New gear for the Hong Kong team Recently, leisure sportswear brand bossini.X announced its sponsorship of the Hong Kong cycling team and collaborated with the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) to develop the team's cycling attire for the Games. Sharon Chong, General Manager of Bossini Enterprises Limited, shared how this collaboration came about, "The group became a sponsor of the Chinese national cycling team two or three years ago. This year, we began sponsoring the Hong Kong team as a continuation of our commitment." In 2019, the HKUST's laboratory first applied aerodynamics to cycling, using wind tunnel tests to evaluate cycling equipment and train athletes while developing high-performance racing outfits. In recent years, bossini.X has equipped the HKUST's Aerodynamics and Acoustics Laboratory with advanced cycling aerodynamics testing facilities and a 2.5-metre-diameter low-noise sports wind tunnel for development and repeated testing. The aim is to create suits that provide Hong Kong athletes with a technological edge. This new generation of competition attire gives Hong Kong athletes a significant technical advantage in the Paris Olympics, leading to better performance. This cross-disciplinary collaboration also signals a new trend in the future development of sports gear. Further breakthroughs The brand has developed new exclusive fabric materials for the Hong Kong cycling team, achieving significant breakthroughs in competition attire. The fabric is more elastic and breathable in certain areas, allowing cyclists greater flexibility. The laboratory performed wind tunnel tests on actual athletes, combining supercomputers and 3D scanning technology to calculate their body shapes and fluid dynamics characteristics accurately. Adjustments were made based on individual postures to optimise their performance. Instead of going for standard-sized cycling attire, bossini.X custom-made each competition outfit for the Hong Kong cycling team members, ensuring each athlete competes confidently and comfortably. After repeated testing, Professor Zhang Xin's team at the HKUST confirmed that the brand’s newly developed cycling suit effectively reduces wind resistance by 3%, an improvement over the traditional 2% reduction. Hong Kong team representatives have already worn this new cycling suit at the 2024 UCI Track Cycling Nations Cup in March. To enhance athlete training, last year, the Hong Kong Design Institute's Centre of Innovative Material and Technology (HKDI CIMT) developed a wearable sensor device, "PostureSense", which uses detachable woven material straps attached to sports shirts to monitor cyclists' riding posture, preventing injuries and improving overall performance. This innovative design won the bronze medal at the 48th Geneva International Exhibition of Inventions and the Red Dot Award: Design Concept 2023 — the latter is often referred to as the "Oscars of the Design World" for its prestigious status. The HKDI CIMT team is currently showcasing an improved secondgeneration version and negotiating a collaboration with a mainland cycling sportswear brand, which sponsors more than 50 cycling teams worldwide. They plan to test the straps on athletes, incorporating features to measure heart rate, respiration and body temperature.
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