Patent Application
20240381951
A longstanding statistic remains evident today: approximately 70% of women are wearing the wrong size bra. While this might seem inconsequential, to some, wearing the wrong size bra leads to posture issues, pain and discomfort from the bras that are being worn, and issues of discomfort on the diaphragm where the breast weight and ill-fitting bra will typically sit. One of the main causes leading to an incorrectly worn bra is a woman will buy a cup size too small and a band size too big. This means the band around their body is too big to support their breast tissue. This is a major concern because the first point of anchoring a bra to the body and releasing the weight on the shoulders is the bra band that extends around the torso. The second point of weight bearing is the straps on the shoulders. However, because many women wear a band size too big the straps become the load bearing point. When the band size is too big, it is still in contact with the skin surface, it is just loose around the torso, which causes the back of the bra to hike or ride up towards the shoulder blades, instead of maintaining a parallel plane to the floor, which is the optimal position for counterbalancing the breast tissue.
While sizing and education efforts continue to exist in supporting women in finding the right bra size and fit, the fundamental problem remains unaddressed in that sizing mistakes will continue to happen because bras are a subjective experience for women. Preference of the wearer often drives the decision on comfort and fit. There have been efforts to hold bras in place around the body, this is often done by engineering of a bra pattern to ensure the right angles of a pattern are achieved. This engineering is often still not done correctly as the expertise to achieve the correct angles relies on the expertise of the patternmaker, which can vary in skill level. Other solutions to try to keep bra wings and bra bands in place are surface modifications such as silicon printing, silicon beads or lines, or other substrates with a grip or sticky element that increase friction between the wearer's skin and the bra band and/or wings. This has been somewhat successful in strapless bras where there are no straps to depend on for support. However, there are drawbacks to these solutions because the bra wings and bands have to be fitted tightly around the torso leaving impressions onto the skin, which can be uncomfortable, and/or the wearer may be allergic to the silicon material.
In light of these persistent bra fit and design challenges, there exists a need for an innovative approach that addresses the multifaceted complexities of bra engineering. This solution provides a balance between objective sizing standards and subjective wearer preferences while also addressing the fundamental issues of support, comfort, and stability.
Non limiting and non-exhaustive embodiments of the invention are described with reference to the following drawings. In the drawings, like reference numerals refer to like parts throughout the various figures, unless otherwise specified, wherein:
Counterbalance of the breast is typically solved through engineering of the bra pattern, which is the pattern that creates the bra shape coupled with the materials or combination of materials made to create the bra. Typically, in technical design for bras, sports bras, pull-on style compression bras, and the like, the compression is typically unified. For all classified bras, a bra increases in shape, materials, and layering of the materials as the bra size increases. Most bra designers try to counterbalance the weight of the breast through pattern shapes, increasing materials thickness and/or surface area, utilizing a combination of layering materials, and through engineering mold shapes to shape the breast tissue and move the breast tissue forward onto the body to avoid restriction of arm movement and to present an aesthetically pleasing breast shape.
Pattern engineering for a bra is highly skilled and complex design work. Each part of the bra plays a significant role in counterbalancing the weight of the breast tissue to support the tissue in an aesthetically pleasing state. The main element to counterbalancing the cup or weight of the volume of the breast tissue is the angle at which the wing or side panel or the band or side stay is connected and shaped to the cup. This is true of a wireless bra, wired bra, embedded or non-embedded supportive element in the cup, molded cup, encapsulation cup, or cut and sew cup. For a back close bra, the center back, or back most part of the wing is typically angled down or lower than the base of the bra cup. This allows for the pull around the elliptical shaped torso to appear parallel to the ground and therefore counterbalancing the weight of the breasts. The different sizes of the cups and the different sizes of the bands impact the angle at which the wing, side, panel, band, or side stay is created. For example, a large cup sized bra may have the center back or back most part of the wing angled further down below the bottom of the cup when compared to a smaller cup size.
The disclosed weighted bra designs place weights around a portion of the bra in the central back region of the bra and/or on the back and/or sides of the wearer's body or breasts. In some examples, a majority of the weights are placed in a central back region of the bra. Weights can be alternatively or additionally placed in other regions of the bra such as on the sides of the bra located on the medial and lateral sides of the wearer's torso and can also extend into the bra straps. Straps can include a traditional set of two straps that extend over each shoulder of the wearer. Alternatively, the bra can include a single strap that extends over one or the other shoulder of the wearer and can also include a T-back or racerback style bra. Any strap configuration is included herein. The “side” or lateral regions can extend over a lateral region of the cup for each breast, in some examples. In other examples, the lateral region does not extend to the breast, but instead extends along some lateral region of the bra to a position that, when the bra is worn, extends to the base of the breast or is spaced a distance from the base of the breast. In another example of the weighted bra, the majority of the weights are placed along the back central region of the bra and do not extend to any side or lateral regions. Regardless of whether weights are placed in any portion of the lateral regions of the bra, a centralization of the weights within the back region of the bra that extends over the wearer's mid-back or posterior torso counterbalances the weight of the breast tissue on the anterior torso.
In some cases, the weights may be graduated to the sides and front side regions of the bra stopping at approximately the front princess or front sides of a torso. The weights can be placed, graduated (vertically and/or horizontally onto the bra or in a combination of graduation vertically and/or horizontally, or a combination of both directions, as well as anterior and posterior within the material), and impregnated into materials or a combination of materials to create weighted zoning of the bra band, the bra wing, the back panels, side stays, and sides or side regions of a bra.
The weighted materials can be 3D printed, impregnated, placed by mechanical attachment (e.g., pocket, adhesive, snaps, hook and loop fasteners, etc.), screen printed, encapsulated in various shapes, extruded, applied through various printing, integrated in the fiber, yarns, or finished goods in a variety of ways and can be removable or permanently attached to the bra. If the weighted materials are removable, they can be inserted into a pocket, attached to the exterior surface of the bra by a removable fastener or adhesive, or the like. Additionally, the weighted materials can be adjustable to add or reduce the weight based on the wearer's need. Such adjustability can be useful for wearer's with breast cups sizes that may be the same, but the density (and resulting weight) of the breast tissue differs or for personal preference for comfort or type of activity in which the wearer intends to wear the bra.
Weighted elements may also be placed differently and/or can be changed on different types of bras. For example, the configuration of the weighted elements can be different for a front close bra, back close bra, u-shaped back bra, V-shaped back bra, ballet back close bra, full back coverage bra, racer-back, t-back, nursing bra, mastectomy bra, compression bra, minimizing, push-up, encapsulated, cut and sew, seamed bra cups, bralette, sports bras, lingerie bra, nursing bra, and any other type of bra.
Women who are smaller in breast size do not have the same issues as women with larger breast sizes, particularly for bra fit, counterbalancing weight of the breast tissue, and overall complexity of the bra design required to properly support the wearer's breasts. This is true for larger breasts on a smaller torso or larger torso woman. For example, a woman who is a 34B, a 34DD, or a 34H has the same torso measurement range but have different sized breasts that increase in weight with the alpha identification. The alpha identifier can be different based on brand and country. For example, some brands use a D system of sizing, for example A, B, C, D, DD, DDD, H, G, J, K. Other brands use a traditional alpha system of sizing, for example, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, K.
The weighted materials directly correspond to the size of the bra cup that relates to the bra size, and therefore, the weight of the breast tissue against which the wing, band, or back region of the bra must be counterbalanced. The weights may be placed further apart or may be lighter weights placed onto the bra or sports bra for a smaller cup size versus a larger cup size. For example, heavier weighted bra wings are used to counterbalance the heavier weight of a 34H, when compared to a 34DD, which uses lighter weighted elements, when compared to a 34B, which uses the lightest of weights in this example grouping of different cups sizes with the same band size.
This sizing correlation with the weighted materials can also be exemplified in bra cup size and band sizing. A 34B, 36C, and 38B, all share the same cup size in traditional bra sizing and manufacturing. The band size increases to correlate to a torso sizing increase. A traditional bra designer may increase each band size by a total of 2″ for each band size increase, for example a 34 band is 2″ smaller than a 36 band, and a 36 band is 2″ smaller than a 38 band. The cup size for the 34B, 36C, and 38B are all the same size in a traditional bra design, but the band size increases. The reason for the cup size remaining consistent across these sizes while only the band size changes is that creating mold heads to create the bra cups is typically a long manufacturing and costly process. Each mold head is typically customized for each designer or manufacturer and can be made from various techniques, such as using a computer numerical control (CNC) technique to create the mold from aluminum blanks. A company or manufacturer therefore reduces their cost and effort by using the same size mold across several sizes.
This cup sizing technique can also be exemplified in a bra cup size of a 34C, 36C, and 38C where a 34C cup is smaller than a 36C cup, and the 36C cup is smaller than a 38C bra cup. The bra cups in this example are incrementally graded up or sized up from one another. This incremental increase in measurements and shape is typically a proprietary measurement to a bra designer. However, as the cup size increases, the weight of the breast also increases due to the increased volume in the cup. There is no widely used standard weight of a breast used to categorize the weight of the breast and correlate it to a cup volume, instead the surface region of the breast can correlate in most cases to the weight of the breast within a margin of error.
The example weighted bras shown in
For example,
The example bra 102 shown in
The weighted region 112 on the back side 100b of the bra 102 is concentrated and has the most weight in its central portion 114. The weighted region 112 grades—or gradually decreases in concentration of the weight, which produces a gradually reducing weight-in a diagonal, V-shaped direction from the central back closure 118 to respective attachment points 120 of two shoulder straps 122 of the bra 102. The weighted region 112 of the bra 102 is also graded laterally as the weighted region 112 extends around the bra band 104. The overall “M-shape” shape of the grading of the weighted region 112 of the 102 shown in
A weighted region 324 of the balconet bra 302 extends longitudinally and laterally across the entire back side 300b of the bra band 306. Similar to the weighted regions 112, 216 of the examples shown in
In the embodiments shown in
The above examples illustrate weighting in a variety of bra styles. Any suitable weight can be included in a desired bra style to counterbalance the weight of the breast tissue. In some cases—for example in uneven breast tissue weight between each breast due to a congenital condition or another medical condition such as a mastectomy-weighting can be different (asymmetrical) on each side of the bra to accommodate the weight difference that needs to be counterbalanced. Further, weighting can be customized to a user, if desired. Some users have dense breast tissue while others have less dense breast tissue that can affect the counterbalance of the weights that feels comfortable for the wearer. Still further, some region(s) or all of the weights can be removable or adjustable. Removable weights allow for easy cleaning and replacement and can allow users to place weights in different regions to alter the position of the weights, as needed or desired. This may be desirable for a wearer to be able to alter the weights to adjust the counterbalance to account for different activities that require different levels of support for the wearer's breast tissue.
As described above, traditional methods of creating mold heads to manufacture bras have fit challenges. These fit challenges often can stem from women buying the incorrect sized bra or identifying as different cup sizes. Typically, women who wear the incorrect sized bra will wear a larger band and smaller cup than they are, this results in wings or the back of the bra riding up on the back of the torso. Some women also choose a smaller cup as there is a concern over identifying with a larger cup size sometimes accompanied by shame or unacceptance.
Other challenges with the current system are that while using the same mold size, cup size, across different band sizes, for example 32, 34, 36, 38, 40 band sizes, the breast tissue is different in shape when it connects back to the chest wall. This affects the way the cup shape is pulled by the band, center pieces (gore), cradle, and any other piece attached around the cup and is therefore it is the pattern that is adjusted to accommodate. For example, the center front piece (gore), is smaller in shape on a 34 band versus a larger shape on a 38 band, even though they share the same cup. This is done to try to accommodate the placement of the breast on the body, a 38 band has the breast tissue spaced wider on the torso compared to a 34 band. The cup size/volume may be similar in surface region, but the surface region is different between these two band sizes because of the difference in surface region on the torso of the body. This further showcases how a cup size is not universal across all band sizes. These differing needs include different volumes and placement of the weights across different band size to cup size ratios. For example, a 34DD has the same cup mold as a 38C but has different counterbalance needs. To create optimal counterbalance for the wearer, the 34DD would need heavier weight around the center back region and side regions of the bra compared to the 38C, which needs weight focused primarily around the central back region, but the weights can be lighter.
A typical internal bra chart to brands and companies, which is not shared with customers, has the band sizing increase from the top of the chart to the bottom of the chart. The same band size is shared across the rows, while the columns of the grid are the cup sizes. From left to the right of the grid, the bra size increases in cup size, which directly correlates to the increase in breast volume and weight.
For example, the bra size chart 500a shown in
In the same chart 500a, each column represents the same cup size mold with different bands sizes listed vertically in the chart. In
Instead of bra cup sizing, an alternative approach to sizing bras offers sizes that span multiple cups and/or band sizes. For example, as shown in
The advantage of sharing the same mold head across the exemplified 9 sizes of “Mold 10” that includes 30H, 32G, 34DDD, 38D, 40C, 42B, 44A, and 46AA reduces the production timing and cost and development timing and cost. However, the difference in the bust root connecting back to the chest wall is very different on a smaller torso woman than a larger torso woman because of the more limited surface region on the smaller sizes. For example, a 34DDD has a smaller bust root or surface region than a 36DD. The reason for this is the breast root rounds to follow the torso, therefore the bust root is wider in diameter when compared to the 34DDD bust root.
The disclosed weight bras do not grade the mold heads across the columns as typically accepted. The body shape changes incrementally and variably from a small band size to a large band size. With the volume and shape changes of the torso, the bra cup shape and volume must also change slightly. Instead of the traditional sizing approach, the weight bras are sized based on splitting the bra grid 600 into 3 or more separate mold heads where the body shape changes. This can be exemplified by cross-grading the cup, or sister sizing the 30H, 32G, and 34DDD cup sizes, which is based on sizes that share a similarly sized bust root or surface area. A separate mold head with a different shape will be used for 36DD, 38D, and 40C. While a separate mold head is used for 42B, 46A, and 46AA. This improved alignment between bra sizing that is based on torso shape and breast root size and placement creates a better overall fit for the wearer to be properly supported with their breast tissue counterbalanced either through the design of the bra for smaller cup sizes or through the design of the bra with the weighted regions for larger sizes. This way it allows the mold head shape to be created with a wider base for the bust root on the larger torso sizes to accommodate the increased diameter of the bust root on the surface area of the torso. Because the molds still serve multiple sizes, the overall manufacturing efficiency remains similar to the traditional sizing techniques.
The subject matter of embodiments disclosed herein is described here with specificity to meet statutory requirements, but this description is not necessarily intended to limit the scope of the claims. The claimed subject matter may be embodied in other ways, may include different elements or steps, and may be used in conjunction with other existing or future technologies. This description should not be interpreted as implying any particular order or arrangement among or between various steps or elements except when the order of individual steps or arrangement of elements is explicitly described.
This application claims priority to and the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/501,616, filed May 11, 2023, titled, “WEIGHTED BRA,” which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety for all purposes.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63501616 | May 2023 | US |
