US Leotards Sparkle

GK Elite and Under Armour will be outfitting the U.S. gymnastics team in Rio. Each Olympic gymnast will receive 20 total custom-fitted leotards, eight for the competition and 12 for training. Each competition leotard, the Times reported, would cost about $1,200 in stores.

Kelly McKeown, the executive vice president for design and corporate relations at GK Elite, told the Times, “We went from being very patriotic to being much fancier.”

“Martha always wants ‘more sparkle, more sparkle.'” said Kelly McKeown of GK Elite

Leotards adorned with Swarovski crystals have gotten progressively trendy. In Beijing, Nastia Liukin won all-around gold with 184 crystals, while Douglas wore 1,188 crystals when she won the London all-around title.

“We may have hit peak crystal,” McKeown said of the Rio leotards, which have nearly 5,000 crystals each. “It’s difficult for me to imagine how we could get more crystals on.”

Samantha Peszek, who won team silver with Liukin in Beijing, explained, “It’s part of the ‘look good, feel good, do good’ aspect. It’s a very important part of the sport. It may sound trivial, but what you wear really matters.”