J. Crew’s new Olympic skiing capsule gives sportswear a ’70s vibe shift

J. Crew just revealed its apparel collection with the U.S. Ski & Snowboard teams for the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics. It’s an ode to retro ski aesthetics that even the most amateur athlete (or viewer) can get behind. 

The 26-piece collection, which includes everything from graphic sweatshirts and refined knitwear to ball caps, wool socks, and cozy leggings, is the first installment of J. Crew’s three-year-long partnership with U.S. Ski & Snowboard, announced in March. Prices for the entire J.Crew U.S. Ski & Snowboard collection range from $49.50 to $498. It will be available online and in select J. Crew stores starting January 8.

Each product collection is inspired by vintage logos and archival Olympic patches, blending touches of sportiness with laid-back, après-ski leisure. To package that aesthetic with this first launch, J. Crew has created an advertising campaign called “Alpine People,” featuring members of the U.S. Ski & Snowboard team in a lighthearted spot that feels like Wes Anderson dropped onto the slopes in the ’70s. 

It’s a refreshing approach to Olympic-branded gear, which has been most closely associated with Ralph Lauren’s buttoned-up take on Americana aesthetics since that brand started designing Team USA’s ceremony outfits in 2008. Where Ralph Lauren’s Team USA collection for the 2026 Games has a more polished, preppy vibe, J. Crew’s collection feels both effortlessly casual and aspirational—a balance that can be tricky to achieve in a sport with a reputation for elitism. 

Vintage references offer a new route into chalet core

In recent months, we’ve seen other brands put their own spin on ski apparel, including Nike x Jacquemus’s futurism-meets-’80s Après Ski collection, launched in late November, and North Face x Skims’ sporty, neutral-chic line, launched in early December. J. Crew’s interpretation, with its charmingly retro design and loungewear focus, feels like the best collection for hunkering down in a chalet with a hot beverage, even if you’ve never put on a set of skis in your life.

To conceptualize the new skiing collection, J. Crew’s team started by consulting archival imagery of both ski apparel brands and Olympic games past.

“We spent a lot of time immersed in the archives, both our own and U.S. Ski & Snowboard’s,” says Olympia Gayot, J. Crew’s creative director of women’s and children’s design. “We traveled to their headquarters and poured through historic imagery of the team and past Olympic moments, everything from old uniforms and outerwear to pins, patches, and ephemera that captured the spirit of different eras of the sport.”

Details like the collection’s recurring red, white, and blue stripes and “U.S. Skiing” shield patch have a clear tie to vintage Olympic patches, which often featured the same color scheme and motif—typically alongside imagery like a torch, the Olympic rings, and, for skiing events, an illustration of an athlete descending the slopes. 

Dynamic athlete illustrations star in their own right across multiple items in this collection. One sleek line drawing shows a skier zooming down the slopes, which features on a comfy graphic tee and crew neck; as well as another of an athlete with their skis crossed mid-jump.

“While we always start with our archives and brand DNA, the real inspiration for this collection comes from the sport itself, the skiers, the Olympics, and the energy of elite athletes,” Gayot says.

Typographic call backs to American ski resorts of yesteryear

The whole J. Crew Olympic skiing collection, and its accompanying campaign, is tied together by an ultra-’70s sans serif typeface, complete with blocky letterforms, bold curves, and a funky combination of caps and lowercase letters. Examples of this typeface appear in the apparel collection almost everywhere there’s lettering, as well as in the bright yellow, Wes Anderson-style captions that appear on the “Alpine People” campaign video.

The typeface calls back to similar styles used in vintage ski apparel and destinations, including the Sugarloaf Ski Resort in Carrabassett Valley, Maine, which once had a groovy wordmark with a near-identical look.

“You’ll see the vintage references reinterpreted in a way that feels timeless but also unique for this moment,” Gayot says. “Those elements show up across the collection as embroidered patches, knit-in graphics, and printed details, creating a through line that connects the heritage of both brands to the pieces in a way that feels thoughtful, nostalgic, and distinctly our own.”

source https://www.fastcompany.com/91465832/jcrew-olympic-skiing-collection-2026