Abid Alam Chowdhury Founder and CEO

Dour Interviewed by Raiyan Rabbani, Team MBR

Raiyan Rabbani: Starting its official journey in January 2020, Dour is serving the sportswear niche market by offering sports and gyms apparel made with modern fabrics, keeping functionality in mind. Would you kindly share with us what your inspiration was to enter this sector?

Abid Alam Chowdhury: I have always been into sports, playing almost every popular sport in our country. When I went to university in the UK, I was influenced by my university friends to join a gym. I used to visit Bangladesh for holidays and would train in a different local gym every time. This was back in 2017 when I thought of starting Dour. I have been involved in the family business (RMG) on and off for as long as I can remember. My love for sports and my career path made for a perfect match to create an active wear brand. I saw the gap in the market. I
saw the types of clothes people were wearing in the gym, which were mostly t-shirts and jeans. To make one aware, wearing such types of clothes can affect performance and is injurious to health. When we were young, we would beg anyone coming from abroad to bring a brand-shoe or hoodie. I want us Bengalis to feel pride in an active wear brand that is from Bangladesh and made in Bangladesh.

Raiyan Rabbani: The concept of sportswear or gym wear was not so popular here in Bangladesh a few years back. However, a trend towards adopting this concept has been observed. What factors do you think are driving this growing culture?

Abid Alam Chowdhury: I do believe it is the trend of a healthy lifestyle that is driving this concept of sportswear. It has changed with the rise of our country’s education level. People are more knowledgeable about 

fitness now than ever. The misconception that going to the gym makes gym-goers only bulky has kept many of us away from the gym. The rise of social media also has a huge impact. The millennial and younger generations are educated about healthy lifestyles and also their parents. Joining the gym or maintaining a healthy lifestyle has saved many people from adopting a bad lifestyle. Access to good quality sportswear has also improved. For many, sportswear clothes are now comfortable clothes. It is also now acceptable in classes and even in many offices too, especially in startups.

Raiyan Rabbani: Continuous R&D is required to offer functionality. What are the focal points that Dour keeps in mind while designing sportswear and gym outfits and developing fabrics for those products?

Abid Alam Chowdhury: The aesthetic parts of any clothes we made till today have always been the third thing in our mind as a focal point. We have invested heavily since 2019 in our R& D, which is on our top priority list.
For example, we source yarn and then make fabric with it, which ends up becoming the final garments we produce. Nowadays, we are working to source fibre to make our choice of yarn to make one of the smoothest and strongest fabrics we have ever made, that too with a waterproof feature. We are also focusing on creating sportswear for sports which are niche in our country, such as golf, swimming, running, cycling, etc. There is a scarcity of such products in the market. The availability of such sportswear will influence more people to play these sports. We do not want to be labelled as a gym wear brand only. We are a sportswear brand supporting the active lifestyle we should all aim for.

Raiyan Rabbani: Dour is generating its primary sales online. Does it have any plans to expand via retail stores in the near future?
Abid Alam Chowdhury: In the first couple of years, we had no such plans. But, we have been studying the market inside out, and it is becoming a necessity to open a retail shop. It is not to drive sales only. A retail shop will help us educate more people about sportswear. A huge part of the population lacks the knowledge of why sportswear is important. We plan to be more interactive by hosting shows and opening new multi-sports fields via the retail stores.

Raiyan Rabbani: Nearly 80% of the Dour’s customers are women. What are the motivating factors for the female customers to pick Dour for apparel customised for sports and gyms?

Abid Alam Chowdhury: We did not aim for a female-centric brand. To some extent, however, Dour has become a female-centric brand. Women in our country have been neglected regarding most sports. We want more girls to play sports. Hence, we started creating all types of female clothes to push as many girls as possible to be involved in any kind of sports or gym. Starting from the hijab to oversized clothes, we are producing almost everything. However, the sales trend is changing gradually. We have seen an increase in sales of men’s clothes in the last 12 months. We also plan to make clothes for children in the near future.

Raiyan Rabbani: The COVID-19 pandemic played a significant role in growing health consciousness among the masses. Would you please kindly share with us how it helped boost Dour’s growth?

Abid Alam Chowdhury: Dour started on January 15, 2020. Sales were moderate in the beginning and slowed down in February as we were out of stock earlier than we expected. As we restocked and released our new collection, a pandemic hit in March 2020. Everything was shut down for two weeks till I got a call from my courier service saying that they had received approval from the government to make home deliveries. It struck me that everyone was stuck at home, on their phones, and the trend of home workouts had just started. It was the best time to market my brand and push as much as possible. Everyone was online doing home workout challenges wearing Dour’s products. Dour was the only source for purchasing active wear at that moment. The sales skyrocketed, and it was a huge boost for us. We never looked back after that. Surely, the pandemic has taught many people the importance of taking care of their health.

Raiyan Rabbani: Marketing and sales in the sportswear and gym apparel industries are highly dependent on celebrity endorsements and signed contracts with athletes and sports teams. What are the steps Dour is taking right now to make sure its target group knows about the brand?

Abid Alam Chowdhury: Nazia Hasan (trainer and coach) has been the face of Dour for the longest time and she has been a blessing for the brand. We want to focus on our Olympic athletes. Being a startup, it will be easier for us to afford those athletes and also help those athletes gain the attention they are missing. They deserve equal facilities and attention as any of our cricketers and footballers. So, focusing on athletes and young sports enthusiasts helps in this regard..

Raiyan Rabbani: What are the challenges Dour is currently facing in its path of business
expansion? What are the measures Dour has taken to resolve them?

Abid Alam Chowdhury: Inflation and rising dollar prices have affected us. We are not able to increase our prices as we understand that our clothes can be a bit expensive for the market we are in. In order to have a sustainable business and continuous growth of the brand, we need to maintain the price point. We have taken a few new projects (such as multi-sports fields) in hand to increase Dour’s funding so that the burden of increasing costs does not fall on the customers. We do not want to take in any investors because it changes the objective of creating a brand. Investors seek profit first. But, we want to create something valuable, something that will give back to society. Another problem we are facing is the low supply of synthetic yarn in the country, which creates the best sportswear for customers around the world. These are readily available in China at a very low price. However, due to our customs policy, they are becoming more expensive and difficult to import day by day. Hence, we have moved to alternatives to make our own yarn by mixing fibre. We are experimenting to create something similar or better.