London 2012: Stella McCartney’s Team GB kit for Adidas revealed

Team GB London 2012 kit

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(left-right) Eleanor Simmonds, Phillips Idowu, Louis Smith and Jessica Ennis pose as Adidas unveil the British Team Kit designed by Stella McCartney during a photocall at the Tower of London, London.

Forget going for gold. Team GB will be decked out in indigo as they take to the track and field for the London 2012 Olympic games.

Inspired by the Union Jack flag, the Olympic and Paralympic sportswear will feature predominately blue hues paired with red footwear as they compete across the summer.

Designed by Beatle offspring Stella McCartney in partnership with sponsors Adidas, over 900 British athletes will be kitted out with a total of approximately 175,000 items of clothing from the range during the games.

“All eyes will be on the British athletes when they take the stage at the Games,” said Adidas UK Marketing Director Nick Craggs.

“We wanted to ensure that they would be the best equipped team through a combination of leading technologies including PowerWEB and Climacool and a unified and striking team identity.”

So what’s the rough verdict on the kit? While the public seem a little sceptical on the actual “Britishness” of the clothing, it’s garnered unanimous praise from the athletes themselves.

“It is very blue and that is nice and subtle but, at the same time, it does what it needs to do,” BMX cyclist Shanaze Reade told BBC Sport.

“You can often blend in with French wearing red, white and blue but this is completely on its own and makes us feel very British. As females it is all about what it looks like and if you feel good it makes us perform even better.”

110 metre hurdler Will Sharman was equally chuffed, noting that the kit was functional as well as fashionable:

“It needs to be lightweight, which it is, it needs to be aerodynamic and it is. There is no flapping about so, from a performance perspective, it’s exactly what we were looking for. The colours are different but it’s definitely British. I get excited putting it on. It has the Olympic rings on and that gives you pride.”

So what do you think? Will you be sprinting down to your local sportswear dealer to get a piece of McCartney’s Olympic designs, or has one of the UK’s leading fashion designers missed out on a medal this year? Let us know what you think in the comments section below!

IMAGES: Press Association