USA Skateboarding uniform socks designed for the 2020 Olympic skateboard team
date: label: date made
content: 2020
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: USA Skateboarding uniform socks designed for the 2020 Olympic skateboard team.
label: Description (Brief)
content: The 2020 Summer Olympics, also known as the Games of the XXXII Olympiad were held in Tokyo, Japan, with 206 countries, 5,910 men and 5,409 women athletes participating. These Games were originally to be held in July 0f 2020 but because of the Covid 19 pandemic restrictions it was postponed to the next summer running from July 21 through August 8, 2021. These Games saw the inclusion of mixed gender team events in a number of existing sports along with the addition of new sports such as surfing, skateboarding, karate and sport climbing. The United States led the medal count with a total of 113 medals, 39 of those were gold.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Historically, skateboarding has used uniforms since the 1960s, but they are not the norm in a sport that has seen a growing presence in professional competitions leading to its inclusion in the 2020 Olympic Games. Some might consider a skater’s baggy pants and Vans a ‘uniform’ but that doesn’t cut it in the Olympics so creating “uniforms” for the Tokyo Games was a daunting task. Nike designer Piet Parra, however, came up with the idea of “kits”, various pieces of clothing that could be worn together or separately to create a ‘uniform’ that could be different from your fellow teammates. This mix and match idea was new to the Olympics and is why these pieces were collected. Many of these pieces were intentionally unisex in nature to account for the many gender fluid athletes in the sport.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Another aspect of these skate uniforms was the rejection of the uniform as a piece of performance equipment by the IOC, removing sponsorship options from the athletes which is where skaters make their money. The shoes and boards are considered performance equipment, so the skaters are allowed to wear and use their personal items which allow them to satisfy their sponsor’s requirements and earn money in the process. There was an argument made that skate clothing is specialized and developed like pieces of performance equipment but that was not how the IOC recognized the apparel. As an example, beach volleyball uniforms are considered performance equipment, therefore the athletes have control over the design and manufacturer allowing for control from the athlete rather than the team, allowing for sponsorship obligations.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Much like snowboarding in the winter Olympics, skateboarding was included in the summer games to bring a younger audience to the struggling network broadcasts. These uniforms, representing the fledging class of skate athletes to the Olympics, provide many different aspects to explore Olympic and skate history now and into the future.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: name of sport
content: skateboarding
label: level of sport
content: Olympics
setName: label: See more items in
content: Culture and the Arts: Sport and Leisure
label: See more items in
content: Sports & Leisure
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2023.0030.10.2
label: accession number
content: 2023.0030
label: catalog number
content: 2023.0030.10.2
objectType: label: Object Name
content: socks, skateboarding
label: Object Name
content: socks
label: Object Name
content: socks, summer olympics
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: fabric, cotton (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 16 in x 3 in; 40.64 cm x 7.62 cm