Today, HBC opened their “Olympic Superstore” at the downtown Vancouver location of The Bay. The 20,000 square foot space will serve as the main retail location for all Olympic apparel, including the Canadian 2010 athlete’s uniform which was unveiled at the opening of the store.

HBC has been designing Canada’s Olympic uniform since 1936, and we’ve seen a whole lot of different looks. For 2010, the uniform is very simple (it almost runs the risk of looking too casual for our Olympic athletes). However, the overall effect cannot be mistaken as very Canadian. With red, white, black and gray creating bold designs on the jackets, toques and sweaters, the apparel gives a new and grown-up look to HBC’s Olympic designs. The fur hoods and knitted sweaters give a feel of authenticity that is more powerful than the maple leaf on its own. HBC describes the new line as “bold, modern, and fashion-forward”, and it’s certainly much better than the Beijing uniform from 2008 that looked like a magic eye puzzle. While the newly unveiled retail apparel is a replica of the official uniform, the actually uniform won by the athletes may be slightly different.

I like the new look – it’s subtle, tasteful and oozes Canadian-ness. It’s also very wearable for the rest of us who want to support Canada and not look ridiculous – I’ll be buying one of those reindeer sweaters!

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1. Dine Out Vancouver 2010: Delicious Food For Cheap