The Quest to Build the Perfect Bra

As customer demands and health and comfort concerns have increased, so too has the technical expertise required to produce new bra designs. Three months ago Britain's De Montfort University, which offers degrees in "Contour Design," awarded the world's first Ph.D. in Intimate Apparel, for a project that examined how adjustments in cup design affect back pain.

Bra makers are also getting some help from sports scientists, who have been researching ways to get more precise mass measurements of breasts and to identify their unique figure-eight movement patterns. In separate studies on 3-D breast movement, which take into account more than just vertical bounce, biomechanists Joanna Scurr at the U.K.'s University of Portsmouth and Deirdre McGhee at the University of Wollongong in Australia found that breasts of all sizes move around even more than previously thought. Using lights, cameras, and sensors to monitor jiggle patterns, Scurr determined that women experience an average of about four inches of total breast movement during exercise, while some larger-breasted women have to put up with eight inches of bounce. (Scurr is currently working with bra manufacturers to direct her findings toward industry improvements, but she could not comment on the details of her arrangements.)

"We're trying to figure out: how heavy are they? How much do they move? What load is pulling the trunk forward?" said McGhee. "Biomechanists have really made significant contributions to bra design, and I think that bra companies are now paying more attention to biomechanics and to breast movement."

One U.K.-based bra company, Charnos, even brought on a team of industrial designers, putting the same concepts they use to design trains to work on designing a properly supportive bra. Another London firm, Seymour Powell, scanned several hundred women using machinery normally used on automobiles to gather data on breast shape and form, then it developed a plastic molding to replace the uncomfortable and ill-fitting underwire that has dominated the market for decades.

Taking bra design even further into the sci-fi realm, researchers at the University of Bolton in England recently announced that they'd invented a breast-screening "smart bra," which they claim can detect cancer before a tumor even develops through the use of microwave antennae woven into the fabric. By picking up abnormal temperature swings inside the breasts, they say, it can also monitor the success of ongoing breast cancer treatments.

While such advances are impressive, there remains no El Dorado of the bra world. User reviews of many of the new gadgetlike bras have been lukewarm at best. Some wearers complain that the versatile designs are complicated and uncomfortable, while custom-fit bras offer good support but limited wear because of bulky straps. Still, analysts are optimistic, pointing out that it generally takes about a year to get an idea for a new design into physical form and onto a hanger. In the meantime, with the range of innovations hitting the market, there's a good chance that even if you don't find the perfect bra you'll at least be able to find a bra that's perfect for the occasion or outfit.

© 2008