The fashion game at the Summer Olympics continues to heat up. The latest entrant to emerge: Team Nigeria, which will be dressed for the opening ceremony, closing ceremony, stage, Olympic Village and athletics competition from Actively Black, a small label in Los Angeles founded by Lanny Smith, a former professional basketball player , in 2020.
For Actively Black, a company with just three employees, that’s the equivalent of winning a gold medal before the Games have even started.
“To see a black-owned brand on the same global stage as Nike, Lululemon and Adidas, it makes everyone look at us differently,” Mr. Smith said via video from his Los Angeles office, moments before the looks were revealed. “It’s an important moment for us.”
The collaboration with Nigeria places Actively Black in a whole new fashion competition, involving not only sports brands, but also the high-fashion names dressing their country for the opening ceremony, such as Berluti (the LVMH brand that dresses Team France), Giorgio Armani (Italy), Ben Sherman (Great Britain) and Ralph Lauren (the United States).
Partnering with an underdog, mission-oriented fashion brand is also a way for Nigeria, which is sending a delegation of about 200 to the Games, to draw attention and excitement, just as Liberia did when it partnered with Telfar for its Olympic looks. in 2021. (Although the Nigerians who marched in the opening ceremony of the 2022 Winter Olympics were actively dressed in black, there were only two of them; now the delegation has a critical mass.)
“Part of being a Nigerian is making you look nice,” 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.”
What that will look like in practice is a combination of what Mr. Smith calls “traditional and modern.” For example, the opening ceremony outfits, featuring a classic block print in the green and white of the Nigerian flag, will be made from Funtua cotton, named after the Nigerian state where it is produced. Men will wear a long cardigan over slim track pants with matching 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. Each of the looks is completed with traditional headpieces.
The stage looks, on the other hand, will overlay the shadow of the Nigerian eagle over the Actively Black performance materials. And the closing ceremony styles will include a dashiki-inspired top, paired with wide-leg, white pants and, again, matching yellow and fila hats.
The looks were designed in collaboration with Jordan Jackson and Danielle McCoy of Amen, Amen. Studios in Portland, Oregon, which Mr. Smith called upon when he realized the magnitude of the Olympics. Amen, Amen. Studios, in turn, enlisted its Nigerian partners, the Lekki Garment Factory and Afrikstafel Textiles Productions, to assist with the project.
After all, helping a country show up is no small thing. Especially since Mr. Smith never planned on wearing workout clothes.
He was a star basketball player at the University of Houston and was drafted by the Sacramento Kings in 2009. “The NBA was my plan A, B and C,” he said. An ACL injury 33 days into his professional career put an end to that idea, sending him into a deep depression. During that time, he took refuge in his faith – and in clothing. In 2010 he started Active Faith Sports, a Christian sports brand. (Imagine casual and performance clothing with slogans like “In Jesus’ name I play,” and you get the idea.)
Ten years later, Active Faith Sports led to Actively Black, inspired by Mr. Smith’s desire to use clothing to do what the movie “Black Panther” had done: bring the black community together. Especially in the wake of what he perceived as performative marketing by other sports brands following the murder of George Floyd.
“From sixth grade on, I was one of the best basketball players,” Mr. Smith said. “I got the best Nike gear growing up. And then you realize they’re just looking for the next Michael Jordan, the next LeBron James, the next athlete to market and sell products. Billions of dollars have been made from Black culture, Black talent, and Black consumerism, and I felt like those brands hadn’t reinvested enough in the Black community.”
He decided it was time, he said, “to stop asking for a seat at the table and build your own table.” Actively Black was introduced on Black Friday in 2020 as a direct-to-consumer brand. Fans include Dwyane Wade, Ludacris, Steph Curry – and now the Nigerian Olympic Committee.
Mr. Smith was first connected to Team Nigeria by Seun Adigun, a college friend who represented Nigeria as a track and field athlete at the 2012 Summer Olympics and went on to found the bobsled team, which competed in the 2018 Winter Olympics. (Ms. Adigun was the first African athlete who competed 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 planned uniform sponsor of the country fell Before the Summer Games, she contacted Mr. Smith again. He seized his chance.
According to Mr Smith, the fact that an American brand is dressing the Nigerian team is proof that Actively Black is built for the black community.
“And when I say that, I don’t just mean African Americans. I mean, we are a global brand for the entire diaspora.”
Mr Smith said he was already receiving calls from other African countries and some Caribbean delegations about cooperation. “It’s an opportunity we wouldn’t have had otherwise,” he says. And not just for the brand.
Mr. Smith had always dreamed of making it to the Olympics. After his injury, he assumed this 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 version of Nike.”
