Like Ralph Lauren, which has been dressing Team USA since 2008, cult favourite Telfar Clemens is headed to the Olympics.
Yesterday, the New York–based brand announced that it would be designing the team uniforms for the founder’s native Liberia at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, and the response was explosive. The powerful images shot by Jason Nocito spread across the internet—but the partnership extends beyond good gear. While the flag-detailed tights and leggings are stellar, the brand’s involvement includes covering the travel and food expenses for Liberia’s five track and field athletes to attend. When decorated athlete Emmanuel Matadi and the African country’s Liberia’s Olympic attaché, Kouty Mawenh, came calling, there was no way Clemens and his team could say no.
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“They said, ‘Go crazy.’ So I did,” Telfar told The New York Times.
True to his word, the Bushwick Birkin designer created a full-fledged collection, which his cult following outside of the Olympic Village can also (eventually) enjoy. The result? A 70-piece line full of unitards, leggings, and more as well as select styles of merch, all set to debut in September. This will mark Telfar’s first sportswear label to date, but according to the designer, it certainly won’t be the last.
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“It will be an evergreen collection,” he explained to the paper of record. “These are clothes we want to sell for the rest of our lives.”
This article originally appeared on Harper’s BAZAAR US.
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