U.S. Olympians Wearing Chinese Uniforms

The Uniforms pictured on the left are what the United States Olympic athletes will be wearing when they enter the Olympic stadium for the opening ceremonies in London this year. They were designed by Ralph Lauren. The men's uniform costs $1,945 each, and the women's uniform costs $1,473 each.

There are 530 members of the U.S. Olympic Team, meaning over $700,000 was spent for the uniforms. And that doesn't count the uniforms for the Paralympic Team, or the uniforms for the closing ceremonies for both teams (also done by Ralph Lauren).

Now one would think that with the huge amount of money being spent to clothe our athletes, the clothes could have been made in the United States by proud and talented American workers -- but that didn't happen. The uniforms were made in Chinese sweat shops (by workers who not only don't care about our athletes, but don't even make close to our minimum wage for their work).

Frankly, I am aghast at the thought that, in the middle of our current unemployment crises, the designer outsourced this job to China. The USOC tried to defend the designer saying, "Unlike most Olympic teams around the world, the U.S. Olympic Team is privately funded and we're grateful for the support of our sponsors. We're proud of our partnership with Ralph Lauren, an iconic American company, and excited to watch America's finest athletes compete at the opening Games in London."

Hogwash! A true "partner" would have dressed our athletes in American-made clothes. The truth is they are using our athletes to make money (there's a website up to sell Ralph Lauren Olympic clothing to the general public -- which I will not link to), and they are using underpaid Chinese workers to squeeze every penny out of the sales that they can.

Ralph Lauren did do something that many Americans didn't think was possible though. He brought the leaders of both political parties together to agree on something -- that having these uniforms made in China is outrageous.

The Republican Speaker of the House, John Boehner, said simply, "You'd think they'd know better." The Democratic Majority Leader in the Senate, Harry Reid, was a little wordier saying, "I am so upset. I think the Olympic committee should be ashamed of themselves. I think they should be embarrassed. I think they should take all the uniforms, put them in a big pile and burn them and start all over again."

I agree. I would rather our team enter the stadium wearing some cheap sweat suits made in the United States than wearing these Chinese-made clothes. Personally, I don't think they look all that great anyway -- especially the silly berets.