US Olympic Free Skiing Team Suits

Ski jumpers and alpine skiers have long embraced the idea that “tight is aero” when it comes to clothing for competition. Although the details — structure, material, and texture -- all still matter, minimizing the amount of loose material is step one for designing a fast suit. With the introduction of freestyle skiing events into the Olympics, a whole new set of challenges arose. Competition suits are required to be loose (in a quantitative, measurable way), but aerodynamics are still critical, particularly in competitions like Ski Cross. A team from Cooper Perkins, working for US Olympic Team sponsor The North Face, conducted extensive testing on materials, surface textures, and the structural elements of prototype suits in the early stages of developing competition suits for the 2014 Olympics.