This Freya Active sports bra works very well. The band fits tight, like a sports bra should, and my boobs feel comfortable while working out. I don't even really notice I'm wearing it while exercising. The very top of the cup/bottom of the strap doesn't fit exactly flat against the skin, but I barely notice it. I've had this bra for a couple of years (sports bras last longer since you don't wear them as often) and it's still in very good, almost near-perfect shape.
This a much tighter band than I am used to. It's good to know that not all 28 bands are ridiculously stretchy. The cups are a great width. They are a bit shallow, but the construction of the bra makes that a small problem. Because of the shallowness there is a bit of compression helping out the encapsulation, which is a little uncomfortable but doable for the great support. The gore is a bit too wide, but once again, it is doable. Next time I might get a 30DD or 30E, depending on how it breaks in.
Update: After wearing it a couple of times, the band is perfect and the cups are perfect.
Considering that Freya bands are a little bit more stretchy, I expected this to be a fairly tight fit, but I couldn't take a full breath! Normally 28 is good for me, 30 it is this time. The cups were slightly empty at the very top, but I expected that. Otherwise, if it really nicely. The extra band across the top and through the bottom helped enclose my tissue a little better even though the wire was too wide. It didn't feel empty, felt nice. Other than the band being too tight, it was comfortable.
I always heard on r/abrathatfits that Freya bands and wires are softer than Panache, so I didn't think I'd need to size up to a 30DD.
The band feels really tight, even tighter than my 30 Panache bras (30D - Panache » Envy Balconnet Bra (7285) ). I'm not sure how much this will improve after breaking in the bra. Right now, I need to wear it with an extender, otherwise I feel like the bra is suffocating me.
It stretches to only around 27in/67cm, so maybe this is why it feels so constricting. I also feel the bottom of the wires digging into my ribcage. ...
I wish it stretched an inch more.
I expected the materials to be similar to the Panache Wired sports bra, but the materials are not as soft, the wires and the hook aren't padded.
I feel like the wires are maybe too wide for me, because I get some wrinkling on the outer sides of the cups, though not enough to bother me through a t-shirt.
What does bother me is that the shape the 3 part cup gives is very pointy. I also get wrinkling at the apex, which is visible through fabric. Depending on how much I scooop and swoop and how many hooks I've fastened on the extender, this can vary. I don't know if this is too projected, or if there isnt't enough tension in the band to keep the cups taut.
The wire tends to sit on breast tissue on the bottom part, but when I try to adjust it, it ends up below my IMF. Not sure what's going on here.
The straps are thicker than what I would prefer, and the front of them has a bit of padding. There is no J hook. The back has 4 sets of hooks and eyes, but that´s still not enough for me to be comfortable without an extender.
I might size up to a 30dd in sports bras in the future. Read more 226 more words
This bra is a perfect mix of supportive and comfortable! It's band is tight and the look is great! The bra isn't super thick so it would be good in the summer. It does have shoulder padding though but that's a plus for me!
During my journey to find a bra that fits, I also decided to find a sports bra that fits. I decided to compare the top 3 companies for sports bras recommended on r/ABraThatFits: Panache, Freya, and Shock Absorber. My main goal was to find a sports bra suitable for running. For reference, I'm projected, FOB, center full, narrow roots, petite (4'11"), and normal bra size UK 28F.
I sized down to 28E, because 28F had too much space at the top of the cups. The wires were comfortable, and the band was true to size. The cups were a little thin, so nipples can show through if it's cold. Although it fit fine, I returned it, because I prefer the shape and quality of Panache sports bras more.
The color I chose seemed black on the stock picture but it is a dark blue. I don't like how close the the straps are located, it makes my shoulders look really wide. The band fit on the tightest hook only and there was quite some wrinkling, so not enough support for me.
I found the fit of this bra to be similarly poor as the 28E - Freya Active » Moulded Sports Bra (4892). With my wide-rooted, shallow boobs, I quadboobed, had armpit fat, and couldn't fill out the bottom of this bra. I think it would fit better for someone with full on bottom breasts. The gore is similarly too high and wide and squishes my breast tissue. The straps do not adjust to be as long as other bras might.
Here is yet another sports bra that works better for full on bottom breasts. I'm having the classic wide-rooted, shallow-breasted issue of not being able to fill out the bottom, quadboob on the top, and armpit fat sticking out of the sides of this bra. The gore is also too wide and high, which causes it to smash into my boobs, rather than resting in between them. I also tried it in 28F, which made the quadboob less apparent and the armpit fat less of an issue, but the inability to fill out the bottom was even worse.
Aside from the serious fit issues, I find the straps to be stiff and difficult to adjust. They might not even be long enough for other women. It seemed like the racerback hook they included would be useful, except that would make the straps way too short.
I'll have to try this bra in a DD to really see if it can work. It does give a pointy shape that I don't like, but that's acceptable if the support is good enough. The band does seem pretty firm... It's hard to fully judge with cups that are too large.
I'm not a fan of this bra. The band seems to run true to size, I'm a 26 and the band felt a size too big (if not more). Cups were too big but still managed to give me an AWFUL pointy shape. The gore is also too wide for me. It wouldn't work in any size.
Wires are wide for me on this. I've got some empty space on the sides, but then I somewhat quadboob out of the front/top. I fit the 28F a little better. The underwires sit on breast tissue where the gore is. I'm not a fan of the pointy shape either, it's only due to the seams of the bra.
Even with all the poor fitting issues the bra really does work. It definitely eliminates any bounce. I'm free to run as hard as I want without any pain!
The tightness of the band is okay, but the gore doesn't tack for me because the cups are too far apart at the bottom, so they rest on breast tissue. The wires are super wide so I have about an inch of empty fabric on the outsides of the cup. Bending the wires to curve with my ribcage helped it fit better. I don't fill out the top of the cup usually, though it's much worse on my smaller boob. When I'm retaining water, I fill out the cup pretty well on my larger side but still not very well on my smaller side. I would be able to fill the cups if I converted the straps into a racerback, but the wires are still an issue.
Would you say this is true to size or does it run big? I am also a 28E