5 Things You Didn’t Know About the Olympics
The PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games have come and gone, with Norway raking in the most medals.
While we may have all gotten caught up in the curling and the rate at which ski jumpers came flying down the slopes, there are a few things you may not have known about this year’s Olympics.
To shed some light on lesser known facts, including how TENCEL™ Lyocell branded fibers made its way into the Games, we’re highlighting five fun facts about the 2018 Olympics.
1.) U.S. medals
The United States won a total of 23 medals in the Olympic games, ranking fourth for medal count after Norway, Germany and Canada. Nine of those 23 medals were gold, with wins for men’s Curling, men’s and women’s Half-pipe, men’s and women’s Slopestyle, and women’s Giant Slalom and Ice Hockey, to name just some. Among the highlights was Jessie Diggins winning Team USA’s first gold medal for cross-country skiing alongside Kikkan Randall.
2.) Ralph Lauren’s role
Longtime leading American designer Ralph Lauren was the creator behind the U.S. Olympic athletes’ uniforms. Team USA strolled into the stadium at the Opening Ceremony wearing intarsia-knit ceremonial sweaters, patriotic beanies and attention-getting brown suede gloves with fringe detailing. The highlight, however, was the heated jacket, a wearable technology advancement that promises to keep wearers warm for 11 hours. The jacket, according to Ralph Lauren, provides immediate heat, which is conducted via printed carbon and silver inks, and all of the technology was engineered in the U.S.
3.) The mark of U.S. manufacturing
U.S. manufacturing may have lost its way in some regards when outsourcing to more cost effective countries changing the game in the country, but as more and more people seek the cache that comes with a U.S. made product, some companies are coming back home to make their goods.
According to the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Office of Textiles and Apparel, the U.S. exported $22.7 million worth of textiles and apparel last year, and that number is up more than 2 percent from the year before.
4.) Denim’s feature
Denim has long been an iconic American fabric, so it was little surprising that it served to inspire the Olympics too. As the official United States Olympic team outfitter, Ralph Lauren created jeans, a version of its signature Sullivan Slim, that give a nod to the Games.
As the company notes on the product page for the Sullivan Slim jean: “Proudly support Team USA—and American craftsmanship—with this version of our Sullivan Slim jean. Designed exclusively by Ralph Lauren for Team USA to wear during the opening ceremony of the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018, they merge moto-inspired seaming and a bold print of the Stars and Stripes at the left leg. The Olympic motto, “Faster, Higher, Stronger,” finishes the interior waistband as a tribute to the spirit of sport.
5.) TENCEL™ Lyocell goes to the Olympics
Though ingredient brands haven’t largely been a focus for consumer-facing content, people are starting to pay more attention to what goes into what they wear. TENCEL™ Lyocell was used in the making of the denim for the Olympic ceremony uniforms in this edition of the games. The Lenzing Group makes its TENCEL™ Lyocell—known for its natural comfort and new standard of sustainability—right out of its Mobile, Alabama plant. Lenzing™ currently has a worldwide production capacity of 222,000 tons per year for TENCEL™ fibers, and its U.S. manufacturing unit will help it more than double its fiber capacity in 2019.