Wondering what the best new bra brands are in 2019? You’ve come to the right place.
“What does an I cup look like?”
That’s just one of the questions the founders of CUUP, a brand new direct-to-consumer lingerie line which just launched in late 2018, casually ask each other in meetings.
In CUUP’s SoHo office on a cold New York morning, the director of fit and “bra therapist” Tania Garcia was preparing for a fitting. The new line takes a totally different approach to fitting, sizing and wearability. Rather than pulling out a measuring tape, Garcia first asks anyone she’s fitting about their experience with bras in the past. She explains that she thinks of it as “a journey”. She’ll then do a traditional measurement and fit based on size as well as breast shape.
Two of CUUP’s co-founders, Abby Morgan and Lauren Caris Cohan, formerly worked at Free People and were inspired to create a brand that caters to women who wear a D-cup or above—two-thirds of women— while distilling the modern design down to four simple styles (scoop, balconette, plunge, demi all in breathable power mesh and seamless) that all retail for $68 each, to avoid customer confusion. “It’s a real need to be equal with everyone else; that need to feel ok in whatever size you’re wearing,” says Garcia. The brand is currently working hard to expand its sizes to H, I and beyond.
When it comes to the bra, little has changed since its modern form was invented in the early 20th century. Unlike sneakers or other things we wear that serve as being function-first, innovation has moved at a slower pace. In the 1930s, the first mass-produced, modern bra emerged by S.H. Camp and Company with hooks and eyes, different band sizes and cups A – D made on a graded scale. The Canadian brand Wonderbra was the first of its kind to lift breasts with its groundbreaking push-up bra in the ‘60s, but aside from lacy bralettes and sporty athletic bras, not much else has changed with the bra—something more than half the world’s population wears nearly everyday for almost their entire lives.
CUUP and a few other women-founded brands are trying to change that however. “There’s a reason why there’s so many different bra sizes in your drawer,” says Morgan. “There’s a system all these factories have, and they’re mostly run by guys. They fit on a 34B and they grade” according to the third co-founder, Kearnon O’Molony who has a background in investing and consulting and once helped survey 10,000 women for La Perla market research. Rather than stick with this very outdated method (which typically only allows for six fittings to grade all the standard sizes) CUUP held over 100 fittings, 200 meetings, many focus groups and invested in 18 months of R&D—which has allowed them to create a new standard of sizing. While bras are traditionally made proportionally so the technical parts of the garment and incrementally increased or decreased without thinking about whether or not something like that would cause discomfort or not function in the best possible way, CUUP’s are based on real women’s bodies who wear sizes 30 A – 38 G (three times as many sizes as the industry standard). By partnering with select factories in Hong Kong and making them investors in the company, CUUP is able to eliminate the need for minimum orders—one of the major reason mainstream lingerie brands are locked into a small selection of sizes. “Brands will try to fit you into a size that doesn’t fit, rather than tell you they don’t have your size,” explains Garcia.
A sort of a movement of lingerie businesses by women for women has emerged in the past couple of years —and there’s also been a strong amount of support and demand from women, especially as social media and the public voices backlash against Victoria’s Secret’s idealogies. True&Co is likely one of the most well-known pioneers: in 2012, they created the Fit Quiz, the first online questionnaire of its kind that helped women find their bra size without needing to be measured by a specialist in a store. The Fit Quiz is based on size and shape, a formula that many women-founded lingerie companies are using.
“I started True&Co in my living room in 2012 based on the simple idea that women were worth listening to in the lingerie design and fitting process, that we knew our bodies best,” explains True&Co Co-Founder and CEO, Michelle Lam. “I also believed that every body is beautiful in its uniqueness and individuality and we all belong together as a diverse community. The existing players did not know, understand or even care about their consumer and promoted unrealistic and, to many women, undesirable images. The Fit Quiz and our testimonials were designed as a way for our community, now 7 million strong, to share with True&Co their stories, triumphs, problems and feedback so, together, we could build better bras and a genuine and evolving picture of women today.”
Evelyn & Bobbie is another new bra brand, founded in 2015, and fueled by technology-based innovations. The brand built a completely new sizing system based on extensive 3D measurements of hundreds of women and uses smaller increments for more accurate fits. To find one’s size, you can take a measurement test online or type in your typical size—either way, Evelyn & Bobbie will send you three sizes to try instead of one, since even with most innovative sizing system, there’s still a lot of room for differences and varieties in womens’ bodies. And while its approach to fit is revolutionary, the fact that the bras support up to a G cup without using any underwire might be even more groundbreaking. Instead, all of Evelyn and Bobbie’s bras utilize structural engineering: a 3D component called the EB Core is shaped like your ribs. It molds to the body as it’s worn and lifts from below the bust, allowing the weight to be carried on the body’s core instead of on the neck and shoulders.
“As a naturally curvy woman, I personally struggled for decades with daily bra discomfort,” says Bree McKeen, founder of Evelyn & Bobbie. “I regularly found myself in pain by the end of the day; my shoulders and ribcage just always seemed to hurt. I watched other product categories like footwear and leggings get better and better, but bras just seemed to stay the same. At the time I was working in consumer healthcare investing where I saw new biomimicry concepts and advanced manufacturing technologies. I put two and two together and that formed the vision for Evelyn & Bobbie: to approach these problems from a woman’s point of view.”
Likewise, sisters Gina Vericella Crevi and Jennifer Vericella Prado recently set out to redesign the bra from a woman’s point of view and have been granted two patents for their pieces sold through their company, The Bra Lab. Gina’s background in graphic design and fashion combined with Jennifer’s background working at the U.N. and a leading investment bank meant that they could easily team up to create a bra that’s unlike anything else out there. It features side clasps, instead is the usual hook and eyes positioned in the back. They’re designed so that women can change up the look by swapping out the back strap and the cups (each sold in “packs” or separately) to accommodate their bodies, outfits and day-to-day activities, all of which constantly change. The Bra Lab’s sizing ranges from 28 AA – 42 H because of its any combinations.
“It has not been an easy journey, from the depths of the L.A. fashion district, navigating on our own trying to figure out where to start, to competing with huge companies with a lot bigger budget and investors behind them,” says Jennifer. “Innovation has always come naturally as we come from family of creative people and entrepreneurs. We wanted to launch something that truly was different, unique and innovative. While most other bra companies advertise large size ranges, they are seldom in stock. Our design allows us to carry a wide range.”
As long as women continue to wear bras, there will be a demand for brands that understand women. “Women are demanding more from lingerie brands because their needs have changed,” explains Christina Viviani, co-founder of The Great Eros, which also takes an unconventionally modern approach to lingerie. All pieces are made in Italy by a family owned factory and the color palette and silhouettes are inspired by things like minimal architecture, abstract art and chic objects of desire. Fabrics are deadstock, adding a sustainable element. The result is a lingerie line that feels more like a wearable and subtly chic high-fashion collection than an everyday basic that’s uncomfortable and unattractive. “Buying lingerie has become an act of empowerment. It’s both pleasurable and practical. Our customer wants to think about their lingerie once or twice a day-when they are putting it on in the morning and again when they or someone else is taking it off at night.”
“It takes time to change an industry that has been doing things the same way for decades, but that change is starting to take hold,” adds McKeen. “That’s good for us now, and it will be even better for the next generation. Women have been taught over and over since the 1930’s that you are some specific size. It’s just not the case.”
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