The agreement extends one Polo made with the USOC in April 2008 to supply clothes for the Beijing Games.

Polo will pay the USOC a royalty of about 10 per cent from the sale of any items featuring the Olympic seal.

For the Vancouver Games, Polo has designed zip-up snowflake sweaters, knit caps and parkas, about half of which will bear its polo-player logo.

The athletes will wear the clothes during the Opening and Closing Ceremonies.

The Olympics collection will be sold at department stores, online and in Ralph Lauren boutiques in the US  and Canada starting months ahead of February's Games.

Polo is doubling the number of styles in its Olympic collection for consumers from the one it created for Beijing.

The latest deal reflects Polo's strategy of using elite sporting events to boost its image.

That effort began in 2005, when the brand became apparel sponsor of the US Open tennis tournament.

The following year, Polo made a similar deal to dress on-court officials at Wimbledon.

David Lauren, Polo's senior vice-president of marketing, advertising and corporate communications, said: "It's wonderful when people are wearing a Polo player next to the American flag."

Polo, which saw profit decline 57per cent in its most recent quarter, spent nearly $70 million (£42.9 million) on US advertising in 2008.

This year, it is keeping overall ad spending flat but boosting its budget for the Vancouver Games by 50 per cent from what it spent on Beijing's.

The company is using nine athletes in its Olympics-related ad campaign, including alpine skier Ted Ligety and ice dancer Tanith Belbin.

Sales of the Olympic gear will begin in November, with a "teaser" to the main collection, the company says.

It will include outerwear, children's clothes and accessories, in addition to women's and men's apparel and footwear, ranging in price from $25 (£15) to $595 (£364).

There will be 234 different styles in the collection, with hats at $50 (£30) to $60 (£36) and knit shirts at $125 (£76).