all eyes on uniform designs at milano cortina 2026 winter olympics

Team uniforms at milano cortina 2026 olympic games

The Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics has begun, and we’re taking a look at the stylish designs of the teams’ uniforms, from Mongolia and Haiti to Finland and Canada. Running between February 6th and 22nd, the Games becomes a fashion platform for the athletes to wear the sportswear as a symbol of their national identities. Across all the Milano Cortina 2026 uniforms, the themes of movement, climate, and tradition come through, brought about by the main design idea of the Games, ‘human gesture.’ It is the movement of the body, either as a form of action or communication. Because of this, many uniforms use fluid lines, soft shapes, and flowing patterns.

Italy, the host team, wears the design of the late Giorgio Armani, who worked with the Italian Olympic team from 2012 until his passing in 2025. White is the main color, a connection to snow and winter landscapes, and the late designer avoided bright palettes to keep the look calm. The country’s name appears in raised 3D embroidery to add texture, and some details are underlined with gold. Team USA uses two brands: Ralph Lauren and Kappa. The former designs the Opening Ceremony uniforms, bringing the style of classic American, as the athletes wear Fair Isle sweaters with knitted patterns showing the American flag and Olympic rings. Their colors are red, white, and navy blue, strongly indicating the nation’s colors. Kappa designs the competition suits, with a look inspired by the 1984 Winter Olympics. The suits use bold graphics, large USA text, and star patterns, evoking a retro-modern style.

Emporio Armani for Team Italy | image courtesy of Emporio Armani

Theme of ‘human gesture’ appears throughout the designs

Team France works with the brand Le Coq Sportif and designer Stéphane Ashpool for an artistic and soft pattern around its Milano Cortina 2026 uniforms that looks like a topographic map. It shows mountain shapes, and colors move slowly from blue to pink and white using gradients. The fabric has texture, like paint on cloth, and the design draws from ethereal concepts, relating it to peace and the Olympic Truce. Team Great Britain mixes history and playfulness, as Ben Sherman designs the ceremony wear with 1960s inspiration. The athletes wear zip-up sweaters, patterned coats, and very large scarves with Great Britain text. Then, Adidas designs the performance wear for the team, with the main color being navy blue and some pink accents, details that add humor and surprise.

Canada works with Lululemon, whose idea for its Milano Cortina 2026 uniforms to be ‘intelligent layering.’ Athletes can add or remove layers as the weather changes, and the fabrics stretch in four directions. The maple leaf appears as a tonal pattern, not a bright symbol, and the colors are deep red and white, reflecting the country’s identity and connection to winter sports. Other countries use the Milano Cortina 2026 uniforms to tell history. Team Haiti debuts their hand-painted sportswear by Italian-Haitian designer Stella Jean, crafted by former ski champion Pietro Vitalini and inspired by the artworks of Edouard Duval-Carrié. The clothing, embracing the colors of nature with its green shades, appears more of a painting than a uniform, as it features a portrait of a red, riderless horse, a symbol of the Haitian spirit. The female delegation members wear a puffer skirt and a tignon, which is a traditional headwrap worn by women in Haiti, sharing the same forest colors as the rest of the uniforms.

Ralph Lauren for Team USA | image courtesy of Ralph Lauren

Modern traditional outfits and nature as design inspirations

During the last Olympic Games, Mongolia drew attention for the modernized traditional robes of its sportswear, and this year, its Milano Cortina 2026 uniforms continue just that, as the team works with Goyol Cashmere. Made from cashmere wool, which is a material the country is famous for, the design is inspired by the Great Mongol Empire of the 13th to 15th centuries. The coats look like the traditional deel, a Mongolian robe, which is the team’s similar take from the previous Games, and these uniforms bear intricate embroidery and patterns that display the symbols of the nation. For its Milano Cortina 2026 uniforms, Team Brazil works with Moncler, Adidas, and Avec Sport, resulting in winter-white sportswear. Some jackets even have belts that resemble high fashion, while the other clothing is a dark ‘petrol green’ with yellow and white details from the Brazilian flag.

Team Sweden brings minimalism to the clothing as they work with the Japanese brand Uniqlo. The uniforms use the blue and yellow colors of the Swedish flag but in soft tones, and the materials around the clothing are light and waterproof, called Dermizax. Sweden and Uniqlo plan to collect the uniforms after the Games to recycle them and use the fabric again. Team Finland echoes the concept of Blue Moment, with Lapland as a place of inspiration for the design team. In this space, nature basks in its quiet atmosphere, and this comes through as the designers capture a specific time called the blue moment, which happens when the sun sets in the North. The sky and the snow turn into beautiful shades of blue; hence, the team’s Milano Cortina 2026 uniforms evoke the gradient color scheme of these shades, flecked with small white spots that resemble blue speckles. Viewers of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics can see these uniforms come to life throughout the Games between February 6th and 22nd.

Kappa for Team USA | image courtesy of Kappa