Li-Ning to clothe four national teams

Tag : Apparel Zipper
While Nike will outfit the bulk of China's Olympic athletes, localsporting apparel giant Li-Ning will provide gear for four majorChinese teams, including table tennis, diving, gymnastics andshooting.

Li-Ning has provided clothing for Chinese athletes at Olympicawards ceremonies since the Barcelona Games in 1992, so the newsponsorship deal is a positive step forward for the company.

The company will emphasize new technologies and fashion indesigning the outfits. A team of more than 100 people took twoyears to research and develop the outfits in Beijing, Hong Kong andthe US.

The outfits will all feature an artistic curved letter L (forLi-Ning). The design is known as the "Lucky Line" and isthe thematic element of the suits. Zippers are made of pure goldand are shaped like tiny medals. Each athlete's name will also becarved into the reverse side of the zipper.

Some other Chinese cultural elements have been incorporated intothe design, such as the color red and images of a dragon, peony anda phoenix.

"We have done a lot of functional analysis, like researchingbody movement, moisture management and body heat control,"said Guo Jianxin, Li-Ning's chief operating officer.

"We can proudly say that Li-Ning's suits will go onto thehighest podium with the athletes who wear them."

Li-Ning will also apply advanced materials such as "x-tra lifelycra" and "coolmax" to the outfits' design. Thesematerials will help maintain the suits' shapes and keep athletes'bodies cool.

Special designs were added based on the requirements of specificsports. In the diving suit, for example, a water channel was addedto the back to help reduce splash.

Athletes are pleased with the new suits.

"I like the color of the diving suit and I believe it couldshow our delicate diving movements in the pool," said Olympicdiving champion Guo Jingjing. "The gold medal on the zipper isalso good for us. I will try to perform at my best with thesuit."

Besides the four Chinese teams, Li-Ning also provided suits forseveral foreign teams, including Spain, Sweden, Argentina'sbasketball team and the U.S. table tennis team. It will be the mostforeign teams to wear the Chinese brand in Olympic history.

Source:China Daily