Qatar 2015 is nearly over as the final weekend is here. Two weeks after the first match on 15th January when hosts Qatar beat Brazil 28:23, by Sunday, 88 matches would have been played and the winners will be booking their tickets to Rio for the 2016 Olympic Games.

Whether you have been watching at home on television or online or you have been lucky enough to watch ‘The Game of Fast’ live in Doha, you will have no doubt noticed the officials, volunteers and workers who make the World Championships work.

The reason you would have noticed them is through their uniforms. IHF.info met with Karen Kristalovich, Head - Uniforms, Workforce Directorate - Qatar 2015 to discuss the momentous job her and her staff have completed not just over the past few weeks, but many months.

To pick up the uniform is the end of the line which started nearly 18 months ago as a concept. Qatar 2015 staff visit the Uniform and Accreditation Centre (UAC) and go through a process of picking their uniform in stations. As Karen says “it takes 10 minutes 54 seconds on average from check-in to check-out,” clearly something she is proud of and the atmosphere of the UAC is reminiscent to that of the Games Makers at the London 2012 Olympics.

Karen has had over a decade of experience in designing and producing costumes for performing groups in Canada, working in the costume department for feature films and television productions before arriving in Qatar as the Head of Uniforms for the Arab Games which took place in 2011.

The first concepts for Qatar 2015 and the uniform requirements started nearly 18 months ago with Karen admitting that “it is rewarding to see your vision evolve from concept to finished product and worn by a large group of people. The uniforms have been well received by the public who want to buy them and the workforce who wear them.

“Workforce team members are easy to recognise so this suggests we have been successful in our job.”

IHF.info: Who did you provide uniforms for and how many do you think you have provided?

Karen Kristalovich: We provided uniforms for around 2,500 paid staff, volunteers, contractors of the ‘Local Organising Committee (LOC), 1,000 stadium security staff, all of the IHF delegation and other groups.

IHF.info: What did you provide for them?

Karen Kristalovich: We provided sport uniforms for them all - the same uniform for all to encourage the team spirit of sports events. Volunteers are as essential to our operations as paid staff and they should be recognised as such.

We also provided business uniforms for management, national dress in respect of local culture, a special collection of sport uniforms for all and business uniforms.

IHF.info: Who designed them?

Karen Kristalovich: The ‘Sport Uniform’ was supplied by adidas, the official IHF partner for sportswear and was a design collaboration between the adidas creative team and the LOC Branding and Uniform team - the designs are custom-only for Qatar 2015.

The LOC Branding Unit ensured colours, logos and branding are in compliance with the event brand guidelines and the LOC Uniform Unit selected garments appropriate for the climate, local culture and event requirements.

They made sure all components of all uniform types maintained a cohesive look that is easily identifiable by the public as the official event uniform.

The business uniform was supplied by Al Siddiqi Holding, an official partner of The Organising Committee of Men’s World Handball Championships (MHWCOC) and the designs were created by the LOC Branding and Uniform Units. Al Siddiqi Holding designed the national dress uniform of thobes for men and abayas for women alongside the LOC Branding and Uniform Units.

Al Siddiqi Holding also provides tailors on site for alterations to the business and national dress uniforms.

IHF.info: When were the designs agreed and when did they arrive?

Karen Kristalovich: The sport uniform began arriving at the end of October 2014, seven months after designs were finalised with the adidas team in Germany. The business uniform arrived at the end of December whilst the national dress was produced locally here in Qatar.

IHF.info: How many uniforms/pieces have you produced in total?

Karen Kristalovich: If you combine the sport, business and national dress uniform items then it is exactly 50,169. If we are left any excess uniforms they will be donated to local and international charitable organisations, including the 3-2-1 Qatar Olympic and Sports Museum, as part of the MHWCOC commitment to legacy.

IHF.info: All the uniforms get distributed at the UAC based at the Qatar Sports Club, how many people work there and what are their backgrounds?

Karen Kristalovich: The UAC runs in conjunction with the accreditation functional area and our operations run simultaneously to make receiving accreditation and uniforms for the workforce as efficient as possible.

The UAC opened a few weeks before the event began and is usually the first operational venue in an event. The uniform team consists of four people in the corporate team, there are those who design and produce the uniforms, staff who track the number of each type of uniform required by each functional area for orders and assigning entitlements for distribution time as well as the UAC planning, over and logistics requirements.

In addition to this we have the event time team of people, about 30 volunteers and they are multicultural with people from Greece, India, Pakistan, Jordan, Syria, Sudan, Philippines, Unites States, Canada, and of course, Qatar!

The corporate team has experience in events, particularly sports events in Qatar and abroad and will stay open right until the end of Qatar 2015 to serve newly-added workforce.

IHF.info: What are you particularly proud of?

Karen Kristalovich: Qatar 2015 developed its own software for one-of-a kind uniform distribution IT system.

This system allows us to assign entitlements for different client groups, send mass SMS invitations for accreditation and uniform collection, manage inventory, track quantities of each size of items distributed to assist with estimating the size ratio for future events in Qatar, another further contribution to the commitment to legacy in Qatar.

It also capture sizes and items issued in each client’s profile in case additional items are required, signing of receipts as PDFs, generate additional reports such as a daily and total distribution by functional area and a daily total distribution by uniform type.

IHF.info: What’s next?

Karen Kristalovich: We close on Sunday and distribute any remaining uniform to the charities I mentioned earlier. But the French Organising Committee for the Men’s Handball World Championship in 2017 came for a visit to talk to us and see our process, so we could help them with all the knowledge we gained from here.

Qatar 2015 Uniforms - Facts
- 10 minutes 54 seconds on average from check-in to check-out

- Size range is XS-3XL for men, XS – 2XL for women

- Sport uniform items produced in two colours: orange and grey for workforce, 
blue and grey for IHF

- Sport uniform package for each member of staff includes:
       - Short sleeve polo shirts
       - Long sleeve crewneck t-shirts
       - Zip-up hoodys
       - Shower jackets in case of rain
       - Sweat pants
       - Cap
       - Messenger bag
       - Backpack

- Business uniform items (primarily for Heads of Unit, Section and Committee, plus IHF delegates) include:
       - Blazer
       - Trousers
       - Skirt (optional to trousers for women)
       - Shirt
       - Neck tie for men or scarf for women
       - Cufflinks
       - Belt
       - Badge

- National Dress items include:
       - Thobe for men
       - Abaya for women
       - Shayla for women to match the abaya
       - Headscarf to match the sport and business uniform for workforce