Launched with a photoshoot that included maple syrup, pancakes and a female athlete applying mascara, Trinity’s new sportswear has been greeted with mockery online.
The launch of the sportswear was accompanied by a glossy photoshoot and stylish video. With the various outfits included in a “lookbook”, Trinity’s promotional material described the sportswear as clothing to be worn “in the gym, at college, at the weekends on a run or chill’in at home”.
Yet the sportswear – which ranges in price from €4 to €50 – was met with online criticism. Images featured in the promotional material included a woman dressed in sportswear perched on a sink unit in shorts whilst applying mascara, a female student pouring maple syrup on to pancakes from afar, while another woman was depicted lying on a bed gazing into the camera.
One popular tweet, from Trinity student Aisling O’Driscoll, said: “Trinity launched a new line of sportswear and these are the pics we’ve all gotten emailed…I genuinely have no words.”
Another Trinity student, Tim Leech-Cleary, tweeted: “In the on-going saga that is TCD™, Trinity sport have introduced a product line of sportswear. Jesus Christ.”
On social media, a lot of people questioned how Trinity chose to characterise female athletes.
The brochure now appears to have been changed. The link to the “lookbook” from the Trinity Sport website now shows an edited version of the brochure, with some of the more heavily criticised images removed. There is no mention of the changes anywhere on the Trinity website.
According to Trinity Sport, the clothing line, which is being retailed online and in the Sports Centre, is the first of its kind produced Trinity. It was developed in conjunction with Kukri, which is the official kit provider for Ulster Rugby.
