Danish athletes will soon receive their official collection for Tokyo 2020 – BESTSELLER’s most sustainable Olympic and Paralympic collection yet. Denmark’s Olympic team will make their first official appearance at Tokyo 2020 dressed in clothes designed by their own brands JACK & JONES and VERO MODA.
As the official clothing partner for the Danish Olympic and Paralympic teams, BESTSELLER has designed a full collection for all non-competition situations at the upcoming global sporting events in Japan. This includes the Opening Ceremony on 23 July where the athletes will be formally introduced to the world.
The Olympic athletes’ individual bags are being packed by Danmarks Idrætsforbund (DIF – The Danish Olympic Committee) throughout May and the same process will begin next month for the Paralympic athletes. It is a significant moment that has been almost three years in the making.
“Considering we have had to wait an extra year for Tokyo 2020 due to COVID-19, it is fantastic to finally be at the point where we are sending the official collection to the athletes. It’s a great collection and we can’t wait to see our athletes wearing it in Japan in a couple of months,” says Søren Simonsen, the Chef de Mission of Denmark’s Olympic Team.
Most sustainable collection yet
BESTSELLER has been an official partner of DIF for over a decade and has produced the official Danish Olympic and Paralympic collection at Beijing 2008, London 2012, Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020.
“We are proud of our long-term partnership with DIF and to be able to support Denmark’s Olympic and Paralympic athletes the best way we know how,” says Anders Gam, Brand Director at JACK & JONES and head of BESTSELLER’s Olympic and Paralympic design team.
The Tokyo 2020 collection reflects the significant progress BESTSELLER has made in accelerating fashion towards a sustainable reality since the launch of our sustainability strategy Fashion FWD in 2018.
Sustainability has been a focus from the first design meeting, resulting in the widespread use of more sustainable materials, including organic cotton and recycled polyester. For example, the polyester used to make the medal suit is produced by recycling PET plastic bottles.
For the athletes
The process of designing this latest collection began in mid-2018 to ensure it would be ready for Tokyo 2020’s original timing.
In step with the International Olympic Committee’s decision to continue to refer to the dual events as ‘Tokyo 2020’ to prevent waste – following the decision to postpone due to COVID-19 – the official Danish Olympic and Paralympic collection retains all ‘Tokyo 2020’ labelling.
Just like with our other Olympic and Paralympic collections, a group of Danish athletes were involved in the Tokyo 2020 design process and their input – as well as feedback from previous years – played an important role in the final result. We wanted this collection to relate totally to the athletes’ needs. For example, we have added training wear made from a seamless and stretchy woven fabric for ultimate comfort in the heat and humidity of the Japanese summer.
