Samantha Giraud (born 11 November 1980) is a designer, entrepreneur and former competitive figure skater specializing in sportswear. She is originally from Hong Kong and is best known for bringing fashion sportswear to mainstream fashion shows through her label, XAMAS.
Contents
Athletic career
Samantha Giraud was born 11 November 1980 in Hong Kong. At an early age, she displayed incredible athletic aptitude and, in 1993, began competing in local figure skating, dancing and swimming competitions in Hong Kong. In 1995, Giraud received the Star of the Rink award and was named spokesperson for the Tsuen wan Plaza family ice rink. Her skating career had to be put on hold for 2 years when, in 1996, she severely injured her left leg. When she returned to the ice in 1997, her performance wasn’t the same and she decided to give up competitive figure skating.
Giraud took a position as a part-time coach at Riviera Ice Chalet in 1999, where she would return in 2002 to be a full-time figure skating coach.
Other professional pursuits
During Giraud’s break from her competitive ice skating career, she began to get involved in the modelling and singing business. In the summer of 1996, she also took a temporary position with Egoware Computer Technologies, where she broke their 10-year sales record in her first month.
In 2000, Giraud’s stepfather was diagnosed with cancer in the final stages, which led to her family going bankrupt due to medical bills. Giraud returned to Egoware as a full-time marketing employee in 2000, being forced to give up the pursuit of an architectural degree in Australia, so she could support her family.
One year later, Giraud developed the concept and organized the first and largest computer-related event in Hong Kong, dubbed “The Computer Assembly Competition 2001”, which was a success.
Fashion career
Samantha Giraud is a designer bringing sportswear to mainstream fashion shows. Her collections are all connected to the figure skating world in some way, resulting in a unique style that is her signature.
Giraud’s fashion career started while she was working at Riviera as a full-time figure skating coach, when she got the idea of creating tailor made skating dresses, which weren’t easy to come by at the time for the girls she was coaching. Thus, in 2003, her label, SAMAS was born, which specialized in tailor-made skating dresses.
In 2005, while attempting to trademark SAMAS, Samantha Giraud was forced to change the name of her label to XAMAS, as SAMAS had already been registered by another company. That same year, she founded her label’s factory, known as New Noble Man.
Giraud left her position as a figure skating coach with Riviera Ice Chalet in November, 2009, on the back of personal tragedy, to be able to focus fully on her business and her children.
In 2010, Giraud gained international attention when she launched her revolutionary figure skating collection, which included a seaside photoshoot. Thus, XAMAS became an international brand, gaining widespread recognition in figure skating circles all over the world, including in countries such as Canada, the United States, France, Germany and Holland.
XAMAS began a professional partnership with Circuit Limited from 2012 and together they designed and produced XAMAS skatewear and sportswear up till 2015, when their partnership effectively ended due to a conflict of interests.
In January 2015, Samantha Giraud, along with her partners, presented her collections at the International Designer Showcase during the Hong Kong fashion week, where Rose Mary modeled one of the brand's signature masterpieces. The fashion show was hugely successful, gaining Giraud and her label, XAMAS, even further recognition and acclaim.
Giraud presented her latest collection at the AWK fashion show in Hong Kong, in July 2016.
Community work
In 2012, she organized the Ice Model Event, which has been conducted annually ever since. The event helps showcase children’s talent by offering them a performance platform to exhibit their skills. It is designed to help them understand that they can achieve anything they want when they grow up. Thousands of people take part in the event every year, casting votes to choose the most talented participant.
In 2013, an in-house ice model fashion show was held at the grand opening of XAMAS International, showcasing Giraud’s collection and artistic skill at the new office in the Golden Bear Industrial centre.
Giraud launched a summer-off ice training program in 2014, which featured world-renowned coaches. David Liu, 3-time Figure Skating Olympian and a guest lecturer at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts was one of the coaches to lend their expertise. The goal of the program is to provide support to Hong Kong ice skaters by offering them the guidance and resources required to progress to the next competitive level.
Samantha Giraud aims to support Hong Kong athletes and performers and through XAMAS has sponsored numerous national skaters, black box original dancers and more, including Hong Kong’s 2013 Skating and Short Track Speed Skating Champion, Mr. Matthew Leung Kwun Hung.
XAMAS also regularly supports and contributes to various charity associations.
Personal life
In 2005, Samantha Giraud married Richard Giraud, who was originally from Lyon, France, taking his surname as her own. In 2007, Samantha and Richard were had their first baby girl, Lupita, and in 2008 they had their son, Louis.
Personal tragedy struck in November 2009, when Giraud's husband died.