The 2024 Summer Olympics are just a few days away, and fitness brands are ramping up all their efforts to ensure they are ready for a big debut.
Most brands have plotted extensive marketing campaigns—intended for television, social media, and in-person shopping experiences—to ensure they capture as much excitement for the games as possible.
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Upscale retailers, from J. Crew to Lululemon have released early editions of official attire to commemorate the summer games. And many athletes have already voiced their support or concern for new styles set to release in late July.
Simply put, the Olympics are a massive opportunity for big and small brands. They provide a large theater to display new product lines and capitalize on potentially popular merchandise.
But not everyone is benefitting equally.
Top brands debut big bets ahead of Olympics
Nike (NKE) , for example, has been working hard behind the scenes to develop new track and field uniforms for Team USA athletes.
However, when Nike released images of its proposed uniforms several months ago, it caused a stir online, with many folks saying it looked inappropriate for prime time.
BREAKING: Here's your first look at the new @Nike kits that will be worn by the U.S. track and field team at the 2024 Olympics in Paris. pic.twitter.com/XPWOnBrwsv
— CITIUS MAG (@CitiusMag) April 11, 2024
"Women don't deserve shorts?" one user asked.
"No, the female one is definitely a swimming costume - where’s the women’s running outfit?" another said.
"Eeew... Those those things look like they are going to give the women wedgies," another user wrote.
"These female outfits are terrible. Aren’t we past the point yet where women are obligated to expose themselves before they’re considered worthy of attention? Let the focus be on the sports performance - as with the men," one said.
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Even two-time champion pole vaulter Katie Moon chimed in on the conversation, clarifying that this was just one style of over one dozen that athletes have to choose from.
"I absolutely love people defending women, but we have at least 20 different combinations of a uniform to compete in with all the tops and bottoms available to us," she said, adding, "The point is we DO have the choice of what to wear, and whether we feel best in a potato sack or a bathing suit during competitions, we should support the autonomy."
To those that have an opinion on the USA track and field uniforms, I ask you to please read this 🤗 pic.twitter.com/cSdJKXykJQ
— Katie Moon (@ktnago13) April 12, 2024
Nike rival releases new product
And while Nike prepares for its product line debut at the Olympics, a new up-and-coming brand is trying to outdo the legacy brand in the shoe department.
On, the Swiss sporting goods brand that makes the popular Cloudflow sneakers, has released its new "spray on" sneakers that are made by robots and more closely resemble socks than sneakers.
Spray-on sneakers … Swiss brand On’s new Cloudboom Strike LS running shoes are created with spray-on plastic in just 5 minutes … 4 years in development, On is launching its LightSpray tech ready for the Olympics: https://t.co/o3ML1MdVBZ
— Peter Fisk (@GeniusWorks) July 15, 2024
The On story: https://t.co/ddJNtwG129 pic.twitter.com/X1nWvbBW3p
The sneakers, which are officially called the Cloudboom Strike LS, retail for around $330 and feature the following:
- No heel-cap
- No laces
- No tongue
- Translucent coloring
- Made of thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) and no glue
- Sprayed on from one continuous filament structure
- Takes 3 minutes to assemble
- Weighs less than an iPhone
And the Cloudboom already has fans. Kenyan runner Hellen Obiri, who has won an Olympic silver medal, wore the sneakers during the most recent Boston Marathon and plans to wear them again during the Paris Olympics.
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“My brief was, ‘you go wild, go crazy, and I pay,” Ilmarin Heitz, senior director of footwear at On, said of the project to develop the Cloudboom.
"One of the visions was, imagine if you go to a race, you have one of these robots with you, and on race day, if it’s wet or dry, the robot sprays you a perfect shoe for the moment,” Heitz added. “And at the end of the race, you take it off, recycle it, and go to the next race.”
Aside from its performance, the main benefit to spray on technology, Heitz says, is that it's convenient and bespoke.
“There are no limits to this technology,” he said. “You can produce what you want, where you want, and only as much as you want.”
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