May 25, 2024

Ralph Lauren adds wearable tech to the opening ceremony’s fashion mix.

Ralph Lauren has been outfitting Team USA with their formal looks since 2008. The approach is pretty much always red-white-and-blue preppy classicism, and this year’s outfits don’t look much different (check out those striped belts and ascots!) but there’s actually a secret sauce in the mix, and it’s a lot cooler.

Literally: cooler.

The navy jackets of the flag bearers Sure Bird and Eddy Alvarez incorporate what the brand has dubbed RLCoolant technology, which “disperses heat from the wearer’s skin through a sophisticated device that monitors and optimizes temperature,” according to a company announcement.

How exactly that happens is unclear (it’s a secret!) but they said it’s the same technology used to cool super-advanced computers. And whether or not you agree athletes are now the physical equivalent of supercomputers, it’s probably good news for them, given the heat in Tokyo.

Also of interest when it comes to these outfits: They are all made in the USA, important after Ralph Lauren got in trouble when it was revealed their 2012 Olympic looks were made in China, and the belts are made from recycled polyester derived from plastic water bottles.

Oh, and the “jeans” (of course, they had to have jeans: Ralph-the-designer even wears his own faded denim to black tie events) are made from a special new material the brand says is “free from synthetic plastics.”

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