Everything You Need to Know About Sports BRas with Bravolution Founder Laura TempestA
Summary
Gang, meet sports bra expert and the founder of Bravolution - Laura Tempesta! Laura is the ONLY American with a Master’s degree in Lingerie Design, and the ONLY person in the WORLD with a custom-designed degree to study the engineering, design, performance, and innovation of sports bras. Before starting Bravolution, Laura was Nike’s Sports Bra Innovation Direction. Today, she consults with brands to help innovate sports bras so that they actually support us.
In this Episode
In this episode of the Run, Selfie, Repeat podcast, we talk about everything from:
understanding how sports bras work
why innovation is moving at a snail’s pace in the sports bra world
how to understand your body shape and size
why bra sizing is outdated and stupid
why removable pads are a thing
why sports bras are so expensive
why it’s taken companies so long to make truly supportive AND size-inclusive sports bras
Links
Show Notes
Laura’s Journey into Sports Bras
Laura’s undergraduate degree is in medical anthropology. After realizing there are basically no jobs in the field, so she wound up returning to school for apparel design. Then, Laura up at Nike and worked there for a decade in their innovation department. There, she found there was a real problem in bras. At the time, Nike had no bra experts in the company. They hired a consultant but the consultant was more lingerie expert and the team couldn’t find a sports bra specialist anywhere. There are BS biomechanists, scientists who can see how boobs move in a bra, etc. but they don’t know anything about design, patterns, or how to put a bra together.
No one out there could do both the mechanics AND the design.
Nike wound up sponsoring Laura to get a master’s in lingerie design at De Montfort University which is considered the best place in the world to study lingerie design. Laura and Nike worked together to custom design a master’s degree that looked at sports bra design, science, and the biomechanics of it into one degree. Now, she’s the ONLY person in the world who has studied sports bras this way and the only American with a master’s in lingerie designs.
Laura was inspired to pursue a life in sports bras because of her own experience with chronic pain. Laura went through knee surgery at 32 which resulted in a rare complication called Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD) which causes massive nerve damage. She basically had 2 years where she couldn’t walk and a decade where she could barely walk(!!!!) After relearning to walk, she had a newfound respect and appreciation for movement because she knows what it’s like to have a body part make it hard to be active.
In focus groups at Nike, a lot of women complained about their boobs being too big to run. That’s where Laura learned about insane bra sizing is and how messed up it is! 80% of women are wearing the wrong bra size. 80%!!!!
How are women just accepting this nonsense in their lives? Where’s the money and science looking into sports bra innovation?!
That’s when Laura wanted to go all in to try to be a force for change and help solve the problems behind sports bras. Laura has some patents that belong to Nike and became their Innovation Director. But over time, she became so passionate about wanting to change the industry, she decided to leave, become a consultant, and help multiple brands.
But most importantly, she wanted to focus on providing education for the general public.
Takeaways
Run in slow-mo to see how your boobs bounce
There is NO standard for what “high-support” means in the industry
Laura’s #1 goal is to help women no longer deal with pain
You don’t have to accept pain in your every day. The industry needs to step up!
If you create a crappy bra and it still sells, then there’s no reason to spend time and money innovating.
Why So Many Bras are Broken
Bra design and apparel designs are night and day different. The issue is that so many companies will hire an expert in apparel design and then train them on the job. Bras are closer to footwear than clothing in terms of manufacturing, molds, etc. Often times you can show an apparel expert a bra pattern and they won’t know how to put it together; YET these are the people being hired by companies.
Most people studying lingerie design are artists who are more interested in looks than functionality. They’d rather work for Victoria’s Secret than an athletic company.
Sports bras are the most technical kind of bra. Companies should be researching and investing just as much time in sports bras as they would a technical athletic shoe. You really need someone who has an engineering and an artistic mind to make a good sports bra.
Sizing is NOT a secret magic
The truth is, sizing is often used to keep you in the store as a marketing tactic. It’s outdated, archaic, and needs to change.
What People Should Be Looking for in a Sports Bra
Stretch
in the shoulder
Adjustability
Cleavage
If you see cleavage, it’s probably going to move
Cups
The pointier the cup, the more your breasts will move. If there’s stretching in the cups, you will bounce.
1) The more the bra stretches, the more your breasts will move
2) Look for adjustability
3) Length between nipple and shoulder needs to match bra
Watch out for Gimmicks
Innovation of fabrics is often a gimmick. The only real innovation over the last few years came with Nike’s FE/NOM flyknit (which Laura helped to invent). Anything else is really just marketing.
THE SPORTS BRA INDUSTRY IS DUE FOR AN INNOVATION RUSH!
You want a tighter fit for higher impact, and a stretchier fit for lower impact — but it’s still too early for any brands promising this to actually work.
At the end of the day, a sports bra needs to be functional. They can be beautiful but they NEED to function.
Women are used to just fine or good enough, but we could ask for more. Don’t just be grateful brands are trying; demand better.
Bravolution Guide
Problems with Measuring
Measuring only gives you a ballpark. It does NOT give you exact bra sizes. Bra sizing is from Victorian shirt sizing. They were shirts that don’t stretch and went over corsets. We don’t wear Victorian shirts anymore yet we are still measuring the same way. INSANE.
Measuring tapes are not meant to measure 3D things.
Breast shapes are all different and all won’t fit the same cups.
Your underbust will get you the closest but over-bust is different. The band fits the rib cage, which will stay the same size no matter your clothing size.
Bras are like jeans, not all brands are the same. There’s no standard so all brands use their own sizing.
Put the bra on the middle hook. If you can pull it back about 1/2 inch. NO FURTHER than 2 inches. If it’s tight, it’s the right size. If it goes back too much, the fabric is cheap or it’s too big.
You shouldn’t be able to slip more than a finger under the straps. If you can pull it away, it’s not supportive enough.
Look at how your bra fits into a current underwire now.
Bulging, too much cleavage, etc means the bra doesn’t fit.
Most women wearing the wrong bra are wearing a band that's too big and a cup that’s too small.
Sister Sizing
Everything in bra sizing is a ratio. 38A and 32D are the SAME size. (CLICK HERE to learn more in Laura’s Ted Talk on Sister Sizing.)
One thing to know - sister sizing exists and you need to figure out what yours are before you buy. **Band size comes down to your preference, not actual measurements.
To make things change, the company with the largest market sale would need to change their bra sizes. It’s VS and they won’t.
Shoulder shape
There are three types of shoulder shapes:
Average, wide, and narrow
Then, you need to figure out if your shoulders are straight or sloping
Narrow, sloping shoulders NEED a racerback because the bra needs to be closer to the neck
Wider/narrower necks - if you have a wider neck you want a less narrow neckline for your bra. If the neck is on the pressure point it can cause headaches
Strap & Underband Fit
Sports bras you want as little movement as possible. Band should be snug and be able to pull less than half an inch. Don’t want to pull straps up a lot either. Make sure bra and brand have minimal movement once adjusted.
Cup Fit
Most women have one breast bigger than another. If BOTH cups are showing space, they might be too big,
For cups too small — is the necklace digging into your breakfast and getting a bump, it’s too small
ANY cleavage is breast tissue that isn’t being supported. With sports bras, you want full coverage for full support.
Underwire bra, if it’s sitting away from breasts and there’s space, it’s too small.
On the side, is the udnerwire digging into breast tissue; are you seeing a lot of side boob, it doesn’t fit.
Underwire sports bras — are a personal preference. Laura and Kelly don’t prefer them. There are better options.
Removable pads
Women hate removable pads, so why do manufacturers have them? — They’re trying to be everything for everyone. Usually, they’re low quality foam and should be innovated. Manufacturers don’t put a lot of thought into it.
Every study Laura has seen says it’s 50/50 for who prefers pads and who doesn’t.
To get them back in your bra, make a burrito and it’ll pop into the cup.
Which bra is the best?!
It’s hard to say. Anything causing you a distraction is not a good bra. Return bras that aren’t good. The truth is, Laura hasn’t seen anything amazingly innovated in the last few years.
Watch for bonding (sewing vs gluing). Look to see if your seams are glued or not. If they’re glued, they won’t last.
Sizing
Why aren’t there options for bigger sizes? When bras are manufactured, they start with one size and make it bigger and smaller. Bras need different components to support the heavier weight. Adding in running, it takes twice as long to get it right. For brands to invest, they need to know they have an audience for it. SO GET VOCAL! Use social media to tell brands their bras aren’t supportive!
Expensive
Why are sports bras so expensive? The fabric is more expensive. Sports bras often uses more spandex, which is expensive to use. AND, there’s more high-quality spandex in high impact bras. AND, they need more fabric, more scientific testing, more wear testing. And very few factories in the world make sports bras.
Holy Grail of Info:
Watch Laura’s TEDTalk below, listen to this episode, and download Bravolution’s free guide. It’s a lot of information but every woman should have it.
