Why Develop A New Sports Bra?
We began the process of developing the Lifestyle Sports Bra in January of 2023. The idea sparked from our frustration with traditional sports bras. Many forced you to choose comfort over support, versatility over style, or sustainability over healthy for your skin. It was our goal to create an everyday bra for an active lifestyle that combines the very best of all these elements and provides unmatched comfort, proper support, versatility, and style.
We started the journey by speaking with family and friends to get some feedback on where their bras and sports bras were failing them. We had conversations with hundreds of women of varying ages and body types to gather feedback. We then explored online reviews to better understand what women liked and didn't like in the sports bras and bras they purchased.
Once we had a solid idea of the common pain points and most important features, we began the process of selecting a fabric. We researched every kind of fabric on the market and across the globe, and we settled on a unique TENCEL™ blend that offers an amazing number of incredible qualities. This is one of Silver Sea's primary differentiating qualities.
TENCEL™ is made from wood pulp, most commonly derived from eucalyptus trees.
TENCEL™ has many benefits that make it the ideal fabric to make a sports bra with. It's naturally super soft and breathable. TENCEL™ is sustainable and made through a closed loop production process from wood pulp. It can absorb moisture about 50% more quickly than cotton or organic cotton. This incredible moisture-wicking ability also helps absorb moisture away from your skin so it naturally reduces the growth of bacteria and increases the life of the garment.
If you haven't worn a sports bra made from TENCEL™, we wouldn't be surprised because there aren't many companies in the U.S. that are producing them. Sports bras made from TENCEL™ are more common in Europe, which helped validate the idea since many fashion trends tend to make their way from Europe to the states. Plus Europeans tend to care more about sustainability, although that trend is changing.
Our Top Priorities
As a former college athlete turned merchandise planner for brands like Michael Kors and Saks Fifth Avenue, I knew we needed to provide adequate support without sacrificing style or comfort. I also wanted to make sure that our products were beneficial for the environment and our bodies. Going into the design phase, our top priorities were comfort, style, support, versatility, and sustainability.
To ensure that we fully understood the market and that we produced something significantly better than the alternatives out there, we needed to wear and sweat in a lot of sports bas. So we ordered nearly 50 sports bras from every brand you could think of. We tried them all and picked our favorite features from each.
During this phase, we had also been reaching out to a number of fabric suppliers to test out different blends and determine which made the most sense for our Low Impact Lifestyle Sports Bra. We also began calling around the country to find a pattern maker and designer who could bring our vision to life along with a manufacturer who could produce our sports bra at the highest of quality. Ideally, we wanted to manufacture in the U.S. but we also explored options overseas to better understand the global market.
One of our first fabric samples.
Keeping Up The Momentum
After more than six months and dozens of conversations with pattern makers and manufacturers, we found the perfect fit. From there, we started working with our pattern maker and designer to produce the first prototype based on all the feedback and research we had done. We knew that sustainability was also very important to women along with comfort, versatility, and adequate support.
We knew that the fabric needed to be moisture-wicking. Wire-free bras were preferred over traditional bras for maximized comfort. Having an adjustable sports bra, removable padding, and ensuring the sports bra is easy to take on and off is a great way to offer versatility and enable women to customize fit. A favorite feature is our wide band under the chest - support and comfort! Also, manufacturing in the U.S. ensured another key need was met - having the most durable and highest quality product produced both ethically and sustainably.
We also didn't want to make any of the tradeoffs mentioned earlier around sacrificing comfort for support or style for versatility so we got to work ensuring that the prototype didn't force women to make those difficult decisions. We wanted everyone to have the best of both worlds.
We ended up going through a dozen different iterations of the prototype, incorporating feedback from dozens of women each round, until we arrived at the world's most comfortable low impact sports bra. Seriously. Try it yourself and if you disagree, send it back. We'll pay for your shipping.
The Final Product
We spent a year and a half perfecting the design, fit, style, and fabric. The vast majority of sports bras on the market are made from a generic pattern design, manufactured overseas, and are produced from synthetic fabric like polyester or nylon, which aren't just bad for the environment but are also bad for your skin. You deserve better, so we decided to take it upon ourselves and offer you an alternative. We hope you take advantage and enjoy!
The Silver Sea Low Impact Lifestyle Sports Bra drops in July!
