P.E.I. woman helps design Team Canada uniform for Winter Olympics opening ceremony
'Seeing it come to life was a really exciting moment, especially to see it on the global stage'
A Prince Edward Island woman played a role in creating the uniform worn by Team Canada during the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Beijing.
Chantelle Murnaghan, who now lives in British Columbia, works for Lululemon Athletica, a sportswear brand and official sportswear partner with Team Canada
Murnaghan said the uniforms were a team effort and that she enjoyed seeing the athletes wear them during the ceremony.
"Everyone was just rallying around it," Murnaghan told CBCs Matt Rainnie during Mainstreet PEI.
"It was the best experience. It was one of those things that everyone came together to make it happen, and seeing it come to life was a really exciting moment, especially to see it on the global stage."
Murnaghan is the company's vice-president of research and science of feel.
"The role of my team is to really support the product-creation process," she said. "Our role is to support the design and development team by working directly with the athletes, doing human insights."
She and her team spent a lot of time with athletes to learn what clothing makes them comfortable. The uniform creation process spanned 18 months, she said.
"It was doing tons of interviews and just spending time with athletes to really understand their mindset in those moments, what they needed to feel in those moments, what the environment was like in those moments," she said.
"My team was doing human insights. We did testing in our environmental chamber, simulating the Beijing opening ceremony's conditions with athletes."
Murnaghan completed a master's degree at the University of British Columbia and hoped to work in academia. A two-year plan turned into 16.
"I stayed here and did my PhD and still planned on continuing into academia, but I started consulting for Lululemon," she said.
Her plans for pursuing an academic career changed when she was asked to advertise a job post for the company. She wanted that job for herself, she said, and ended up getting it.
with files from Mainstreet P.E.I.