Confidence & Fashion: The Pinsy Shapewear Story

Speaker 1: [Music] we're here to make women feel really good about themselves without feeling like they have to hide something of themselves so it's serving to enhance the body that you're in hi I'm Melanie bar welcome back to the shilp podcast your go-to place to empower you to live the life and business that you crave I'm here to talk about everything from Having the courage to make life and career leaps to the details of how to lead effectively create successful teams Implement strategies for growth and Infuse Tech Innovation I'm here to celebrate your wins and navigate through your challenges I live in the city now but I grew up in a town of a thousand people I've navigated major life leaps a senior level corporate career worked in professional sports and now as a successful entrepreneur who loves business technology family and making meaningful connections with you and the Sheil it Community I also love a good workout and dose of self-care magic happens when we focus on the part of ourselves and our business that brings us joy so turn up the audio open your favorite Notes app grab your favorite drink and here we go welcome back to the Sheela podcast thank you for joining us Rachel you are the founder and chief brand officer of piny shapewear share with us the story behind why you decided to start a shapewear company especially with a focus on radical self-acceptance and body positivity piny was born out of my longing for shapewear that makes you feel good historically we as women we were programmed to think oh I have to hide my body I have to look slimmer and it's this hidden secret that you just don't talk about with people that you're wearing shapewear but there's some really good benefits of wearing shapewear in general it Smooths everything out it sculpts the figure really great it allows your clothes to fit better and you feel overall supported throughout your body but I hated that stigma of what shapewear looked like and there was a huge gap in the Market at the time for shapewear that was actually stylish something that you could wear as clothing but I was really actually inspired by my childhood because I unfortunately wore shapewear really young I was around 9 years old when I first put on my first piece of shapew wear and back then it was like the horrible nude colored spandex type shaped wear that I actually got out of my mom's drawer and it was just like oh the fact that I feel like I have to wear this to parties and to family gatherings so that people wouldn't comment on my weight that in of itself was a problem but as I got older I realized I was stopping myself from wearing shap Weare because of the stigma and the trauma around it and I saw a need to make it stylish I was like this shouldn't be something that people are ashamed of and so that's how piny started it was just that desire to have a garment that does something for your body to make you feel put together but something that you can actually externally show off I love that because you do feel so good when you have shapewear on it elevates you and you're right most of it when you think about shapewear is skin color there's no Beauty to it you've elevated it to another level thank you what challenges did you face and overcome in the early days of your business the fashion industry isn't always an easy one to navigate the biggest challenge was finding a manufacturer and also just someone that was really skilled in the Garment industry to help me bring the vision to life it's really challenging when you're trying to bring a product Market that doesn't exist because at the time it was like okay I want it to be physically attractive I also want it to shape the body I also want it to be worn as an undergarment and as an outer garment if the person wants to so there was all this criteria in my mind that I had for the perfect garment you're bringing to life something that does doesn't exist that was the most challenging because I didn't have a background in apparel I didn't have a background in manufacturing or design so the hardest part was really finding the resources and then working with the factory and convincing them to take a project on when I didn't have any funding back then I had very limited resources I self-funded the business so I didn't have the type of capital necessary to build out a full product line so I had to scrap together the funds that I had and then of course found resources online that could help me understand the process a little bit better so I'd say that just getting it off the ground was the most challenging when you're inventing something new and you have done a beautiful job because your packaging is so beautiful and so is the shapewear and in some ways it probably is beneficial to start the way you did because then you know every single aspect of the business it's not like something has been done for you and skipped over now you might not necessarily do that part of the business bus but you know how you want to navigate going forward exactly it's really beneficial especially as a Founder to understand all of the various steps of a process because then you make better informed decisions down the line like what to look out for what not to look out for it was very helpful and insightful to learn from start to finish how it all came together share with us a moment of feedback from a customer that affirms that piny is making a positive impact the most gratifying comment that we received is that piny helped me get my confidence back a lot of women throughout their life especially looking at social media and being influenced by Society body standards starts a second guess or how they look and how they feel especially women that are postpartum dealing with changes in their body constantly receiving that feedback that it helped me with my confidence just because I can actually wear it out and not hiding something because shapewear isn't really that comfortable when you're fidgeting with it and hiding it and you're it's like this extra layer that you're having to deal with but if it's something that you're putting on it shapes your body really well and you're putting on your favorite pair of jeans or a skirt or whatever it is and you're just going out into the world as you are your confidence level just skyrockets because you're not hiding anything I just legitimately feel good in my body right now because of what this is doing so I think that is always like the most gratifying comment that we receive and you're so right because the shaper pulls you in but then the lace element that you've added is so beautiful and we all go through different times of Life maybe sometimes we have more time to be active or less time to be active and our bodies change even if we don't have kids we go through stressful times where our body changes and you know having ways to really feel good about yourself has to be really amazing exactly that's the most satisfying comment because we're here to make women feel really good about themselves without feeling like they have to hide something of themselves so it's serving to enhance the body that you're in what do you think is the most important element of leadership when growing and scaling a business one of the most important is really understanding each facet of your business whether it's operations Inventory management product development Finance marketing as you're growing a business especially in the early days you have to be somewhat in the weeds with your team you can't Outsource various parts of your business without a common understanding of how that role fits into the bigger picture and the nuances of that area of the business Founders are quick to be like I'm not going to deal with X Y and Z I'm going to find someone to deal with it that in the early days can really set you back you're trying to move forward and you're trying to Outsource this hire someone to handle this but without an understanding of how that specific role fits in it's really challenging to figure out if you've either made the right move or if you've hired too soon as a Founder you do have to really lean into what makes you unique as a business it's not like a one-size fits all words it's okay this business has this role in it maybe I need something like that I think that really getting in there with your team and understanding the issues is really key and not feeling like you're above anything oh I I'm above this and I I shouldn't be doing that but the truth is when you're a Founder especially of a startup everything is your problem more or less you really should be understanding all of the challenges that come along with it and that's so true I've heard that from so many Founders I've spoken to don't be afraid to open up boxes you set the strategy and even though team members have the best intentions it might not be exactly how you want to move forward making sure that strategy is set and then you can hand it off and then I don't know about you but I'm doing Tech evaluations you used to do them once a quarter but everything changes so fast you're so right in the way to make sure your business is going forward and the way that you want it to exactly and things change all the time it's definitely not like a set it and forget it strategy either one strategy could be relevant for a few weeks and then things change you're like actually let's pivot and you only really get to know that when you're really in the business and with your team driving that forward so especially in the early days radical self-acceptance is powerful can you explain what it means to you and how you incorporate it into your Brand's philosophy yeah I'd say radical self-acceptance for me and throughout my career too it's made out up of two things it's one it's accepting of course yourself for your strengths and your weaknesses and not just necessarily related to body acceptance it could be just Acceptance in various parts of life now that I'm in my 30s I've accepted what I'm great at and what I'm not so great at in my 20s I was like I'm good at everything I'm going to tackle all the things that I can figure everything out and that's fine I think we as women will figure things out but that doesn't mean that we need to shoulder every problem and we have to shoulder everything and so I think that self-acceptance is really being honest with yourself about the things that you're not great at and then finding help asking for help and I think I think that the other piece as it relates to body acceptance It's accepting the fact that everything is in your head right all the thoughts that you have about yourself about your body about how you feel it's all wired in your head just based on what you're hearing on social media or your friends your family whoever and it's all what you surround yourself with so being really in tune with yourself and keeping just that authentic voice in your head of who you are that has helped me and shutting out the noise it's easier s than done but it's definitely a good amount of mental work that I've had to practice along the years to get me to this point where I feel like okay this is who I am we're our own worst critic right we're always gonna tell ourselves that we're not good enough or that we're not meeting like a certain standard getting really real with yourself and that voice in your head that's really what acceptance means to me across all areas of life for someone who struggles with body image what advice would you give them on their Journey towards self-acceptance

Speaker 1: of that is such good advice and our environment makes such a huge difference oh yes definitely magic happens when we focus on the part of our business and our s that brings us joy what is one way that you make sure to find and live your Joy yeah it's so true I think that especially in the early days I was doing it all as every founder does and sometimes it's areas that aren't very fun and that you have to get done but I'd say each day I always set out two to three key areas maximum that I'm going to focus on that day especially as business owners we have a laundry list of things and I always make sure that two out of the three things that I set out to do that day and really focus my energy on are things that are going to yes Drive Impact but also it's things that I'm really good at when you're doing things that you're really good at and that are driving impact to the business you're naturally going to be like okay I feel great about myself I feel like I'm driving value and then of course the third thing is usually the grunt work that you don't really want to do but it has to get done but I try to balance my day so that I make sure that I'm leaning into the things that I'm good at and that will drive impact thank you for sharing your entrepreneurial wisdom with us and for encouraging us to have radical self-acceptance I love that so much and the piny brand is beautiful I encourage anyone that hasn't seen it to check it out please tell us how and where we can find you yes so you can follow us on Instagram at piny shapeware and then our site is wear pin.com so we a r and then p i ns y.com and then you can also follow me on social media at Rachel jooy where I share how to style piny and a glimps into daily life and all listeners can shop the site with a special discount code she built it at checkout thank you for joining us today I'd love to hear from you reach out to me at hello Sheil it.com on our Sheil it website or at Sheil it on social thank you to my editor Rich draino who always makes us sound good until next time let nothing stop you from experiencing the life and business that you crave