• The Research Journal of the Costume Culture
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.549-559
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• 2012

The purpose of this study was to analyze the comfort of sports bras by style and bra cup size. The comfort of wear was measured with compression level. The displacement of breast points (BP) after wearing a sports bra was measured. Study subjects evaluated the comfort level of the compression type and encapsulation type sports bras after walking and running. The results showed that all types of experimental sports bras provided more coverage than everyday bras. The compression type bra placed more pressure on the breast, chest, and under-bust than the encapsulation type bra. The BP distance decreased for all types. The C cup subjects' breasts were raised after wearing the sports bras. The B cup subjects had less comfort with the compression style bra than C cup subjects. The racer back style bra with high neckline and small band girth placed more pressure than others. They were difficult to don and doff and the least comfortable. These results imply that the racer back compression style sports bra was uncomfortable for women with large breast, while the encapsulation style bra with the compressing panel at upper chest was the most comfortable. The bras that shortened BP distance placed more pressure on the breast. But the bra that raised and shorted the distance of BP provided better comfort for large-breasted subjects.

• The Research Journal of the Costume Culture
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.81-92
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• 2013

Many women feel pain in their breasts while running due to an excessively large degree of breast movement. Therefore, most sports bras pursue a reduction in breast movement. The purpose of this study is to investigate the breast movement reduction effect of a selection of sports bra designs according to the intensity of the sport and the breast size of the wearer. The study measured differences in the vertical movement of the nipple with 4 types of sports bras and 3 exercise speeds(4km/h, 7km/h, and 10km/h). Subjects included women in their 20s with bra sizes of either B cup(n=3) or C cup(n=3). The results of the study are as follows. Breast movement differed according to running speed and breast size; breast movement significantly increased starting with jogging speed(7km/h), and the C-cup group had a larger degree of vertical movement than the B-cup group. A superior effect on breast movement during jogging(7km/h) and sprinting(10km/h) was observed differently by bra cup sizes. To C-cup group, encapsulation-style sports bra, which provides horizontal support across the upper breast and padding inside the shoulder strap and bra cup to ease impact was most effective and next effective style was the compression-style bra with a princess line to cover the breasts solidly. Most style sports bra were effective in the B-cup group. Besides aforementioned encapsulation-style sports bra, the compression-style bra with a band, which presses the breasts against the chest wall, reduced breast movement effectively.