How Ralph Lauren Marries Technology and Design for Olympic Uniforms
Ralph Lauren is doubling down on wearable tech with its official 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics uniform for Team USA.
“Trying to come up with technology that’s wearable has to be about what the customer wants and needs,” David Lauren, Chief Innovation Officer at Ralph Lauren told Cheddar. “It really depends on who that customer is. This is a customer that’s walking in cold weather. We couldn’t decide what the temperature was going to be. Do you do a layering system? So technology just married perfectly with the need of the consumer.”
Ralph Lauren has been making uniforms for American Olympians since 2008. For the summer games in Rio in 2016, the company made a light-up jacket sported by then-flag bearer Michael Phelps.
This time around, Ralph Lauren chose to go with an insulated bomber jacket that keeps people warm for 11 hours, thanks to a heat-conducting ink. Its temperature is also adjustable by smartphone.
Lauren says the use of technology fits into the image the company -- and the team -- is trying to project in South Korea.
“When the U.S. team walks out of the opening ceremonies, we want them to feel like they’re representing our country,” he said. “And what is our country about? About leadership, about innovation, looking to the future. So there’s always symbolism in everything that the athletes feel and do out there. They’re on a global stage, and this is the stage for America, and how they look and feel is part of it.”
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/ralph-lauren-unveils-2018-olympic-ceremony-uniforms-for-team-usa).
Joe Cecela, Dream Exchange CEO, explains how they are aiming to form the first minority-controlled company to operate an exchange in U.S. history. Watch!
A Michigan judge is putting sponges in the hands of shoplifters and ordering them to wash cars in a Walmart parking lot when spring weather arrives. Genesee County Judge Jeffrey Clothier hopes the unusual form of community service discourages people from stealing from Walmart. The judge also wants to reward shoppers with free car washes. Clothier says he began ordering “Walmart wash” sentences this week for shoplifting at the store in Grand Blanc Township. He believes 75 to 100 people eventually will be ordered to wash cars this spring. Clothier says he will be washing cars alongside them when the time comes.
The State Department had been in talks with Elon Musk’s Tesla company to buy armored electric vehicles, but the plans have been put on hold by the Trump administration after reports emerged about a potential $400 million purchase. A State Department spokesperson said the electric car company owned by Musk was the only one that expressed interest back in May 2024. The deal with Tesla was only in its planning phases but it was forecast to be the largest contract of the year. It shows how some of his wealth has come and was still expected to come from taxpayers.
At 100 years old, the Goodyear Blimp is an ageless star in the sky. The 246-foot-long airship will be in the background of the Daytona 500 — flying roughly 1,500 feet above Daytona International Speedway, actually — to celebrate its greatest anniversary tour. Even though remote camera technologies are improving regularly and changing the landscape of aerial footage, the blimp continues to carve out a niche. At Daytona, with the usual 40-car field racing around a 2½-mile superspeedway, views from the blimp aptly provide the scope of the event.
You'll just have to wait for interest rates (and prices) to go down. Plus, this deal's a steel, the big carmaker wedding is off, and bribery is back, baby!
