Olson is the designer behind the New Jersey Devils' wives and girlfriends' playoff jackets.
For artist Taylor Kampa Olson, this specific journey begins with the Washington Capitals and Lauren Oshie.
Olson is an exceptionally talented artist located in the Washington, DC area who describes her style as clean and crisp. In the past, her work has been featured by the NHL and Washington Capitals. Most recently, she designed the cherry blossom jerseys the team wore on April 2 when they hosted the New York Rangers.
While Olson was always into the Capitals, her husband Bryan and his love for the team, more specifically Nicklas Backstrom, elevated her love and appreciation for the sport as they attended games together. Over the years, her love for hockey collided with her passion for art.
"I started to do paintings and got the attention of the Capitals. Long story short, I have a really good relationship with the whole organization. I just love hockey, and all the wives and girlfriends that I've worked with are all wonderful people. They are all so kind and humble. I love everything about the sport."
Her paintings caught the attention of T.J. Oshie's wife, Lauren, who was the first wife to reach out to Olson with a personalized request.
"She asked if I ever painted on apparel because she saw all of the paintings I've done of the players. Back in high school, I would paint shirts and stuff for me and my friends, but nothing that anyone's commissioned", she said. "So I said no, but let's do it because that would be fun. I did two little mini jackets for her two daughters, and it kind of just blew up from there. I don't really do much marketing, I just post on Instagram occasionally, so I was pretty shocked by how many other wives and girlfriends started reaching out, and it just kind of grew from there."
Over the past few seasons, she has fulfilled individual requests and playoff jackets for the team's significant others. Naturally, the first group of wives and girlfriends she collaborated with were the Capitals. Last postseason, Olson worked with the Dallas Stars' spouses, and of course, this postseason is about the young rebels from New Jersey.
Olson shared that Damon Severson's wife, Drey, contacted her near the end of March to design 18 playoff jackets.
A collaborative effort began between Olson and the player's spouses, with Drey as the primary contact. The ladies first decided on the jackets, and while Olson was waiting for the shipment of black leather jackets from Zara to arrive, she began sending designs to Drey as they worked through the overall concept.
"They wanted to personalize each one with the name and the number and the matching flames on and all of them."
Another personalized feature is the player's signatures on either the sleeve or front of the jacket, which was inspired by the playoff jackets Olson designed in 2022 for the wives and girlfriends of the Stars players. The back of those playoff jackets included the team's logo and the player's autograph.
When we discussed the process, it was hard for her to say how long each jacket took to complete.
"I was working on two or three (jackets) at a time. I only had ten days to get them done, so I thought if I could get two to three done in a day, then I would be in good shape," she explained. "With leather jackets, the paint takes very thin multiple layers, so I was going down this assembly line kind of thing. It's hard to tell how long each jacket took, but I was painting probably 12 to 15 hours a day."
Olson specializes in painting everything from abstracts and portraits to large murals and custom jackets. While these specific jackets are exclusive for the Devils player's spouses, she is available for custom orders and, in 2020, created this personalized Devils jacket for a fan. You can follow her work on Instagram or her official website.