Canada’s Olympic athletes will be sporting a tinge of green in their traditionally red and white uniforms at the Beijing Games — not only as a colour but likewise in the eco-friendly fabrics used for the garments line.

Models and Olympic athletes image the clothes that will have existence worn by Canada’s Olympic athletes in the athletes’ hamlet at the Beijing Games during a fashion appear in Toronto Wednesday. (J.P. Moczulski/Canadian Press)

The Hudson’s Bay Company unveiled the athletes’ clothing thread for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games in Toronto on Wednesday.

The outfits use such materials as bamboo, organic cotton and cacona, which is derived from coconut.

Designer Tu Ly aforesaid the influence to environmentally sustainable materials was made not straitened by a larger worldwide direction that increased the availability of such products.

“It was a real movement in every part of our lives, so it was obdurate not to be conscious of it,” Ly said in an parley Wednesday with Canadian Press prior to the unveiling of the clothing line.

Designers also adapted the clothing to the high temperatures expected in Beijing after consulting with athletes who took part in the 2004 Summer Games in Athens. Those athletes said they were unprepared for the heat in Greece.

With that in mind, the clothing for the Beijing Games was made using fabrics that provide UV protection, four-way hold out, odour resistance and wicking and cooling properties to help last athletes comfortable.

While some of the designs exercise only the traditional red and white colours of the Canadian Olympic team, others feature a busy blend of symbols and patterns in a mix of muted tones.

Colour and design inspiration came in limb from the five aspects of Chinese astrology — earth, wood, fire, water and metal — the designers said in a press release.

Also used are of that kind Chinese symbols as the lucky number 8, represented both as a numeral and an octagon.Olympic rower Krista Gulien models one of the shirts featuring the colours of the five elements of Chinese astrology. (J.P. Moczulski/Canadian Press)

The line also includes a multi-functional piece called the B-tube, which designers say could have existence sported as a bandanna, hair band or even a mask to pass through a strainer smog while in China, where air pollution is a business for athletes.

“We felt that this time round, we wanted the athletes to make it their own,” Ly said of the piece.

Sports fans and style-watchers sanguine to see the other put into of Olympic clothing, which resolution exist donned by athletes during the Aug. 8 opening ceremony and on the medal podium will accept to wait until the Games for the unveiling.

Many pieces will be available for sale of the same kind with replica wear at the Bay, Zellers, on the Hudson’s Bay Company website, as well as during the Olympics at Canada House and the BC Pavilion in Beijing.

Each Olympic team member will believe 25 items, including jackets, pants, shorts, hoodies, T-shirts, shoes and traps, as easily as “team only” products such as the opening ceremony equipment and medal continuous pedestal jacket.

With files from the Canadian Press