Sports are great! But if you’re only tuning into this summer’s Tokyo Olympics for the fashion, it honestly doesn’t matter who wins gold anymore, because Team Liberia has already won the Telfar Games.
The Liberian-American designer behind the now-ubiquitous Bushwick Birkin will be designing uniforms for all Liberian delegates at this year’s games, as reported by the New York Times Monday. Telfar’s sportswear collection will be a series of sleek unisex designs, in shades of blue and white emblazoned with the Liberian star.
He’s far from the first high-profile designer to dress their home country’s Olympians. Since 2008, Ralph Lauren has outfitted American athletes in a series of preppy clothes; this year, Armani will dress Italy and Ben Sherman will design for Britain.
While most designers dress athletes for just the opening and closing ceremonies, Telfar will design pieces that will actually be worn in competition. “He’s an elite athlete in his space, just like we are,” Kouty Mawenh, former Olympian and Liberia’s Olympic attaché, told the Times.
Telfar was first approached by Liberian track star Emmanuel Matadi after hearing his girlfriend discuss his bags. “I didn’t even know if he made clothes,” Matadi told the Times.
There are several great takeaways from this perfect pairing. First, listen to your girlfriend. Always. Listen. To. Your. Girlfriend. They always know best. Second, it’s Telfar’s summer, and we’re all just living in it. The designer also just dropped a collection with an equally iconic pairing: Uggs, which featured the cast of The Real Housewives of Potomac in a recent photoshoot.
As the King of the Designer Collab (he’s also created new employee uniforms for White Castle), it makes perfect sense that Telfar would eventually release an athletic line. He told the Times that he and his artistic director Babak Radboy were already considering entering the athletic space before the Liberian Olympic team came calling.
Like his bag drops, Telfar plans to release a limited collection inspired by the Olympic uniforms before unveiling a larger workout line in September. The collection will include both workout clothes and sporting gear. “It will be an evergreen collection,” he told the Times. “These are clothes we want to sell for the rest of our lives.”
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