www.forbes.com: If
Alysa Liu can continue her improbable comeback, shrugging off a two-year hiatus to win figure skating gold at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, she’s poised to cash in: Americans who top the podium at the 2026 Games will receive a $37,500 bonus from the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee. But while that would be a healthy payday for most Winter Olympians, the 20-year-old medal favorite has already sunk around that much into an often-overlooked expense for her sport.
9 comments:
This was such an interesting article to read. On one hand, the prices of the costumes for figure skaters does kind of boggles my mind, but on the other hand I really respect the amount of work time, effort, and expertise that goes into these costumes and the price does feel justifiable for the work that is used. I think it's really easy to forget how specialty costumes, and other things in general, require highly skilled individuals to make and therefore the price is going to represent that. With the current culture of drop shipping that relies on giving the lowest price to keep people's attention, it is easy to forget the expertise needed to manufacture anything. I think it's really easy to forget that even clothing manufactured by large brands are still being made by real people sewing real things. There really is no complete automation in the clothing industry right now and I think it's really harmful how cheap we can buy clothes especially with how they are thrown away. I'm glad this article is bringing light to the extremely challenging but also beautiful aspects of these costumes and how the prices encompass them .
I know firsthand how challenging stretch fabric is to sew because I've tried it before. I think it's so interesting that the article brings up the challenge of hiring workers because the skill of stretch sewing is so unique and very few sewists have it but it is integral to making sports wear. I think it's good that the article talks about how the price can actually come from how long garments take to make. I think often when you think of costly things it's because they're made out of costly materials but actually, especially when the process has multiple iterations of a design, the cost can really come from how much time the designer is spending on it. But speaking of the price these costume prices are honestly kind of outrageous like that's such a crazy cost barrier to enter the sport especially when it seems like it's hard to make that money for the skaters. I think it's so interesting that they mention that one skater's designer was their mom and she made their costumes.
The costumes for figure skating I think are often underrated in the sport. One of my favorite parts about watching figure skating is just looking at all the crazy colors and rhinestones that someone has managed to cram onto those clothes. I do find it interesting that even olympic athletes are expected to provide their own wardrobe, it feels like that is something that the american olympic team should pay for, but based on this article maybe its too expensive even for them. It was also nice to hear that these beautiful works of art are not just one and done pieces, and that these athletes get as many wares out of them as they can. I also wonder what sorts of beading techniques are used on these garments to ensure the athletes still have full range of motion and are not in any way prohibited by these garments. With all that I understand how the cost of these can get up there in price.
Clothing is a key component of every single sport but ice skating seems to be incredibly particular about the design elements of each costume. Team sports such as soccer or even dance require a lot of money dedicated to each uniform but they have all been pre decided and each team member is wearing the same outfit. Although alterations are always required per dancer they are not all wearing one of a kind designs. The article talks about each costume being a conversation between both the designer and skater and how each individual detail is adjusted over months of iterations driving the cost to be incredibly high. It was also interesting that the garments were commonly hand sowed to guarantee a better quality. Fabric can be incredibly challenging to sew and the advanced moves and climate of figure skating require a garment that can withstand a lot of wear and tear.
This article is so interesting. I have really enjoyed watching this year's Winter Olympics! Figure skating is not my favorite event, however I have watched some. I was actually watching the other day when Ilia Malinin was skating in the final round of the free skate. I found it really interesting how so many sources, including this article and Ilia himself, thought that he was going to get gold (much less even place on the podium). I certainly think that it is good to be confident in your abilities, however I do think that too much confidence can be your downfall. This absolutely proved to be the case for Ilia. I did not consider how big of a deal figure skating costumes are. This is very unique, because there are no other sports that really have a costume aspect. I feel like the costumes that figure skaters wear absolutely add to their performance, and act as an extension of them and their routines. I find it so interesting that there are so few designers/producers of these costumes even though it is a fairly popular sport.
Recently, all of my videos on my TikTok for you page have been about figure skating because of the Olympics. I often notice the costume of the figure skater, but I never truly looked into the details of how much work, money and time goes into those costumes and also how important they are to the piece.Figure skating is one of those sports we're not only is it for athletic entertainment, but it also feels like a show separate to a sporting event. For this reason, I think the costumes are really important because the designer not only has to balance athletic leisure, but also what is visually appealing to the audience members. The costume really does make or break the piece (if skaters get stuck on their clothes or pieces fall off as they spin) . Especially at high level competitions I feel the designers deserve more recognition than what they receive because they go completely unnoticed because all eyes are on the big skater. This article was very interesting to read, though I liked getting a deeper understanding of costumes in figure skating.
I have heard about the rules of judging aesthetics in ice skating, and the props and costume dropping will even contribute to point deduction. But, actually seeing the value of these well-made and designed costumes still strikes me. When we encourage and respect our athletes, we are also pushing the cost of people entering the high athletic field higher. Now, not just their training and time investment into a certain sport, but also their costumes to wear, becomes a high-end-fashion like industry that is only closed to a small group of people. With their short career life and opportunity to really stand on the competition field, the athletes with a passion for their sport will still struggle to pay for their checks in order to meet the standard of ice skating. Also, from the perspective of reusing these costumes, most athletes will not choose to wear the same costume again in their next Olympics just to bring up a brand new, upgraded version of themselves to showcase. Then the real cost of the costume shouldn’t match what they paid.
Ive seen quite a few olympic ice skating videos on both tiktok and instagram and these athletes are so insanely talented. The rules they have for presentation such as costume and props is so strict too and if they dont follow those rules they will lose points. Figure skating to me is such a crazy sport because it is both a performance and a feat of skills and all that these athletes have worked toward and trained for. That being said I absolutely love their costuming and how their costumes fit their song in some ways. Something funny I saw on tiktok about their costuming was that every one of them looked like Vecna from Stranger Things, but glamified. On tiktok I had seen a figure skater making their own costumes and went through and explained the difficulties of the process but what they made was beautiful and insanely cool.
I think a lot about how the current state of globalization keeps us so separated from the clothes we wear. These high end designers are pricey for a reason, but given the current rates of inflation this is how much this kind of clothing SHOULD cost. It IS too expensive, how are we not connecting the dots faster? The ten dollar shirt from Target was made by a human being too, they’re just so many degrees away from the person wearing the shirt that nobody thinks about whose hands put the sheers to the fabric. If we all only had clothes made by ourselves or people closer to us that we knew the names of, we could all own a lot fewer t-shirts. Olympian designers have so much of my respect. As someone who enjoys sewing, and has not had the time to properly complete a project in the last year, I have an incredible amount of respect for those who can master such an art and work on such incredible pieces.
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