EVT's guide to the winter olympics clothing brand collaborations
(and also kind of to the games)
It’s almost the winter Olympics! I absolutely adore the Olympics, and the winter Olympics are my favorites — so many fun winter sports! Figure skating, hockey, ski, snowboarding! Simply so fun. The games this year are in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, from February 6 to February 22, 2026. You can watch them on Peacock. I think it costs five dollars. Buy it for a month, it’s worth it.
One thing about me is that I love Olympic-themed clothing. I love it so much. I am obsessed with buying old Olympics sweatshirts (just bought a Calgary ‘88 and a Salt Lake City 2002 one on Depop, where you can find sooooo many cool and relatively cheap Olympics sweatshirts! I’ll add pics of the ones I bought at the bottom of this Substack). Every year, many brands make Olympics collections. Some are hot, some are not.
A good article of Olympics clothing includes the following:
The year and location of the Olympics in question (i.e, “Salt Lake City 2002”)
The word “Olympics” or the Olympic rings
It’s fun when a brand is selling exactly what the athletes are wearing, like Ralph Lauren often outfits the Olympians and then sells the exact same clothing to spectators. FUN!
A BAD article of Olympics clothing includes the following:
Overly prominent American flag motifs
Design is super ugly
Too much focus on red, white, and blue without enough focus on aesthetics
Let’s get into what brands are putting out in 2026.
U.S Ski and Snowboard for J. Crew
I’ll admit it: I love this collection! It’s soooo cute and retro and I’m drooling over the cohesion of the collection. One million bonus points for how gorgeous the typeface and designs on all the pieces are, a million more points for including really cute retro-inspired knits! I also like the specific focus on ski and snowboard — fun! Some of the pieces include reference to location, but none include the year or the Olympic rings/the word “Olympics.” Boo! Overall, one of my favorite collection I have seen so far. 8/10.
I don’t super get why Figs (the scrub brand) does an Olympic collection? I do think it’s kind of cute — red, white, and blue but not intolerably so. The scrubs themselves are cute and they have a fun, sporty style. It loses points for not saying “Olympics” on it anywhere, although it does say “Team USA” (but like…..do I wanna walk around in something that says Team USA?) and some of the pieces include the Olympic rings. I also feel like the scrub pieces are kind of too stylized to be practical (like, would I really want to be wearing a long sleeved scrub jumpsuit? What if I get sweaty? What if my sleeves get soaked helping someone shower?). I overall think the collection is fine, but it’s not blowing me away. 6.5/10.
I actually actively hate this collection. It is not cute or well designed at all (IMO!!). Garish use of American motifs and red, white, and blue. The jersey with the eagle on it would make me wanna drop out of the Olympics, were it offered to me as an athlete. Many of the pieces say 2026, but none seem to say the location or Olympics! Which is fine, I guess. It’s fine. Nothing here is cute to me. 0/10.
Abercrombie and Fitch Olympics Collection
Yo….I love this collection so much. Truly gorgeous and well done. It includes a bunch of articles of clothing for past Olympics that are retro-inspired (like this Nagano sweatshirt that I am very tempted to buy?), and they look actually vintage, i.e., the "“throwback” items seem to be modeled off of clothing from that era, which is what one should do when one is making a throwback collection! I love that they are drawing from past winter Olympics (Olympicses? Olympi?). Most stuff says Olympics on it, or has the rings! I love to see it. 9/10.
Also, I was like “Wait….why is this model so sexy? Who is he…..he should be famous” and then I was like “Okay, go take a walk around the block to cool off, you horny freak.” But then I made my co-intern go through this article to give her opinions and the second I got to this image she said, “Gap tooth! Why is he so hot,” so it seems to be a universal opinion. Should we find him? Should we make him famous?
Also, he is making me want to get a perm again.
Eh. Nothing says Olympics or the year on it OR the location (hello???), just Team USA. Nothing is super cute or drawing my eye. They aren’t doing anything cute with the fonts or anything. It’s not wowing me. 2/10.
Nothing in this collection is drawing my eye. There are a few pieces with the Olympic rings on them and there is a certain retro sensibility there, but there isn’t anything I am feeling super drawn too. It all feels a bit too American to me. The Americanness should be subtle, if incorporated at all. 3/10.
I like the variety of colors in this collection! Lots of pinks and purples at the link. I think it’s cute, very classically “Adidas,” but I wish it were doing something a little more fun or creative with the theme. Also, nothing says Olympics on it? 4/10.
They do look stylish! I do not love nor hate this collection. I wish it were a little cuter? The options are fun and athletic looking, yet still chic, but I still feel something could have been done to make it a little more ~fashion~, y’know? 5.5/10.
Ralph Lauren for Olympics 2026
Preppy in exactly the way it is supposed to be. This is what the American athletes will be wearing to the opening ceremonies, folks! Be just like an athlete! I’m not going out of my way to daydream about this collection, but it is doing what it is meant to and it is classic. 6.5/10.
That’s all for today, folks. Love y’all.
xoxo,
evt