Pride Collection

Our Pride Collection is a variety of selected pieces of ours that really embody the meaning and inspiration behind this new collection. In 2014, Jimmy Nguyen (my boyfriend) started training and focused on skeleton. Skeleton is one of the three disciplines of sliding sports (Luge, Bobsled and Skeleton) that are put on display during the Winter Olympics. Skeleton was introduced back into the Olympics back in 2002 in Salt Lake City, Utah. While training and competing in this sport you start with a sprint at the top of the track and throw your body onto a custom built aero-dynamic sled. The sled is made up of a steel frame with two metal runners on the bottom. Once they are on the sled their chin is only inches above the ice. While going down the track athletes build speed traveling up to 85 MPH, experiencing 5Gs of force that are similar to fight jet pilots. One of the most fascinating facts about skeleton is after traveling down the track at dangerously high speeds, they have to figure out a way to break themselves. The sled doesn’t have any breaks or anything they can use to help slow themselves down. The United States have two home tracks located in Lake Placid, NY and Park City, UT. During the season athletes train not only at our home tracks but also travel throughout the world. They travel to other countries like Canada, Switzerland, Germany and other European Countries which have their own tracks. Each athlete tries to gain as much experience at every track they can because every single track is different. Not many people have a true understand what it takes to train and compete for a shot on the US team. Every athlete undergoes intense training day in and day out. During the season many athletes find part time jobs to help accommodate the cost it requires to train and compete. Aside from the expensive equipment required many people forget about other costs such as housing, meals and travel. We decided that our brand could mean more than just wearing a unique piece jewelry. Our pride collection is inspired by a few of the athletes that undergone every obstacle thrown at them for a shot to compete for Team USA. Our team at Sarah Michiko Designs has decided to collaborate with a few of the current athletes training. Savannah Graybill and Veronica Day are two out of the dozens of athletes training. It was incredibly hard only choosing two but we feel as if these two will really embody what our Pride Collection stands for. Working with these athletes we are hoping to bring awareness to the history of the sport and what the athletes undergo. Check out our other blog posts coming soon for more about our athletes.