Brandie Wilkerson and Melissa Humana-Paredes have already etched their names in Canadian women's beach volleyball history at the Paris Olympics — and so has their outfit.
The duo became the first Canadians to win the silver medal in beach volleyball on Friday. And the first Olympic team to hit the sands in a one-shoulder bikini top.
Designed by Vancouver-based swimwear brand Left On Friday, the unique swimsuit had to be approved by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), says Shannon Savage, one of the brand's co-founders.
"Because … that had never happened in the sport before," Savage told CBC News of the one-shoulder creation.
"And so as we were coming up with the concept, we submitted the designs to say, 'Is this OK?'"
She says the final product was based on input from the two athletes.
"It was actually inspired by Brandy and Melissa, who were already wearing some of our products," she said. "Melissa, when she was hitting with her right arm, she was explaining just how free she felt and was just so unrestricted in her serve."
Combining "fashion and function" is the brand's mantra, says Laura Low Ah Kee, who started the company with Savage in 2018.
"They're the best in class athletes, but they also care about how they look," Low Ah Kee said. "It was really important to us that we made them feel the best from a comfort standpoint but also from a fashion standpoint."
In 2022, Left on Friday signed a three-year deal to be the official sponsor of Canada's national women's beach volleyball team. Since then, the brand has worked with Canadian athletes to make custom, tailor-made designs.
Both co-founders are former Lululemon executives and built a relationship while working at the Canadian athletic apparel retailer.
"I think we were both at Lululemon for over 10 years and had phenomenal careers there," said Low Ah Kee.
She said they decided to establish a premium active swimwear company after leaving the clothing giant.
After noticing a gap in the market for active swimwear that's both stylish and functional, they said they decided to create their own premium brand.
"Nobody was creating beautiful bathing suits that you could be active in and hang out in, and nobody was applying the knowledge of fabric and fit," Low Ah Kee said. " So we saw this product opportunity, and we knew how to fill it."
Low Ah Kee and Savage, who have been in Paris cheering on the Canadian pair, say their product's global exposure has been immensely beneficial.
The brand's designs have been making waves in Paris, earning praise from Vogue and the BBC for their "flattering-yet-functional" beachwear.
"This is a moment that you could not create. It's just mind-blowing," Savage said.
"We're so proud of ourselves and so proud of all the athletes competing," saidLow Ah Kee.
The One-Shoulder Design: A Touch of Fashion, a Lot of Function
Swimwear designers Laura Low Ah Kee and Shannon Savage didn’t set out to make Olympics history when they designed the first ever one-shouldered top to be worn by volleyball players at the Paris games.
“That came from such a pure place,” says Savage, co-founder of Left On Friday, the Vancouver-based brand that made the uniforms for Team Canada’s volleyball athletes—notably, gold medal-hopefuls Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson. “They were already wearing one of our one-shouldered styles in practice, and they just loved how free their serving arm was. It was a very organic, intuitive process to create these uniforms for them that are suited for their bodies and suited for the sport.” The tops do double duty as sports bras, providing essential support, and there are options for left and right-handed players to ensure their hitting arm is unencumbered.
The Left On Friday Brand: From Lululemon to the Olympics
Proving the adage that viral moments cannot be engineered, those beach volleyball suits, in white with a bronze accent or neon coral with a hint of red, have emerged as a fashion stand-out of the Paris games.
“It’s almost surreal,” says co-founder Laura Low Ah Kee of their exciting Olympic journey, which began in 2022 when Lululemon stepped away from designing suits for Volleyball Canada, and an athlete who’d product-tested for Left on Friday suggested they pitch for it.
“Not only that, it’s at the Olympics that’s doing the same thing we do—combining fashion and sport at once,” says Savage, nodding to the Paris games’ particular embrace of style, starting with the opening ceremony outfits designed by the who’s who of established and emerging designers, from Team Haiti in Stella Jean to Team USA in Ralph Lauren to Celine Dion and Lady Gaga in Dior. “We get to have our brand debut on that stage that stands for everything we stand for, with the top athletes wearing our products…the whole thing could not be more exciting.”
Left On Friday: A Canadian Brand Takes on the World
The “Olympic effect” is already showing up in tangible ways for this independent Canadian label. According to Shopify, the commerce platform that powers Left On Friday’s e-commerce, the brand has seen a 59 per cent rise in organic searches and a 136 per cent bump in international traffic to their site. As a result, they’re launching global shipping soon to accommodate requests from abroad. And yes, you can buy the same pieces worn by the Canadian athletes—without the Olympic branding, and in a variety of colourways—online, and they haven’t sold out yet.
“It is credibility and validation that our suits perform at the highest level,” says Low Ah Kee, giving credit to the athletes wearing them. “It’s not just about Left On Friday. It’s the attention the athletes have received, and that they feel so beautiful and powerful and set up for one of the biggest things they’ll do in their lives.”
A Legacy of Canadian Olympic Style
Elsewhere at the Olympics, Canada’s other uniforms have caught the Internet’s attention. Each sport has a different outfitter for performance gear, but Lululemon holds the contract to design Team Canada’s looks for the ceremonies and media appearances. The tracksuits, in particular, have sparked conversation, with comparisons likening the white-and-red patterning to streaky bacon quickly gaining meme status.
Whether panned or praised, both the Left On Friday suits and Lululemon uniforms join a long tradition of distinctive Canadian Olympic style moments. The Hudson’s Bay multi-stripe blanket coats have been worn by winter athletes for decades, starting with the 1936 games.
Fast forward to Vancouver’s turn to host in 2010, and Hudson’s Bay, then the official team outfitter, launched those iconic red mittens. Three dollars from each pair sold went to support Canadian athletes, and in the first year alone 3.5 million mitts were sold. According to the brand, the campaign has helped raise over $41 million since. In 2022, when new outfitter Lululemon offered its own take on Olympic mittens, there was outrage over the price: $68 versus the $10 the Bay’s cost 12 years earlier.
Then, of course, there’s the Roots flat-cap that debuted at the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics. (Fun fact: The Canadian brand also made the uniforms for the Jamaican bobsled team, which was immortalized in Cool Runnings.) Sported backwards by everyone from Prince William to Celine Dion, the design was such a hit that at one stage they were selling 100,000 caps a day.
Left on Friday: Riding the Wave of Olympic Success
While Left On Friday isn’t quite there yet, it’s a huge thrill for Savage and Low Ah Kee—on the day we spoke with them, they’d been in the stands in Paris cheering on Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson, who’d just made Canadian Olympic history as the first women’s beach volleyball team to contend for a medal. On Friday, the duo will play either Australia or Brazil for the gold.
“It’s an absolute career moment,” says Savage. “Now, they’re winning every step of the way and it just keeps getting better and better.”
