LOOKING, Pa. — When you see it from the outside, you might not think much of it. A low, square gray structure on the edge of an industrial town.
But behind its unassuming appearance lies a place of glamour. Inside, the sound of humming sewing machines, stacks of fabric, and millions of crystals come together to craft the stunning leotards for the United States Olympic gymnastics teams.
Enter the headquarters of GK Elite, located about an hour and a half northwest of Philadelphia, and you are welcomed by mannequins adorned in iconic leotards, like the navy blue one with dazzling white sleeves donned by Suni Lee during her all-around gold-winning performance in Tokyo. The space is filled with photos of Olympic medalists from floor to ceiling. In one of the conference rooms, you’ll find memorabilia ranging from Nastia Liukin’s autographed Wheaties boxes to Simone Biles’ signed cover of “Time” magazine.
While partly a museum, it primarily serves as a manufacturing facility. Every dazzling leotard worn by Biles, Lee, Chiles, Carey, and Rivera later this month is born here, from the initial design sketches to the final placement of crystals.
GK Elite recently revealed the eight Olympic leotards for the women’s team, adorned with Swarovski crystals in a patriotic color scheme. The design draws inspiration from American symbols, French art, and classic Hollywood, aiming to go beyond just aesthetics. Gymnasts have long used leotards to express their personalities and gain confidence on the competition stage. Each leotard has its unique story to tell.
For Jade Carey, seeing her Olympic attire right after the U.S. trials added another layer of significance to her experience of making her first Olympic team. While she earned a spot in Tokyo as an individual athlete and claimed gold on floor exercise, she did not compete as part of the silver-winning four-person squad. In Paris, she looks forward to assisting the U.S. team in securing another medal.
“Seeing the leotards made the Olympic team feel real for me. The whole process moves so quickly after trials, and the sight of the leotards made it all official,” she expressed. “I was incredibly excited to wear them and proud to represent Team USA once again.”
The journey of these leotards from a factory in Pennsylvania to Paris began two years ago. GK design director Jeanne Diaz and her team, who were also behind the U.S. looks for Tokyo in 2021, gathered images from high-fashion runways and art galleries for inspiration in 2022. They sought influence from Parisian culture while retaining a distinct “Team USA” identity.
The leotard to be worn during the team final stands out as the centerpiece. GK aimed to recreate the sensation of an athlete being wrapped in an American flag after a victorious moment, a tradition common in the Olympics. The leotard features a navy sleeve adorned with star-shaped crystals and a white bodice with red stripes, embellished with many diamond-shaped crystals.
“The special, emotional moment of receiving the flag from someone in the stands, be it in track and field, swimming, or gymnastics, inspired us to design a leotard that captured that feeling,” Diaz explained. “We wanted to create a special moment for the athletes to see all the intricate details.”
The design also pays homage to the 1996 “Magnificent Seven” U.S. women’s gymnastics team, the first to win Olympic gold. Diaz noted that while drawing from a previous design, GK aimed to infuse a contemporary twist.
“We took a more graphic approach, a digital interpretation of the flag. We played with the lines in an organized manner, creating a mix of thick and thin lines to give the athletes a unique view of the details,” she added.
For the qualifications and individual event finals, the gymnasts can choose from the remaining seven leotards.
On another piece, GK designed a blue leotard covered in over 10,000 crystals. The majority of the stones form a shape on the bodice inspired by corsetry, resembling a superhero’s armor. The bedazzled stars and angular lines along the sleeves offer an abstract nod to the stars and stripes of the American flag.
One standout leotard among the collection deviates from the traditional red, white, and blue palette. Though it appears gunmetal gray from afar, a closer look reveals large stars on the fabric formed by a mix of colored dots and crystals in garnet, periwinkle, turquoise, and gold. The design pays homage to French artist Georges Seurat and his pointillism technique. The addition of velvet accents on the collar, waistline, and straps was suggested by the athletes to enhance the overall look.
While gymnasts have the freedom to design their own attire for domestic meets like the U.S. Championships, they typically have limited input on the secretive Olympic designs. GK conducted a survey among national team members, and the request for velvet accents stemmed from their preference for the fabric in small doses to avoid overheating.
Another trio of leotards features flowing style lines and crystal motifs reminiscent of the fleur de lis symbol.
“The designs draw inspiration from French haute couture and art nouveau, with an American touch from the glamor of old Hollywood in the 1920s,” Diaz outlined.
A notable piece from this set is a solid white leotard with an intricate crystal design resembling a cage on the bodice. The delicate sleeves mirror French lace and feature 970 white pearls interspersed among the crystals. The back showcases a lace-up design with crossing straps in navy, maroon, and white.
At USA Gymnastics’ request, Diaz’s team created an all-red leotard, featuring an asymmetrical design with mesh sleeves, stretch satin fabric custom-dyed for the Olympics, a back keyhole cutout, and a high neck. Completing the collection is a dark blue leotard with mesh sleeves and an explosion of crystals resembling a firework emanating from the right shoulder. The patriotic pyrotechnic design is also printed on the fabric.
Once the designs were approved by USA Gymnastics, production commenced in Reading, involving pattern making, fabric selection, and cutting. Each uniform was tailor-made to fit the gymnasts’ measurements, with GK producing 22 sets of the Olympic collection to accommodate all national team members, along with some extras as backups.
On the factory floor, fabric pieces were sublimated with various prints and placed under an embroidery machine that quickly stitched two logos onto them — a GK logo on the left hip and the USA logo on the right.
Meanwhile, a machine capable of affixing up to 170 stones per minute was busy with a steady stream of crystals. A robotic arm picked up individual gems and transferred them to another arm that imprinted detailed patterns on transfer paper. The paper was then pressed onto the leotard pieces and run through a heat transfer machine to fuse the crystals to the fabric.
Additional stones, particularly the larger pearls on the all-white leotard, were meticulously set by hand using tweezers. Following quality checks, the leotards were ready for the grandest stage of them all — the Olympics.
Each leotard carries the potential to become a symbol of Olympic triumph, forever linked to a moment that will be witnessed globally and etched into history.
Carey summed it up best: “I can’t wait for the world to see them.”
(Top illustration of Simone Biles and Suni Lee in the new leotards: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic; all images courtesy of GK Elite; video: Tess DeMeyer)
