Underdressed

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Stephanie Odoms got into lingerie the hard way. As a young mom, she couldn’t find a bra that fit, so she ordered a custom set on Etsy. It arrived badly made and fit worse. She fixed the band herself, then decided to learn to make her own. That decision became Stephie’s Lingerie, where she now sells custom-dyed DIY lingerie kits with a huge range of laces, power meshes, elastics and hardware to choose from.

In this episode we talk about:

• Why she moved from custom orders to DIY kits, and what custom lingerie really costs to make
• Sourcing materials as a small business, and why suppliers and brands guard their sources so closely
• Deadstock lace, AliExpress and Alibaba, and where lingerie materials actually come from
• Her new garter belt pattern, the community effort it took to make it, and the underwear pattern she’s working on now

Find Stephanie on Instagram at @stephieslingerie.

https://www.stephieslingerie.com/

Grab yourself a sewing project and settle in! This podcast goes deep into the history of Beverly Johnson who shares stories from over 40 years of experience in bra making!

Find out more about Beverly and her current teaching here;

https://beverly-johnson.ca/

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What Makes a Sports Bra Actually Work?

A conversation with Nicola, senior researcher in bra and breast biomechanics at the University of Portsmouth

In this episode, I speak with Nicola about the science behind sports bras, breast movement, and what actually contributes to support during activity.

Nicola works in breast and bra biomechanics, a field that looks at how breast tissue moves, how that movement changes during different activities, and how bras can help control that movement. We talk about why sports bras are much more than a comfort item: they are an important piece of equipment that can affect whether women feel able to run, train, compete, and stay physically active.

A major focus of the conversation is a University of Portsmouth study looking at how different sports bra design features affect performance. The study tested 98 sports bras on 77 women in 34B and 34D sizes to understand which design features reduced breast movement during running.

The paper identified five key sports bra characteristics linked to performance:

• Bra style: Encapsulation and combination styles performed better than compression-only styles.
• Material: Bras made primarily from nylon performed better than those made primarily from polyester.
• Underband adjustability: Adjustable underbands were linked with better support than pullover styles.
• Padding: Padding appeared to contribute to movement reduction, not just modesty.
• Neckline height: Higher necklines were associated with better support than lower necklines.

One of the most interesting parts of the episode is the idea that sports bra performance is not just about making a bra tighter. Breast tissue moves forward and back, side to side, and up and down, and different sports create different movement patterns. This means a bra that works well for running may not be the same bra someone wants for weightlifting, rowing, golf, or other sports.

Nicola also explains why compression bras are not always enough, especially for larger cup sizes. Compression styles hold the breasts against the chest wall, while encapsulation styles support each breast individually. Combination styles can offer both the structure of encapsulation and the familiar “held in” feeling of compression.

We also discuss how much is still unknown. Even after identifying several design features that contribute to sports bra performance, a large portion of what makes a sports bra work remains unexplained. That leaves room for more research into fit, materials, movement, comfort, breathing, and sport-specific design.

Sports bras are often treated as a simple clothing purchase, but this conversation frames them as a health and participation issue. A poorly fitting or poorly performing sports bra can affect comfort, confidence, posture, breathing, and whether someone wants to keep participating in sport or exercise.

Nicola also talks about the importance of getting this information to the people who need it, including athletes, school girls, and everyday consumers. The goal is not just better products, but better education, so women and girls know they do not have to accept pain, discomfort, or lack of support as normal.

Referenced paper: Norris, M., Blackmore, T., Horler, B., & Wakefield-Scurr, J. (2021). “How the characteristics of sports bras affect their performance.” Ergonomics, 64(3), 410–425. doi: 10.1080/00140139.2020.1829090

For her brand Bumboo, Elizabeth uses a new sustainable fabric which utilizes bamboo applied a lyocell process. It's more sustainable than the previous way to process bamboo, which Elizabeth thoroughly explains.

Grab yourself a sewing project and settle in! This podcast goes deep into the history of Beverly Johnson who shares stories from over 40 years of experience in bra making!

Check out our sponsor wayfinder3d.com

Grab yourself a sewing project and settle in! This podcast goes deep into the history of Beverly Johnson who shares stories from over 40 years of experience in bra making!

Check out our sponsor wayfinder3d.com

Yearly catch up with one of my favourite people, Sofia Luzon!

It was a pleasure to welcome Eleanor Mooney Co-Founder of Verdant a NYC based lingerie brand. We had a great conversation about starting a lingerie brand in NY and how the vision came to life.

https://verdant-nyc.com/

Another fantastic episode sharing the story of Laetitia Dupuich's evolution as a lingerie designer. Laetitia found her calling while in Business School when she created a lingerie brand for an entrepreneurship course. Through a lot of hard work and grit Laetitia launched a brand, taught courses, freelanced and gained the skills which she applied to learning and using 3D and now continues to trail blaze applying her technical and creative knowledge in the advancement of AI.

Here is Laetitia's portfolio;

https://dandvconcept.com/

I could listen to this woman talk about bras all day! Kimberly Hamilton is basically a walking encyclopedia of bra knowledge, especially when we're talking about the full bust size range. Besides all that, Kim's story is incredibly inspiring, she has an uncanny breadth and depth of knowledge and experience garnered from decades of working in the industry in Canada and Europe. She's worked with both small retailers and large corporations like Lululemon, she's battled breast cancer, and she is now running her own boutique bra store providing individual bra fitting and access to great products in her store Kimtimates in Red Deer, Alberta.

Make sure you stay tuned until the end, Kim gave us an extra special bonus in helping me identify fit issues of a couple of sports bras I was testing out. I'm happy to get to share her beautiful mind filled with juicy bra knowledge.

https://www.kimtimates.com/