Canada's Olympic athletes will wear red and white uniforms decorated with a fusion of Canadian and Chinese symbols at the Beijing Summer Games.

The official Team Canada gear was unveiled by the Hudson's Bay Company in Toronto on Wednesday night.

The new uniforms contain super-light material that will help the athletes stay cool during the expected high temperatures in the Chinese capital city.

"The priority for me is comfort, definitely -- nothing too tight," Olympic rower Rachelle De Jong, who modelled the clothing, told CTV Toronto. "I think the pieces fit beautifully."

"I think some of it's pretty cool, some of it's pretty funky, but if there's a whole group of us, as there should be at the Olympics, then we'll all look pretty spiffy," added Olympic swimmer Colin Russell, who also showed off the gear.

The clothing is also made from eco-friendly fabrics such as bamboo and organic cotton.

"We've used things like '8' throughout the collection," HBC's fashion director Suzanne Timmins said of the design.

"Eight is a lucky number for the Chinese people, and a lot of people don't know that on the eighth day, of the eighth month, in the year 2008, on the eighth hour, in the eighth minute, maybe on the eighth second, the Games begin."

The designers consulted with more than 50 current and former summer Olympians when developing the new line of clothing. Many of the athletes had competed in the Athens Summer Games in 2004, and said they were unprepared for the intense heat.

Designers have incorporated an element into the gear, called a B-Tube, which could help protect athletes from Beijing's pollution. The sun-blocking polyester tube can be worn as a head cover, hair band or mask to filter out the particulate matter in the air.

Some of the clothing is strictly for the athletes, but replica items will be available at the Bay and Zellers stores, and online at www.hbc.com, on Thursday.

The uniforms are the second Team Canada collection designed by HBC. In 2005, the company obtained the coveted and lucrative rights to produce Olympic merchandise for the 2006 Torino, Italy Winter Games. HBC has the rights until 2012.

The design team will start creating the outfits for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games next week.

HBC unveiled the new line at Muzik nightclub and planned to make a $600,000 donation to two organizations that support Canadian Olympians.

With a report from CTV Toronto's Alicia Kay-Markson