Bottom row, left to right: Heem Wei, Pin Xiu
Top row, left to right: Michael, Shelby

Lights dimmed and the audience started clapping. The petite young model took to the stage, clad in her bright red “Team Singapore” tee shirt. With her wavy chest-length hair, lovely smile and a slim figure, the pretty girl effortlessly glided down the stage in her wheelchair and gave the audience a brilliant smile.

Loud clapping sounds were heard as the young woman U-turned and reached the end of the catwalk yesterday – right in the centre of Giordano’s flagship store at Suntec City.

For Yip Pin Xiu, 21, this was her first time doing a catwalk – but even though she was understandably nervous, she didn’t seem to show it at all.

Yip Pin Xiu takes to the catwalk.

A Paralympian swimmer and a social sciences student, Pin Xiu is definitely more known for her gold medal exploits at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics than as a model. But she nevertheless enjoyed her catwalk stint so much that she may consider doing it again.

“I honestly don’t know whether I did well on the catwalk, but the main thing is that I enjoyed myself and I had the confidence. I really wouldn’t mind doing this again,” Pin Xiu said.

Launching Giordano’s New Tee Shirts

The national swimmer was one of four athletes chosen by Giordano and the Singapore Sports Council (SSC) to help out at the launch of a new collection of limited edition tee shirts by Giordano, in support of our Team Singapore athletes.

Young Singapore gymnasts showing off their moves.

Olympic gymnast Lim Heem Wei, netballer Shelby Koh and national basketball player Michael Wong were the other athletes at the launch. Each athlete, as well as a team of young Team Singapore gymnasts, took turns to take to the stage and model the various tee designs.

And like Pin Xiu, all of the athletes enjoyed their five minutes of catwalk fame. As Shelby said, “It is fun to be able to do this once in a while, outside of training and competitions.”

Supporting our Local Athletes

This “I Am Red” campaign is to deliver a message to the public to support our local athletes in their chosen sports and unify Team Singapore, by wearing red or white tees.

The athletes loved the colours. Heem Wei, 24, a business undergrad student at NUS said, “I love the fact that the tees are white and red. These colours make it easy to match with other clothes and the red and white reminds us of our country.”

Giordano’s range of I AM RED tee shirts.

Tees Chosen

Tee shirts were chosen, because of their functionality and versatility. As Toh Boon Yi, 45, the Chief of Strategic Development and Marketing Group at the SSC said, “I think tee shirts are an item that everyone will have many of, in their wardrobe.”

The tees retail at $19 each and are available at most Giordano outlets. But if you buy a minimum of two tees from now until 8 December this year, you can get them at $15 each. There are a total of eight designs available in the adult range.

Giordano is donating 3% from every tee shirt sold, to the SportsCares Foundation, which helps disadvantaged children by engaging them in sports.

The tees can be bought at the following Giordano outlets:

Ang Mo Kio | Bugis Junction | Causeway Point | Central Mall | City Square Mall | Clementi Mall | Great World City | JEM | Jurong Point | Lot 1 | Lucky Plaza | OG People’s Park | Parkway Parade | Plaza Singapura | Raffles City Link | Suntec City Flagship Store | Tampines Mall | Toa Payoh Interchange | Vivocity | West Mall 

More Interviews with our Team Singapore athletes:

• Swimmer Joseph Schooling: Gold Medallist at the SEA Games
• Shooter Jasmine Ser: Going for Gold at Myanmar
• Mok Ying Ren: Singapore’s Hope for a Marathon Gold

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