time, he designed the first Lange competition ski boot, which became the hallmark of World Cup ski boots.
In 1972 he founded The Jacobs Corporation, producing Hot Gear, a line of up-market children’s ski clothing. In 1978 Jacobs founded the Spyder brand. It began as a small mail order business from his kitchen and became a multinational ski apparel giant.
The company’s name was coined after one of Jacob’s early creations; navy blue racing pants with yellow foam pads extending from the knee to the hip.
“Everyone called them spider pants. When I decided to produce my own race clothing I thought of using spider, but why not spell it with a “y” like the Ferrari Spyder? Besides, I hate spiders. The most ominous and frightening thing to me is a black widow spider. So that had to be my logo. I figured if I hated them so much, people would look at the clothing and never forget it. I wanted something powerful and menacing, a lasting image.”
For two years, Spyder operated out of Jacobs’ kitchen. At the end of two years, sales were in the six figures and Jacobs’ kitchen was too crowded.
As the desire for high-end skiwear and high-tech items spread to recreational skiers, Spyder’s sales flourished and Spyder’s Boulder, Colorado headquarters kept at the forefront of technical apparel markets.
“This is not just a job for me, Spyder is an extension of my personality.”
The Colorado Snowsports Museum gratefully acknowledges:
Spyder
Eric Haze
Spyder Product Team:
Tony Torrance
Trent Bush
Grayden Roper
Britney Sones
Kelsey Crawford
Byron Edwards
More About Senior Olympic Product Manager: Tony Torrance
Tony grew up in Michigan as a skateboarder and snowboarder. He moved to Colorado to race mountain bikes.
Creating interesting and unique products - Tony loves pushing innovation. He is the designer on 15 patents.
He started his career as an automotive engineer in Detroit, but quickly realized that his soul was slowly dying so - he quit. Tony went back to art school for industrial design knowing that he wanted to concentrate on creating products that he was passionate about, cycling and anything on snow.
Tony has designed three custom shoes that were on Olympic gold medal winning cyclists.