The Hudson's Bay Company unveiled its fashions for Canada's Olympic Team on Tuesday -- a privilege for which it paid $100 million in hopes of rejuvenating its brand.

At Toronto's historic Fort York Armoury, models showed off familiar bright red and white colours on pullovers, T-shirts and parkas, as well as yoga pants and shearling hats -- a bit of a departure.

"It will remain to be seen which item (takes off with the public),'' said Suzanne Timmins, fashion director at the Bay. "Right now, we've gotten some feedback on our trapper hat that everyone seems to love. That's the one people seem to be talking about the most.''

"These guys have really stepped up to the table quickly, there were many people who were somewhat skeptical after all the excitement with our years with Roots,'' said Chris Rudge, CEO of the Canadian Olympic Committee, crediting Roots for raising the profile of Olympic clothing.

"The public will pass judgment when they see these designs.''

The fashions go on sale Wednesday.

Roots, the Canadian clothing chain, made Canadian athletes the fashion envy of the games starting in at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano. Roots "poor boy" hats, as modelled by snowboarder Ross Rebagliati, were particularly coveted.

But last March, the Bay outbid Roots to win the coveted Olympic contract. They also hired former Roots designer Tu Ly to head their design team.

The 335-year-old department store chain will outfit Team Canada at the 2006 Winter Games in Torino, Italy and will continue through to the 2012 Games.

The firm will also dress the 25,000 volunteers at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

It's not the first time the Bay has designed Olympic fashions. The Bay's Olympic connection actually dates back to the 1936, 1960, 1964 and 1968 Winter Olympics.

Corporate importance

Lindsay Meredith, a marketing professor at Simon Fraser University, describes the Bay's Olympic connection as money well spent.

"Certainly Roots did very well with their positioning on the Olympic sponsorship," said Meredith. "That message was not lost on the Bay. They're going to score big on this one as well."

Meredith said the move is a strategic investment for the Bay that will help the department store capture a younger clientele.

"The Bay desperately needs to build a very strong name with that younger, hip crowd who spend the money on fashion," he said.

"What a great way to do it. When you nail down the Olympic sponsorship, you'll get the visibility among that dollar-spending market," Meredith said. "That's where you want to be when you're in the clothing business like the Bay is."

The Bay brand is currently considered to be in trouble. U.S. businessman Jerry Zucker launched a hostile takeover bid of the company late last month.

The Bay's response was the chopping of 825 management jobs.

"I sure find the timing interesting on this," Meredith said.

"Where's the real money in the Bay? It's in two things: It's in their credit cards but also in this Olympic sponsorship."

So while there's a lot of tumult on the corporate front, "suddenly there's this big launch of the fashion right now," he said. "Talk about good timing."

With a report from CTV's Scott Laurie and files from The Canadian Press