Getty Images: U.S. Hockey Player Julie Chu carries the flag during the closing ceremony of the 2014 Sochi Winter Games.
Iraq war veteran Chris Fogt helps his team win bronze in the four-man bobsled event held on the last day of the Sochi Winter Games. (Getty Images)
The 2014 Sochi Winter Games are over, the medals have all been handed out, the closing ceremony finished. As in all Olympic games, there were surprise losses and surprise finishes. While it was heartbreaking to see the U.S. Women’s Hockey team lose their lead in the gold-medal match up, it was just as heart warming to see Iraq war veteran Chris Fogt win his first Olympic medal on Feb. 23rd, helping the USA-1 sled driven by Steven Holcomb win the bronze in four-man bobsledding on the final day of the 2014 Winter Games. Congratulations to all the athletes, medal or no medal, on realizing your dreams and making it to the Olympics. We are all lucky to be part of the sporting goods industry, and many of you reading this have perhaps played a role in supporting young athletes some where in their careers. Whether or not they wind up competing in the Olympics, they all started out on some field, some ice rink, some gymnasium somewhere and they all usually have one thing in common: Those young athletes were at one time or another thrilled to have put on their first uniform featuring their own name and their own number. So if you’re a custom garment printer reading this, always remember the importance of personalization to young athletes.
Last year we featured the Lady Bulldogs with their custom cut logos and numbers that feature pink glitter flake heat transfer material combined with ThermoFilm. Who knows if one of these young girls is a future Olympian!?!
As we move ahead into 2014, you’ll be seeing a definite trickle-down effect of all the Olympic looks and a demand for personalization on performance wear. Keep in mind that if you own a heat press you are able to create just about any requested look on any type of material. I would love to hear from you if you have customers that specficially ask you to recreate an Olympic or pro-athlete type of look for their teams.