Abstract This paper investigates the bistable behavior of shell structures made of fiber reinforced composites with steered fiber paths. The additional freedom provided by varying the spatial orientation of the fibers is shown to allow for the ability to guide the second stable state of the shell. To demonstrate, the analysis is conducted on a tape spring shell structure. If the material layup in the composite tape spring is uniformly antisymmetric throughout the entire structure, it yields a second stable configuration, which is a tight coil. This study shows that by steering the fiber paths, the antisymmetric layup can be locally directed, thus localizing the bistability. Consequently, the overall shape and configuration of the shell in the second state can be controlled through the fiber orientation function in each ply. To demonstrate, the bistable behavior of the tape spring shell structure is investigated both analytically and numerically through finite element approach.