What's Important In An Everyday Bra?

Comfort. Style. Sustainability. 

The three things that matter most to us at Silver Sea are comfort, style, and sustainability. When we began this journey back in January of 2023, we were still getting used to working more remotely. As a result, many women struggled to find an everyday bra that provided the comfort and support needed to go from a Zoom call at home to yoga and then to running errands around town.

At the end of the day, no one wants an outdated, uncomfortable, and synthetically made bra!

The Problem With Traditional Bras (Including Most Sports Bras)

Traditional bras and sports bras, whether they be underwired, tube, wireless or a bralette, only ended up meeting a part of my needs. There really wasn't a high quality option for an active, on-the-go women that could serve as an ideal everyday bra and provided all-day comfort.

Every option on the market was either super comfortable and soft but didn't provide enough support or you had to sacrifice support for comfort. Even worse, many of the sports bras on the market today are made from polyester or nylon blends, which are synthetic. The production of such fabrics is not only bad for the environment and not sustainable, but wearing clothing made from those materials is bad for your skin.

In order to begin solving this problem, I started with my friends and family. I gathered input from dozens and dozens of women varying in age from 18 to over 65 to better understand what they liked and didn't like about their everyday bra (or more precisely, the bras they wore everyday) and sports bras, and started to notice some common themes. These women wanted the same thing I wanted and had been unable to find a suitable option.

Before we started the process of creating our own everyday bra, we wanted to look at a larger sample size. So we started looking at reviews online to better understand what women found most important and liked best when they left a 5-Star review.

Major Themes That Stood Out In Highly Reviewed Sports Bras

As we did more research on what consumers cared most about, it became clear that we were onto something. Looking at common search terms as it relates to bras, sports bras, and what women are looking for in an everyday bra, the following themes stood out as universally important to the majority of women:

• Eco-friendly and sustainable sports bras are very important to most women. We will cover this at a high level in this article but plan to dive deeper into with subsequent posts.

• Silver Sea Differentiator: Silver Sea makes our sustainable sports bras from an all-natural fabric blend called TENCEL™, which is not only super soft and comfortable but is also a sustainable and eco-friendly material derived from wood pulp. Furthermore, TENCEL™ uses about 50% less carbon emissions and water consumption than traditional fabrics.

• Comfort is key. Women don't want to work out in an uncomfortable sports bra, but in order to have enough support, many chose to do so during high impact kinds of activities because of the obvious need. However, for lower impact activities such as yoga, pilates, or barre, there didn't seem to be a suitable sports bra that provided feather soft material and comfort with the adequate level of support.

• Silver Sea Differentiator: Silver Sea makes the most comfortable, versatile, and sustainable sports bra on the market. This is not just because of the fabric, but also from the year and a half spent perfecting the design to include adjustable straps, removeable padding, and a wide band under the chest. What you get to enjoy is an incredibly comfortable sports bra that provides you with all-day comfort!

• Versatility. Furthermore, there weren't many options for women who lived an active lifestyle and didn't want to be changing from one bra to another if they had to jump from a work call into the car to run to the store and make a yoga class on the way back home. Also, no one wants to wear a sports bra that makes them look flat!

• Silver Sea Differentiator: Our Low Impact Lifestyle Sports Bra has a subtle v-neckline for a feminine, chic look under t-shirts, tanks, or by itself. Versatility is a key focus for us because we believe that women shouldn't have to choose between comfort and versatility.

• Support is critical. While our first product, the Low Impact Lifestyle Sports Bra is designed for low impact activities like yoga, barre, pilates, or under your work clothes, our High Impact Sports Bra is currently in development undergoing the same kind of rigorous testing that our Low Impact Lifestyle Sports Bra underwent and is set to launch towards the end of the summer.

• Silver Sea Differentiator: We're mindful of the need for adequate support. The wide band under the chest in our Low Impact Lifestyle Sports Bra is a key differentiating feature. Wider, padded straps are being developed as part of the High Impact Sports Bra, as well as different cup shapes to keep your chest in place, avoid injury, and minimize the annoying bounce!

• Moisture-wicking fabric is a top priority for most women. Wherever your lifestyle takes you, it makes for a much more enjoyable wearing experience if your bra or sports bra has a moisture-wicking element to it. Unfortunately, most moisture-wicking undergarments are treated with chemicals, including PFAS, petroleum, phthalates, and Teflon, and therefore the vast majority of sports bras on the market force women into a difficult decision of having to choose between their sports bras being moisture-wicking or laced with chemicals.

• Silver Sea Differentiator: Our Low Impact Lifestyle Sports Bra is purpose built to address this very problem. TENCEL™ can actually absorb moisture approximately 50% more quickly than cotton which makes it ideal for activewear. Furthermore, the ability to absorb moisture away from the skin helps prevent the growth of bacteria so your clothes stay fresher longer, you don't get clogged pores, and you stay dry while running around wherever life takes you!

• Wire-free bras are ideal for comfort. Many women have transitioned away from the more traditional underwired bras and have opted for a more comfortable wire-free bra. As we discussed earlier, many sports bras and bras on the market force women into choosing between comfort or support. It is our goal to remove this conundrum and offer women the option and versatility to have the best of both worlds.

• Silver Sea Differentiator: We heard this piece of feedback loud and clear across women of every age and body type. Our Low Impact Lifestyle Sports Bra is wire-free to ensure maximum comfort! Adequate support meets comfort meets sustainability. That is the guiding principle behind the Low Impact Lifestyle Sports Bra!

• Adjustable sports bras and bras offer great versatility and enable women to customize fit. One of the reasons why shopping for bras and sports bras is such a pain is because every bra fits a bit differently so ensuring that you select the proper size becomes a guessing game.

• Silver Sea Differentiator: As many women have pointed out, comfort is key. Tis is why we have built in adjustable straps on the Silver Sea Low Impact Lifestyle Sports Bra, and our detailed fit guide ensures that you select the right size, and it only takes two minutes to go through the three step process. Once you've settled on a size, verify that with our AI powered fit engine (found on any of our product pages), and voila.

• American-made and high quality products are more important now than ever. While the are benefits to the development of the global supply chain, many American-based consumers are putting a premium on products made here in the U.S.A. to ensure that their clothing is ethically and sustainably made, and of the highest quality.

• Silver Sea Differentiator: Silver Sea manufactures all of our products right here in the U.S.A. to ensure that we offer exceptional, sustainably made, and the healthiest apparel to our community. Right now, we are manufacturing in Massachusetts, but we plan to continue all production in the U.S.A. to ensure we minimize our carbon footprint by limiting shipping on cargo ships overseas and you get the highest quality apparel. 

Conclusion

It's our belief that every woman deserves an incredibly comfortable everyday bra that provides all-day comfort. Ensuring excellent support, using eco-friendly and sustainable materials, and creating a design that provides versatile use enables you to move from the gym to the street with ease and comfort. Silver Sea products are made from the highest quality sustainable fabrics and manufactured right here in the U.S.A. so you can enjoy the benefits of a long-lasting, durable, and sustainable sports bra that you can wear everyday.