Made in China Part 2 : What's Worse Than Made in China?!?

"Made in China" gets a bad rap, especially amongst those lefties who are all about "causes" and don't like China's politics. Well, for those that thought "Made in China" was the worst possible label one could find on their clothes, it gets worse, "Made in North Korea."

That's right, an enterprising Swede is bringing Noko Jeans to the world. Yes, just in time for Christmas, you too could own a pair of jeans made by an entire family locked up in a prison camp happy employees in the "glorious, worker's paradise" that is North Korea.

And how much for these superwonderfulexcellent jeans from the world's most oppressive country and one of its poorest? Only about 6 months average salary for a North Korean or US$215. One wonders why they don't read the New York Times in Pyongyang (or in Sweden for that matter) and know "premium" denim is a thing of the past. Oh wait, because its North motherf***ing Korea we're talking about.

Watching the video on the company's website is a must for tons of unintended fun. "Can we learn more [about North Korea]? Can we get to know them? And most importantly, how?" I know, I know, let's pay them peanuts to make crappy jeans and charge a fortune for them.

Is North Korea the "final frontier"? What would be worse than North Korea?!?

China's Got (Shoe) Game

We here at A Modern Lei Feng love high end style and love stepping out in a fresh pair of John Lobbs (at least those of us who can afford them, the others just drool jealously), but we also like street style as well. For those who are shoe fiends (collectors) like us, 2008 was an awesome year to be in China. With Beijing hosting the Olympics, a lot of limited edition releases took place, some limited to China only.

While some collectors thought 2009 might be a major drop off, 2009 isn't even a month old and 2 major releases have hit Chinese shores. First was Nike's annual release for Chinese New Year, but the moment everyone was waiting for was the release of CLOT's offering to the Nike 1World Air Force One collection.

The CLOT Nike1World Air Force One has a red silk upper with a traditional Chinese pattern on it, perfect for Chinese New Year, but also features leather with the same pattern under the silk that can be exposed through wear or intentionally cutting or burning the silk away. It is an extremely limited release, sold only at Juice in Hong Kong and ACU in Shanghai (those in HK get the better deal as its sold for HK$2800 there and RMB2800 in Shanghai). The shoe was released on January 16, so if you didn't get yours, call ahead and make sure they still have pairs in your size. The Shanghai release party even made it to Hypebeast. ACU's located at 139 Changle Lu (by Maoming Lu).

Let's hope this recognition continues in 2009 and shoe collectors have more to brag about than access to releases of China only branded NBA kicks like the Li Ning Shaqs (and Baron Davis' if they ever come out) and Peak Jason Kidds.

Why Are Chinese Lacking Style?

A few weeks ago a discussion was started by a friend (and popular blogger) regarding style in China. We here a lot of critical comments about Chinese (especially the men), some deserving, some not so. Even in white collar work settings in Beijing and Shanghai, you often see a lot of questionable choices among Chinese coworkers and it only gets worse when you go into 2nd, 3rd (and on) tier cities. So what's the problem?

1. "Style" in Communist China has only been around for 25 years. Before that, everyone was basically dressing the same way and touches of style that made you stand out were a negative. But look at the recently released Life photos or images from the pre-Communist era, those people had style and they were Chinese, there is definitely hope.

2. Asian business people in general tend to dress very badly.

3. "Style" is usually not cheap, especially without any second hand stores around the city. Guys in China have a lot of pressure on them, if they want to get married, they basically must be able to buy an apartment and often aren't from rich families or even the big city to begin with. The people around us and many that we know work insane hours and don't have much time for shopping. Even if they did, the majority of money is either saved or sent to their parents.

4. Nobody wants to stand out in the workplace for anything other than his work and when the boss(es) rarely wears a suit, its hard for his underlings to do so. The casual nature of the Chinese workplace makes it hard for someone who wants to be stylish to fit in with the overall office aesthetic. Even in the US or UK, if you go to a major international law firm or i-bank, the style is very conservative and a lot of people would fall short of "stylish", perhaps expectations are too high.

5. Street style is extremely diverse and relatively fashion forward here, because people who are in fields that allow them to wear street wear to work aren't usually faced with the limiting issues 3 and 4 mentioned above.

So be a little more gentle and encouraging towards Chinese style. And by the way, with the example many expats in China set, can you blame the Chinese?!? We're fighting the good fight, though, in our Thom and Tom suits, Churchs shoes, and oxford cloth button downs.

American Cool and British Corner Cutting

An interesting story out of the LA Times about American "heritage" clothing brands like Red Wing and Filson and how they are back in style again. These traditional styles and the new, hipster brands that are copying them are extremely popular, but not only in the US. Japan, for whatever reason, seems obsessed with American trends, from preppy traditions like Brooks Brothers and J. Press to classic workwear like Levi's (the Japanese obsession with classic American denim is unbelievable). I've been aware of the return to fashion of these brands, but it never struck me as a mainstream thing until I saw the Times article.

In another interesting fashion related story, its being reported that Saville Row designer Richard James used Mauritius laborers to do the dirty work, then having the suits sent back to the UK to be "finished" in England and allowing them to be labeled "Made in England." This is the dirty little secret of the fashion world. Despite clothing, shoes, and accessories that are labeled "Made in England" or "Made in Italy", the majority of the work is often done in a developing country, with China often being the favorite choice.

Should this matter? It depends on your outlook. Those in the yes column argue that they are being overcharged. While they understand paying a lot for English or Italian craftsmen who, because of wage laws and experience, must be paid more, if in reality the majority of the work was done by a 18 year old Chinese or African girl being paid peanuts, there is no justification for the high price. The other side who argue that it shouldn't matter claim that as long as the quality is in keeping with what one expects from the brand, then it shouldn't really matter to the consumer if 60% of the work was done elsewhere and the product was only "finished" in England or Italy.

What are your thoughts? Also, any US "heritage" brands that you love or would like to see brought back?

Yet Another Example of Chinese Retro Chic

While few at A Modern Lei Feng are big fans of Shanghai (a bit of an understatement), we must admit they have some classic old brands like Forever bikes, Warrior shoes, and Seagull cameras. To me, the design of a Forever bike is still as beautiful as it was back in the day, definitely retro cool, though the one I have sure isn't the smoothest of rides.

Well , Shanghaiist recently pointed us to a new collaboration with another classic brand, Shanghai watches. I'm certainly a big fan of a few of the designs, though the "Shanghai" on the dial is more than a little annoying to me. Not sure about the prices, though they'll be offered at major Paris and NYC boutiques, so don't expect a bargain.

So why is it that Shanghai has so many great traditional brands? Why are Beijing's brands centered around alcohol (Yanjing and Red Star Erguotou)? What other classic Chinese brands deserve revival?

CBD Shopping: Craziness Both High and Low

The annual Guomao Shopping Bazaar is once again upon us and the masses have descended upon Guomao to fight their way through the crowds in search of major bargains. In reality, the Bazaar is a complete waste of time, as by the time you read this, all the good stuff has been picked over and many of the items look like they are outlet or made for China type things you'd never see in the brand's regular store. For guys there is very little to choose from, though Pink has some decent shirts for RMB850 (though many are from LAST winter's collection). Also, some decent Paul Smith (starting around RMB4100) and Neil Barrett suits (RMB5200) at the Lane Crawford stall, but that's about it.

In the middle of high and low is the new tshirt and bag store SQY-T, with some incredibly interesting designs and stores in Beijing and Shanghai, well worth checking out

At the other end of the fashion scale, an interesting "night market" environment has suddenly been created at the southwest corner of Guomao Bridge, running from the corner to the street dividing Yintai and Jianwai Soho. Everything from traditional winter food options like sweet potato, corn, and pineapple to gloves, sweaters, bags, dvds, jewelry, and small household goods are sold on the sidewalk and from the trunks of cars in this small stretch. It will be interesting to see how long this "market" is allowed to continue.

Rebirth of Cool

Look at the 2 above photos. Let the image set in, a smiling President Obama and his equally happy (and tall) wife next to that funny looking monkey and his drab (and crazy) wife. Despite the economic difficulties the country faces, there are signs already the country is in for a new era of Camelot, and already hip Chicago is going to get even hipper.

The election of Obama is bound to benefit Chicago in one major way, its 2016 Olympics bid surely just got strengthened and now the city is bound to be a front runner for the Games. Obama and his Chicago gang of staffers will make regular trips back and restaurants are sure to gain a lot of hype from it, especially Rahm's favorite, Manny's.

But beyond that, just look at the 2nd photo, of the Obamas coming out of Chicago's Gold Coast institution for high end Italian, Spiaggia. The very chic Michelle, the very cool, relaxed and a little detached Barack, long strides and hands in his pocket. I have no idea how Obama will do as President. It's important to remember that he's only 4 years removed from being a STATE Senator.

At the same time, looking at the above, its hard not to feel hope about what comes next for America. It's such a departure from what we've seen and what the alternative was that you can't help but be excited. President Obama, he's cool like dat.

(Fake) Day 1 of the Beijing Olympics

The Olympics unofficially kicked off yesterday with women's soccer around China. The Chinese squad looked pretty good in Shenyang yesterday. An early first half goal was matched by a Swedish response, but great teamwork between Xu Yuan and Han Duan led to Han putting away a goal late in the 2nd half to give China the 2-1 victory. In the other game from Shenyang, Canada beat Argentina 2-1.

The US was in action yesterday, but were defeated 2-0 by a strong Norwegian squad. North Korea cruised to a 1-0 win against Nigeria and there were two draws, between Germany-Brazil (0-0) and Japan-New Zealand (2-2).

Men's soccer gets started today, some of the more enticing matches are the US vs. Japan and Argentina vs. Ivory Coast.

A few very boring special Olympic jerseys on a number of the squads, most surprisingly was China's very plain, all-white kits.

Olympics Style: China's Nike Designs Up Close

As was previously discussed here, despite Adidas officially sponsoring China (and the Olympics), Nike will be outfitting over 20 different Chinese Olympic teams during the Games, including many of China's biggest stars. Originally when I saw the US and Chinese basketball jerseys, I thought it was boring that they used the same pattern on the back and guessed that all Nike teams would be using it. However, now it is apparent that the patterns are very different and have cultural specific references on them. These patterns will be part of a number of the Nike uniforms. Here are the pictures below:

Boxing:

Track and Field:

Basketball:

Here is a "close up" of the Chinese pattern on the women's basketball jersey:

I also saw these and loved the idea of them, Nike's venturing into horseback riding, supplying Chinese riders with their riding boots:
The flag plays a central role on many of the uniforms, but strangely enough, none of the Nike gear in stores carries the flag. Still no explanation of why this is yet...

Olympics Style: The Opening Ceremonies Part 3

More styles, though this could be the final look at them before the Opening Ceremonies begin. For this addition, we're looking at Asian style, in this case it looks good. One of the best things about all 3 of these styles is that, unlike China's wardrobe, they stay away from just implementing the flag colors in the design.

Japan- Japan went over the top, having a travel wardrobe, and then the Opening Ceremony outfit. The travel wardrobe is the trendy grey suits seen on the right, whereas the Opening Ceremony outfits is the one in the middle. They go with a light blue and use the flag as a crest on the blazer. I don't like the collar outside the shirt look (similar to China) and this brings the white pants count to 7, but overall a trendy outfit with a very modern cut.


Korea- This is probably my favorite of all the outfits, ahead of Romania, France, and Belgium. The cut of the blazers is very trendy and its still a dressed up look, but they avoided white pants by switching the colors around, a nice touch. They were also still able to use the flag colors, though red doesn't come into play anywhere. I really love this look.

Hong Kong- Similar to Korea, but in a more traditional, British cut. It's a great look, but I'm not sure if its because of all the pictures or just the colors, they don't pull it off in the cool way Korea does. Overall, yet another look that is far better than China's.

Olympics Style: The Opening Ceremonies Part 2

More styles that we can expect to see during the Opening Ceremonies. Many people think China got it wrong, but how did other countries do:

Romania - Wow! The turqouise blazer, especially for the guys, is daring, but with the slim fitting khakis and hat, it looks really nice. The outfit avoids the typical flag colors design, and is a real winner, one of the best looks I've seen so far and one of the few that would not look out of place out on the town.



Russia- White pants count, number 4. I like the women's outfit a lot, the men's blazer looks good, a nice, tighter fit and shorter cut, but that patterned shirt is too over the top for me. Why couldn't they just go with a white shirt and maybe use that pattern as a pocket square, that would have been a far more unique touch and far more fashionable.
Spain-The one look that could be worse than China's is made by another Chinese brand, in this case, Li Ning. The red suits on the men aren't even the worst part, what's with the red stripes on the women's outfits, making it look like athletics wear? And why the Li Ning logo on these outfits, not even Polo did that!
USA-Not sure if this will be the official opening ceremony look or not, especially the women's wear, but what the guy has on seems like its quite possibly what the team will be wearing, very preppy, very American, very Polo. The sweater vest may be a bit much for the Beijing heat, though. Oh yeah, and it brings the white pants count to 5.

Uganda- The African and Middle Eastern countries often bring their more traditional, cultural garb (why didn't the Chinese squad come out in qipaos and Mao jackets?) and Uganda will be no exception. I know those aren't pants, but they are covering the legs and they are white, so that brings the count to 6.

more coming tomorrow...

Olympics Style: The Opening Ceremonies Part 1

China's Opening Ceremony garb has taken a lot of criticism online since it was first shown to the public last week. I kind of thought most countries would use the colors of their flag in their choice of attire, but that isn't always the case. Below are some of the styles you'll see during this year's Opening Ceremony:

Australia - Sure, some people feel the team looks like flight attendants (especially the women) and it doesn't really play up the national colors, but its pretty classy.

Belgium - These are relatively fashion forward, and one wonders about the tshirt instead of a collared shirt on the guys, but still look very good.

France- The men look wonderful, very classic, exactly what you'd expect from the Frenchies. The women look good as well, though that red "belt" around the waste and the hat kind of ruins the look.

Germany- Very simple, very classy, and the first white pants sighting (these will be seen on a lot more teams).

Greece- More white pants (that makes the count 3, including China), and the first (and perhaps only) look that might be worse than the Chinese outfits. I'm not a fan of the white suit, especially when paired with a club collar and white tie. If they could have gone with a blue tie, it would have helped things a lot. The major plus is the actual crest instead of China's pinned on one, it looks so much better this way.

Olympics Style: More On China's Opening Ceremony Outfits

A lot has been said around the web, both in English and Chinese, about China's choice of attire for the Opening Ceremonies. Two of the most common comparisons are to McDonalds and to the ever popular dish of egg and tomato. Personally, I'm not a fan of the yellow shirts on the guys, the shade is just off, something a little lighter might have looked a lot better. Also, the ties look like they were recycled from the 2004 Games. I think the overall effect of the yellow, white and red makes it feel like the outfit is very 土, or to explain it in English, let's just say countryside farmer comes to the big city fashion style. I understand these outfits are only worn once and every country typically just follows the national flag, but they could have done something far classier, like a tan suit, white shirt, and yellow and red striped tie, but I digress. My biggest complaint about the outfits is that the national crest appears to simply be pinned on at one end, leaving it to flap around, turn sideways, or even fall off. Couldn't they have sewn these onto the blazers?!?

Pictures from Friday's activities (all pictures courtesy of Sina), giving a close up of what these outfits look like:

Here are some grainy (sorry for that, but it's all I could find), versions of what the team looked like in Athens, a far better look:

Olympics Style: China's Opening Ceremony Wardrobe

It seems that white is the color for outfits at this year's Opening Ceremonies. Many nations have already released their outfits, and I'll take a look at them in the coming days, but most importantly, China has displayed what it's athletes will be wearing during the Opening Ceremonies on August 8th.

Most countries stick to their familiar national colors when choosing their opening ceremony outfit and China is no different. Not left with a lot of color choices, but that shade of yellow looks particularly hideous, as does the tie and the 70s disco collar on the men.  I'm left to seriously wonder who thought the yellow shirts would look good, last time around they wore a similar tie with a white shirt, which looked okay (these looks never are great).  The shape of the hat is also particularly unusual. The white pants seem to be the thing to wear, many other delegations will be decked out in white, let's just hope the weather is nice on 8/8 and the skies unpolluted or else those whites might not stay so white. Overall, the women's outfits are nice, but the men's ones are really horrible, especially the white shoes. Who designed these?!?

The outfit:

Also presented was another adidas track suit, this one in line with the general adidas template:

The Style Guide to Collecting Medals

Adidas released the design of the Chinese team medal stand track suit last week, moving away from the template that it used for all other participants in this summer's Games. The outfit is downright stylish compared to what China has worn in previous Olympics, though it's more for the medal stand and not for the street, yet I'm sure it's bound to be a big seller. Below are pictures of the outfit as well as the garb from previous Olympics. For those who are fans of the Li Ning designs, retro versions (and the matching shoes) are currently on sale in Li Ning stores around the city.

Here is this year's design:

And the previous designs

Athens (Li Ning):

Sydney (Li Ning):

Atlanta (Li Ning):

Barcelona (Li Ning):

Seoul (Asics):

Los Angeles (unknown):

Surviving June While Looking Your Best

There are very few posts that require our full "editorial board" for approval, but this one was highly debated around here. For the most part, the contributors to this blog are men, straight men, sports-loving, beer-drinking, red meat-eating men. That said, we are men of the world, into art, books, and (shudder!) fashion/shopping. The tag "metrosexual" is so 2 years ago, we would prefer the more respectable, more classic gentleman.

We like to look good, but its been a little harder this month. The panda may be China's national treasure, but "panda eyes" is not a good look for men. Unfortunately, this month it's almost unavoidable for sports loving males around China. Euro 2008 (soccer/football) started last weekend and there are 2 group stage matches beginning each night (early morning), one at 00:00 and the other at 02:45. Things will get worse as the midnight game will go by the wayside during the knockout stages and most matches will be a 2-3 am start. Oh the humanity!

So what can soccer lovers/masochists do? There are a number of daily use under eye products for men (yes, most definitely for MEN) in manly packaging for men that are made specifically for men (are we starting to sound like Daffyd?). These products won't only help you get rid of those dark circles after a night watching European soccer, but can also be helpful in the future after a night out at the bars.

We haven't used all the products, but will give you a brief overview of what's out there:
Sephora Eye Countour Fluid - RMB120
Task Essential Active Eye Serum - RMB360
Nickel Eye Countour - RMB315
GF Eye Cream - RMB168
Clarins Undereye Serum - RMB340
Biotherm Homme Visibly Rejuvinating Eye Care - RMB420
Shisheido Men Eye Soother - RMB335
Kiehls Eye Alert - n/a

The majority of these products can be purchased at Sephora or most high end department store's cosmetics counters. Kiehls doesn't have a mainland outlet of its own, but Beijing's Lane Crawford may carry their products (we debated this internally and couldn't come up with the answer). Amongst the editors, the Sephora Eye Countour Fluid (works great and you can't beat the price), Kiehls Eye Alert, and Clarins Undereye Serum all have their fans, while one of us has quickly developed a preference for Sephora's new exclusive Task Essential products (though he's yet to try the eye serum). Additionally, Clarins offers a Fatigue Fighter (RMB380) that works fairly well to give you a bit of a wake up while helping your skin.

So there you go, men of Beijing and Shanghai, we can't help you in staying awake at the office (lots of coffee and Red Bull (in the old or new old cans) may do the trick), but at least you won't look like you were up until 5 am.

Finally, go Holland (and Russia)!

Profiting from Patriotism

Its an Olympic year and, more than that (and if you've been sleeping under a rock), the Olympics will be in Beijing, so you can imagine all the sports brands are coming out with collections of China related clothing. In this year of tragedy and nationalism, all things that show love for China are sure to sell, though one surprising item (read 'till the end), stands out among all the rest.

Nike, who will sponsor and supply uniforms for a number of Chinese athletes and teams, has done it up big with models of Liu Xiang and Yi Jianlian, among others, in their stores and Yi jerseys (notice no Yao, he's with Reebok) and other China gear all over the place. Adidas, who is the official sponsor of the Chinese squad and will be supplying all their medal stand outfits, hasn't come out with very much yet, but does have its officially licensed Beijing Olympics clothing as well as the Chinese national team soccer jersey in is stores. Li Ning, on the other hand, who for the first time in many years won't be outfitting Chinese athletes on the medal stand, has come out with a collection of their previous tracksuit designs (and shoes to go with them), including those from Athens, Sydney, Atlanta, and Barcelona. Finally, Umbro and Puma, neither having any connection to Chinese squads or athletes, have chosen to attempt to capitalize on the Olympics by releasing Beijing themed tshirts and other clothing.

Most interesting among all this, though, is Kappa. Before March, I Love China tshirts really didn't exist, but after the situation in T!bet, they suddenly found their way in shops across the country and after the earthquake, they became an instant necessity for every patriotic (or wannabe patriotic) Chinese the country over. These shirts could be found everywhere, typically selling for RMB10-20 and are the new nationwide trend.

At many Kappa stores around the city, you can now find their own edition of this tshirt, selling for far more than RMB20. I highly doubt they could have rushed these into stores in the days following the earthquake, and even if they could, I doubt they'd try it, having already run afoul of many young Chinese for their selling of a T!bet tracktop that included the flag of the independence movement. Perhaps the sentiment was originally meant as an apology after the situation in Western China (and criticism of the brand) flared up, but this attempt to make money off the current streak of patriotic sentiment running through the country is disturbing. Let's hope some of the profits from these tshirts will be donated to earthquake victims or some other charity (if anybody actually buys one).

Teahouses, Temples, and WaiTan

The US edition of GQ has a photo spread in this month's magazine called "An American in Shanghai" featuring one of summer's best and most versatile materials, seersucker. The photo locations are M on the Bund, Fangban Rd (near Yu Garden), Fuxing Park, Dongtai Rd, Cheng Huang Temple (Yu Garden), Huxinting Teahouse (Yu Garden), and Nanjing East Rd.

The depressing thing for those in China who see the spread is that, despite the summer sun starting to bare down on Shanghai (and Beijing), options for summer suits are minimal. Summer suits made of cotton and seersucker are perfect for every occasion, dressed up enough for the office (though not for a major client/customer meeting), they also are very easily dressed down for a stylish, but casual touch at weekend parties or a night on the town. However, they are almost impossible to find in stores or at tailors in China. You'll either have to make a trip overseas or look at high end retail shops, as the fashion labels all feature these great summer suits. Even staid old school Brooks Brothers has released a cotton version of their great Fitzgerald suit (aka the JFK suit) for the summer.

Linen is the other great summer fabric, though it is more for casual situations (or possibly a more casual, non client/customer meeting day at the office). Senli & Ma, my favorite Beijing tailor, now has linen in, its extremely high quality, but with a hefty price tag to match.

Oh yes, and about the copy, I hate the DC is to New York as Beijing is to Shanghai, NO! Granted, Beijing is the capital and home of the government, like DC, and New York is the home of US financial matters while Shanghai has a stock exchange, but Beijing, especially with the creation of its Financial District, is an equal player in the finance world. To argue which city is cooler, has better restaurants or better nightlife is not an easy argument and it really depends on your own personal preferences. Finally, a correction, Shanghai is not Beijing's sister, its more like Beijing's granddaughter, thank you very much.

And before we go, on the Laowai front, the article did justice to our post last week, mentioning stuff Laowai like about Shanghai (#2):
"neighborhoods built in the 1920s and ‘30s.” (read: love the history and "authenticity")
"staggering mix of old and new" (read: Acceptably Chinese)
French Concession “1920s art deco mansions, tucked-away cafes”

Thom vs. Tom

Its interesting to see, yet again, the battle of the T(h)om's playing itself out, this time on the pages of the New York Times. These articles have been done to death over the past few years, ever since Tom Ford decided to "come back like Jordan" and start his own menswear line. Tom Ford, the man who reinvented Gucci and made it cool again, started his own label which featured traditional Saville Row tailoring elements alongside his concept of American masculinity. On the other hand, Thom Browne's style was classic Americana, the '60s with modern (read: strange) touches.

Fashion is a fickle thing, who do we credit for the current trend of narrowness (lapels, pants, ties) in men's wear? Should it be Europeans like Heidi Slimane for his work at Dior Homme and/or Jil Sander or are we living in Thom's world now? In any case, the trend of slim and narrow isn't only seen in high end US$4,000 suits, but in what you get at the local mall in stores like Banana Republic, J. Crew, and H&M.

Tom Ford hasn't impacted fashion so much anymore as he's going back to the classics, though during his Gucci days, he turned around that brand as well as men's fashion as a whole. Thom Browne's look has its impact, but only slightly, the overall Browne look, when adopted by the normal/average guy, looks ridiculous.

The Dior Homme aesthetic has taken over Beijing, as seen regularly on stylites, but will Thom's image of American men have its day in the Chinese capital?

Nike Releases its Uniforms for Chinese Athletes

While China will wear Adidas on the medal stand, many of its most famous athletes, including Yao Ming and Liu Xiang, will be wearing Nike during the Olympics. This week, Nike gave the media a first look at their uniform designs for Chinese athletes in a number of different sports including basketball, track, boxing, judo, cycling and a number of other sports. The designs were presented at a celebration held in the Forbidden City. For the most part, the designs all seem relatively boring and very, very red. Photos follow: