Team Nigeria’s Kits to 2024 Olympics reflect country’s cultural heritage

Team Nigeria’s official kits to this month’s Olympic Games in Paris France are expected to go on sale today following unveiling yesterday, according to report from woramangra. WordPress.com

US based sports apparel manufacturers, Actively Black, who signed a partnership with the Nigeria Olympic Committee in April unveiled the various styles of the Nigerian kits on its Instagram handle.

Opening ceremony outfits, featuring a classic block print in the green and white of the Nigerian flag, are made from a Funtua cotton, which is named after the Nigerian state where it is produced.

Men will wear a long vest over slim track pants with coordinating piping down the legs, a silhouette inspired by the traditional Nigerian senator suit popular with politicians.

Women will wear a style derived from the classic buba dress, accessorized with traditional headgear.

The podium looks, by contrast, will superimpose the shadow of the Nigerian Eagle on Actively Black’s performance materials.

And the closing-ceremony styles feature a dashiki-inspired top, paired with wide, white pants and, once again, coordinating gele and fila hats.

“Part of that Nigeria vibe is you’re going to look nice,” Actively Black’s founder Mr. Smith said.

I know we have to show up in a way that represents that. As a former athlete, you love that competition, that challenge.”

Smith, a former basketball player, was first connected to ‘Team Nigeria’ by Seun Adigun, a college friend who represented Nigeria as a track and field athlete in the 2012 Summer Olympics and then founded its bobsled team, which competed in the 2018 Winter Olympics.

Ms. Adigun was the first African athlete to compete in the Summer and Winter Olympics.

She enlisted Mr. Smith to design the bobsled outfits for the 2022 Winter Olympics, but the team failed to qualify, so when the country’s planned uniform sponsor fell through for the Summer Games, she contacted Mr. Smith again. He jumped at the chance.

For an American brand to dress the Nigerian team is proof, Mr. Smith said, “that Actively Black was built for the Black community.”

As a  basketball player Smith had always dreamed of making it to the Olympics.

After his injury, he assumed it would never happen.

But on July 26, he will march into Paris with Team Nigeria, another step, he said, in his quest to become “the Black-owned version