Clotheshorse race is neck and neck
Israel’s nascent equestrian team wants the public to help choose its blazer for the 2016 Olympics
Jessica Steinberg, The Times of Israel's culture and lifestyles editor, covers the Sabra scene from south to north and back to the center
The race is in its final stretch. Four student designers are in the running to design the team blazer for Israel’s nascent equestrian team, and the public gets to choose the winner on the team’s Facebook page.
T.E.A.M. Israel, the nonprofit organization behind the equestrian team — which hopes its members will compete in the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil — announced a $1,000 cash prize in January for the best redesign of the team blazer. The judges chose from 30 designs submitted by local student designers, and narrowed down the choices to four.
The public has until Wednesday at midnight to help choose a winner, said Elie Klein, who is handling the public relations for the equestrian team.
The winner will “flesh out the sketch to a real coat,” he added.
The judges included equestrian team founder Danielle Goldstein, an award-winning show jumper from New York who made aliya to build the team; Deb Schultz, a co-founder and CEO of T.E.A.M. Israel; Dror Ben Shaul, the national trainer for the Israeli Paralympic Equestrian team, and designer Adam Gefen, who specializes in sporty menswear and is clearly the local expert on blazers.
The judges will pick the winning design based on its wearability and originality and the clarity of the written explanation of its design, said Klein.
The team hopes to wear the completed blazers at their next international event, the 2014 World Equestrian Games in Normandy, Germany, which are held from the end of August through the start of September.
