Fashion Wire Daily New York May 16, 2003 - Roots is going for the gold. After dressing the U.S. Olympic team in Salt Lake City in 2002, the Canadian brand has now signed on as its official outfitter for not only the Athens games next year, but also Turin, Italy in 2006 and Beijing in 2008, with options for outfitting the 2010 and 2012 teams as well.
Inaugurating a new Roots boutique in the NBC Experience Store at Rockefeller Center, Roots co-founder Michael Budman gathered with Jim Grice, the U.S. Olympics Committee's Chief of Sales and Marketing, and a slew of Olympians at a press conference Friday to pass on the good news - and of course reminisce about the ubiquitous navy blue fleece beret that created quite a stir in Utah. With everyone from Katie Couric to Laura Bush sporting one, the brand sold a million of them in just two weeks last year.
Budman wouldn't predict what next year's star item would be in Greece, but gold medallist Beth Botsford looked pretty happy in a white-and-blue Athens 2004 hoodie and lounge pants that could give Juicy Couture a run for its money.
Praising NBC as a "great passionate supporter of the Olympics" -- after all, the network did have 73 million Americans tuning in and seeing those blue berets -- Budman pointed out that while 99.9 percent of Americans will never get to wear an Olympic uniform, they can participate through buying merchandise and souvenirs.
Roots, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, had outfitted the Canadian team in Nagano and Sydney (to a bit of confusion, as "root" is a rather raunchy slang term down under), but it wasn't until it signed on to dress the Americans in Salt Lake City that the brand gained international cache. In August 2002, Roots capitalized on the Olympic fame to launch shops in 54 Saks stores.
Though Roots has more than 200 freestanding stores, so far only seven are in the U.S, and the new NBC Roots boutique is its only New York City outpost at the moment, since the Soho store that opened in 1998 burned down. Budman says there are no immediate plans to replace it, "right now we're focusing on our relationship with NBC." In addition to the U.S. Olympic Team apparel and 2012 New York bid wear, the NBC Roots boutique is also hocking "Saturday Night Live" merchandise.
At Friday's press conference, Dan Aykroyd -- appropriately clad in a black Roots bomber jacket -- even took a break from rehearsing for SNL next door to join in the Roots love fest. The Ontario native, who returns to SNL for the first time as a host in tomorrow night's season finale, praised Budman and partner Don Green for "defining Canadian culture like no one else has." Incidentally, the two Roots founders are from Detroit.
Aykroyd has a long history with Budman. The two met in 1970 when the original SNL cast members were performing in a Toronto comedy troupe, and have been friends ever since. The actor and his wife Donna Dixon are even godparents to Budman's daughter.
The comedian won't likely be wearing Roots apparel as an athlete any time soon - "When they devise a sport that allows one to roll one's body down a steep hill, I'll enter it," he said Friday of his Olympic ambitions - but will he be sporting it for his hyped SNL return Saturday night? "Absolutely," exclaimed Budman. "He's one of our biggest supporters."
