Giorgio Armani has kitted out the Italian Olympic team in his designs for the 2012 London games and Aquascutum’s road to recovery continues with the announcement of Tim Dally as the label’s CEO.
The Italian fashion designer revealed his EA7 Emporio Armani range for the country’s sporting hopefuls ahead of this summer’s London Olympic Games during a presentation at the Armani Theater in Milan’s Via Borgonuovo.
Giorgio is known to be a sports fanatic, especially for football and tennis, and he plans to travel to the UK capital to support Italy’s stars.
He is quoted by WWD as saying, ”Stepping outside my fashion comfort zone and leaving my ego to identify myself in a sportsman’s mentality is something that intrigues me a lot.”
The Olympic kit consists of white and midnight blue pieces as well as a tracksuit with an asymmetric closure, T-shirts, running shoes, shorts, suitcases, a nylon jacket and the country’s national flag-inspired polo shirt which features red and green colors.
The first verse of the Italian national anthem, ‘Il Canto degli Italiani’, appears on a blue band under the collar of the Olympic polo shirts, while the remaining lyrics are written in gold inside the jackets and sweatshirts.
Stella McCartney designed Great Britain’s Olympic team kit, which was inspired by the nation’s Union Jack flag.
She said, ”I was also aware of the fact that it’s something that might be overused in the build-up to the Olympics, in taxis, on cushions and mugs, so I wanted to do something different with it – but that was still respectful of its beauty.
”Actually, the colors of the Union Jack are similar to a lot of other flags and the athletes really wanted to feel identifiable as Team GB, so I just used different colours to say the same thing.”
The British brand – which was recently sold to Hong Kong-based YGM Trading Limited after going into administration – will now be headed up by Dally, who is eager to begin his new post.
He told Retail Week, ”Aquascutum has wonderful heritage and enormous global potential. I am excited by this opportunity to be at the helm of this iconic British brand.”
Aquascutum and its assets – including UK stores, concessions and the head office – were sold to YGM Trading Limited, which already controlled the brand’s licenses in Asia, preserving 100 jobs.
Joint administrator Geoff Rowley said, ”We are delighted to announce the sale of Aquascutum, safeguarding the jobs of over 100 employees and the presence of the iconic Aquascutum brand in the United Kingdom.
”We hope that under new ownership the Aquascutum brand and business will have the best opportunity of success and growth both in the UK and worldwide.”
Talks are continuing to secure a buyer for Aquascutum’s manufacturing plant in Northamptonshire with administrators revealing they hope to arrange a deal within the next two weeks.
The British label went into administration last month, and admitted the closure of the factory in the UK had to be done to halt continuing losses.
