This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on October 8, 2015.

Despite the fanciful pink and purple theme and the party atmosphere at the launch of Neubodi’s 2015 charity bra drive campaign, the cause underlines what is often overlooked when it comes to women — their right to dignity. 

Running their campaign for the third year now, the local lingerie brand has once again opened up their “bra banks” in various locations to collect second-hand bras. Last year’s campaign saw over 11,000 underwear collected throughout the Klang Valley. Partnering with Australia’s Uplift Project, the team from Neubodi went to Nepal to hand-deliver bras to the women from Asha-Nepal, a human rights organisation that helps women and children affected by sex trafficking work towards social and economic empowerment. 

For these women, who are part of the majority of the millions of people held as slaves or are vulnerable to human trafficking, the trauma of being targeted simply for being female can only be imagined, and its impact on womanhood a profound one, especially on younger girls. 

“To them, a bra is a luxury,” repeats Neubodi founder and managing director Anne Tan. 

“Nepal was really an eye opener for us,” she recounts, “We saw these Nepali women, most of them have never worn a bra before, they just wear a camisole,” Tan adds. It might seem a trivial issue, but it is pointed out that it is the women who work in the fields in Nepal, and the lack of the basic garment posts health risks such as climate rashes, fungal infections and abscesses, not to mention back problems. 

“They didn’t mention that they needed bras, but when we sent the bras over and taught them how to wear it, some of them put it on and they don’t want to take it off. You can see it on their smiling faces,” says Tan of the women, who ranged from as young as age 14 to 60 plus. “They didn’t let it go, as if saying ‘this is mine, it belongs to me’. One of them said it was the first time she’d seen her waist line,” she describes with a laugh. 

The team had the initial plan to help set up a second-hand bra shop, but Tan says there are some obstacles to doing that. “The bra business there, lingerie shops … are opened and run by men. That’s also why the women are shy to buy,” adds Tan. Apart from the relatively expensive price of owning a piece of undergarment in Nepal, there is also a lack of business know-how. “We are still thinking on how we can help them set it up, liaising with them on this,” adds Tan. 

The director points out that to see something women here take for granted being perceived so differently there was enlightening, “That’s why I decided to make this an annual event.” At the launch, a quick raise-of-hands survey revealed that a majority of women in the room owned more than 10 undergarments at any given time. 

Which is why Neubodi has daringly upped its target to 50,000 this year, and expanded its drive to four organisations — Asha-Nepal, Maiti Nepal, Village Focus from Cambodia and FreeAGirl from India. Tan highlights, “These are four organisations that rescue girls and help them rebuild their lives — underprivileged women, sex trafficking victims and single mums.” 

There’s another reason for the higher target. Neubodi divulges that of the 11,000 collected last year, only 2,441 bras were fit to be distributed. “There were a lot that were not so good. We really want to raise public awareness on this. Please donate bras that can be used again,” urges Tan. 

In conjunction with the International Breast Cancer Awareness month in October, it is also hoped that RM10,000 can be raised for the Breast Cancer Welfare Association Malaysia, as Neubodi pledges RM1 for each purchase made at their stores during the campaign. 

The Neubodi Bra Drive campaign is on from now until Nov 3. The bra banks can be found in all of the brand’s specialty stores, at Traders Hotel, Bobbi’s Pole Studio and Bodytone studios. Bras accepted also include sports bras and mastectomy bras. For more information, visit www.neubodi.com.