For the longest time, girls and women in Bangladesh have refrained from talking about their bodies…that too, in public. The experience of shopping for lingerie in Dhaka is often awkward as salesmen ogle at women's chests and hand them products, out of which, only one or two actually fit.

There are some who travel and can purchase products from Thailand or Singapore, but the larger population is unable to do so. For that reason, Monoshita Ayruani and her brand, SHAPE, thought it was high time we addressed the elephant in the room. 

Monoshita already had eight years of experience working at WebAble Digital, particularly in brand-building. "My core strength at the time was working in humanitarian sector projects. I had previously interviewed women RMG workers in slums to learn how they were impacted by the Rana Plaza tragedy," she recalled.

The RMG sector is a large manufacturing hub in Bangladesh and lingerie products sold at high-end stores are mostly leftovers of export rejects. They are mostly made for European or American body standards, as opposed to Bengali or South-Asian body types.

"Initially, I just wanted to introduce size consultations to help people find the right products. However, the existing product gap and taboos made me realise that size consultations alone cannot solve this problem. So, I decided to start a business that will specifically cater to lingerie," said the entrepreneur.

SHAPE was founded in September 2019. Over the last few years, the brand has been able to serve a large number of women and more recently, foster collaborations with various social media influencers.

"My mother passed away when I was eight years old. I was already facing issues growing up but so did my friends, their mothers, and women in their extended families. I didn't want the next generation of girls facing such awkward challenges," she explained.

Through SHAPE, Monoshita advocates for comfort, health, wellness, and breaking the stigma surrounding women's bodies.

"Most girls in Bangladesh experience chronic back pain from their early 20s as a result of not wearing the right fitted bras. Heavy-chested women can suffer from constant chronic headaches or constant chronic migraines if they are not properly supported. Other health issues include poor posture, pain, skin irritation, and breast tissue damage, which may, in some cases, even lead to cancer. These health issues are based on data, doctor consultations, and proven facts," she elaborated.

Addressing the seamless range of bras, Monoshita emphasises the need for functional lingerie.

"The seamless range is a game-changer for a space like Bangladesh given our social context, environment, weather, skin tone, health, and fit. I wanted to unburden women from the daily dilemma of matching their undergarments with their outfits. Seamless bras are invisible under your clothes and we have tailored them in nude colours, which work for our bodies," she says.

Unlike the wired bras, which pose the risk of cutting and digging into our skin, the seamless type takes a different approach to ensure maximum support.

"Perfectly fitting a wire to a bra is difficult even if you have purchased the right size. So, we opted for a padded solution, which provides support from under the bust so that it gives a minimising effect from above. The pads are also more flexible and they hug the body as well," highlights Monoshita. 

As a local brand, SHAPE is a passionate advocate for body positivity which has been invaluable for women between ages 18-35.

"I genuinely enjoy our photoshoots because we do not edit the photos. So, we normalise models having stretch marks or a curve on their bodies. Nor do we edit the sizes of their bodies to make them look thin or full. I try to feature as real body standards as possible. This portrays my value and view of the world and I hope more people can see it that way," she says confidently.

Whilst challenging social taboos, SHAPE gets its fair share of criticism in the digital space.

"Despite gaining popularity, we received a lot of backlash from conservative audiences. We politely explained to them that our business would only thrive if it demonstrated how the products would fit customers. This line of communication was well-received by women, which was mainly our target audience," explains Monoshita.

Despite being a brand for women, SHAPE does not confine itself to a "women-only" community. Often, they have seen men attending some seminars where they are present.

"In many ways, we have encouraged men to wonder and respect this as a topic because they have sisters, mothers, or daughters, who also have these needs. That's when their viewpoints change. We promote our brand in a way where we do not objectify the products or the models in our presentations or communications. Anything that Victoria's Secret stands for, we are the complete opposite of that," she stated. 

In the coming years, Monoshita wants to take SHAPE beyond Bangladeshi borders. She wants to launch a subsidiary of SHAPE, catering to an affordable range of products to reach parts of the country beyond Dhaka, Chattogram, and Sylhet. 

She wants many more women in the country to see this brand as a solution and a platform that helps them and not just with lingerie.

"I want to work with women's reproductive and mental health because there still is not enough access to such spaces. I think to gain more momentum, we would require endorsements from some of the mainstream celebrities and it would also be great to collaborate with NGOs who are working on the grassroots level with girls and women in schools, colleges and universities," she said. 

As the conversation gradually came to an end, Monoshita shared her insight for aspiring women entrepreneurs: While starting a business is important, sustainability is crucial. Beyond the start-up culture and myriad advice from different people, you should learn from your own experiences, talk to people who were engaged in this before and aim for profitability as opposed to focusing on topline revenue. If you're not profitable in the long-term, your users are just numbers on an Excel sheet.