There is “no other piece of apparel more difficult to design well than a sports bra because of all the opposing constraints around comfort and support, stability and range of motion,” according to Creative Fitness Solutions Founder La Jean Lawson. The exec has pursued the perfect sports bra since 1978, when she ran her first marathon. Lawson obtained two graduate degrees in sports bra science and conducted research at Utah State University with the original Jogbra. While brands have made progress over the years, she maintains that a constant quest for newness every season tends to usurp many positive endeavors.  

Lawson’s guidance to brands is “if you can make a sports bra look and feel like what women are used to, and actually have it be higher performing and more sustainable – you can hopefully check the boxes without creating a monster.”

We chatted with Lawson about the highs and lows of sports bra design and development. ‍

You’ve been in the industry decades, what has changed in sports bras during that time?‍

Lawson: “This year celebrates 40 years since my first biomechanical research. I had 37 years at Champion, which gave me the opportunity to be a part of so many firsts in sports bras. Even in the beginning, execs said ‘we think that our customers aren’t buying the right bras for their body type.’ It’s still an issue. They wanted to understand the supportiveness of bras and make a system that was easy for understand for women to say this is my size, my sport and the impact associated with it. We literally made a wheel to dial at retail to match body type and sport. One of the biggest mistakes women probably make is not understanding those two things.”

Tell me about some of the testing you have done.

“What was so cool about working for Jogbra (maker of the first sports bra, which was later sold to Champion) is that twice a year I would motion-control test the new offerings before they went on the market. We would also take the competing brands and test them to understand the good, bad and ugly. Then there is all of my field testing over the years – probably thousands of women. At its height, Champion Jogbra had about 80% market share. Champion gave a priority to research decade after decade. I feel amazingly lucky to have landed in such a great place advancing design and development in sports bras. I love that I can be relevant in the present day, but have the richness of the background.”

Women today want their sports bra to be like their current, everyday bra, but perform better. Tell me more.

“A bra is the most personal piece of apparel that we have. There are social norms about how the breasts should look. If the materials start to look more like a scuba suit or something that you don’t want on your body, that’s it. Do you like the touch and feel of it? Is it flattening? Is it going to call attention to where I don’t want it to? I’m working on a ‘perfect panty’ project with a client and we’re asking, what do women want to have next to skin as their first layer? Then there are all of the multicultural norms about how things should look. It’s also functionality – is it going to be hard for me to get on? If I have to stop and think about it, I may not want to do that.”

What are some of the worst offenders out there?

“If I look over to one of my rolling racks for the Hall of Shame, we have $60, $70, $80, $90 sports bras just dripping with new technology that aren’t wearable. Sports bras are expensive. An example for me is Lululemon. The sports bras that they produced in the first five or six years were the best they have ever done. They were kind of cut and sewn. Women still ask why they stopped doing that. When Brooks took over Moving Comfort, why did they go to all of this lamination and bras that don’t last? I would give anything on eBay to get another Moving Comfort Maia. I love the new technologies and problem solving, but we have to be very careful because sometimes if we solve one problem, we introduce another.”

Consumers are becoming more aware of sustainability issues such as having microplastics next to skin and the recyclability of foam pads. What are you hearing?

“Most important, let’s create product that lasts longer. We also need to find ways to create less sizes – bras that are more adaptable to different bodies. All of those samples you have to create, that’s not sustainable. Our bodies and our breasts change shape on a weekly and monthly basis. About 80% of women have two different sized breasts. Making smarter bras that can adjust to individual changes is a big part of sustainability. There are fibers out there, more in the nylon category, where you don’t worry about shedding. Fabrics that are healthier, last longer, maybe you don’t have to wash as often – those are high level sustainability. Gelmart’s Sugarcup is one example. It’s a sustainable bra pad (the material of the pad uses harvested bio-based EVA from sugarcane). Having tons of sizes is not revolutionary, instead, having say seven size SKUs, that’s it, would be holy grail.”

What else is innovative out there?

“There is a braided bra called AMBI (from Tensengral). The wear testers say they can wear it all day, especially in the summer with the Supima cotton/Tencel Lyocell blend and adjustability. I’m working with them to make it more supportive and responsive. It has zero waste. I’m also interested in the use of auxetic materials because of their form-fitting characteristics. You can stretch them in one direction and the sides expand to make an upward and outward curve. Under force, they can expand, contract and accommodate more volume. There was a study in July 2024 about this. It is a much more complicated path that yarns take, but that creates a form-fitting expansion material. An auxetic cup really outperforms both a spacer and foam cup. If we had the ability to scale up, that would mean less SKUs. I could see a company that develops components doing this.”

What is something consumers may not know about sports bras?

“The biggest problem is that women don’t get measured. I have wear testers come in who have never been measured and/or have been wearing the same bra size since high school. It’s about getting into the right bra for your body size. Women also aren’t willing to trying on a lot of different bras in a lot of different sizes. Things vary from brand to brand. I can have one person test a bra and think it’s amazing, and another think it’s terrible.

HerRoom has measuring directions so you can do it at home. Even taking that one measurement would be useful. Brands don’t necessarily make it easy for you. I’ve seen hundreds of styles over the years. Fit is not always consistent. I have a brand whose founders are small, so they fit everything on a size small. There are return problems, so I told them to put on their big girl pants. Our goal is that if you wear a size large in Nike, you’ll wear large in our brand. But comfort is the defining characteristic of sports bras also because so many are worn for things other than pure physical activity.”

What consumers want in a sports bra and what retailers want may be two different things. How so?

“I just worked six weeks with a client developing a couple of new sports bras that I’m really excited about. They told me that they wanted the best sports bras out there using everything I’ve learned in 40 years. I had a free hand, but that’s also guided by what consumers will accept. The first sample came out and they were concerned when they lay the bra out with buyers from REI, the cups won’t stand up and be perky, so they’ll be concerned how it will look at retail. It makes it hard to make a better bra when you have to get over that hurdle as well. My Dr Sports Bra social media is to educate women about things just like this. Try the bra on, even if it looks weird on the hanger.”