Lululemon revealed their official athlete gear Team Canada will be sporting at the 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics on Tuesday to a chilly reception.
The popular clothing brand showed off a variety of looks for different occasions that Canada’s finest athletes will be wearing in Italy with a decidedly interesting colour palette including lots of red, maroon, black and green.
Among the looks showed off on Tuesday at Lululemon’s downtown Toronto flagship store, the opening ceremony outfit was one of the bolder choices.
As they take part in one of the most viewed events of the Games, Canadian athletes will be rocking a maroon-coloured quilted vest featuring an oversized, stretched-out version of the maple leaf that spans nearly its entire length. The vest will be layered over a knee-length maroon jacket as well.
According to design director Catherine Lebrun, the leaf is not just big, it’s “the biggest scale probably we’ve ever done and will ever do of the leaf.”
Designs panned online as ‘not very innovative’
While there were some rave reviews online from several Canadian athletes calling the wardrobe “epic” and “iconic,” there were many dissenters as well.
“Feels unoriginal and not very innovative from their last design,” one user commented on X, adding: “Are people still gonna eat it up? Probably.”
Another user wrote: “Well this sure doesn’t reflect a bright red and white flag we’re so proud of! Very dismal — it is time to change up these designers — not interesting at all.”
The addition of green as a featured colour in the outfits drew much criticism online.
“Since when is green in our flag?” one user replied.
“Why Green!!!!! It should be all Red and White!!!!” another wrote.
Several users also commented that it was time for Team Canada to go back to Roots for its athlete gear.
Reveal comes on heels of Hockey Canada jersey announcement
Lululemon’s big reveal came less than two weeks after Hockey Canada shared its jerseys for the Games, which come in two versions — the traditional white and red as well as a modern red-and-black jersey.
“Every stitch reflects our resilience, pride and belonging, forged through time and pressure,” Hockey Canada wrote in a social media post, captioning closeups of the gear being described as “a symbol forged in ice.”
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Hockey Canada asked for people’s thoughts on the look and fans were quick to weigh in.
The red and white jerseys got stamps of approval from many with one person calling them “low-key beautiful” and another commenting that they look “pretty bada–.”
The black-on-red jerseys, on the other hand, were not winners.
“We don’t need the black leaf,” one user wrote, while another added: “I don’t understand their obsession of using black.”
The collection launches on the Lululemon website across Canada on Nov. 18 and in select stores the following day in Canada and Milan.
Tuesday‘s release was just the first wave with more apparel and accessories set to be released leading up to the Games in February.