Hong Kong's police motorcycle brigade and the Olympic showjumping team have at least one thing in common - jodhpurs.
Alan Chu Pui-lam, the designer behind the Hong Kong's team uniform is also the same designer who conceptualised the protective jacket and jodhpurs worn by Hong Kong's motorcycle-riding traffic police.
'The fabric is a real riding pants fabric,' said Chu, who has worked for Marc Jacobs and Ralph Lauren on product development. 'It's a four-way stretch, it's functional and I think everyone is happy with it.'
As the policemen's pants are semi-made to measure and Hong Kong's team was based in Europe, Chu just designed the team's jacket and some training gear.
He began working with the Hong Kong Equestrian Federation in 2007, deciding he'd design a jacket that would fit Hong Kong's climate, one that was unlined and used a four-way stretch hi-tech fabric that retails at 80 euros (HK$920) a yard.
Although Chu understood the equestrian look on the runway, he had little concept of what it was like to be a rider. 'Not quite,' said Chu about his knowledge of horses. 'But because of the clothes I tried the experience myself and took a couple of classes.'
