Edit: Update December 2016 - 3 months of owning this bra:
The band has gotten very stretched very quickly. It was never all that supportive so I only wore it one to two times a week for the duration of a workout (not the whole day or anything) and still, the band unstretched is now 26", and it stretches to a ridiculous 33.5". I've only hand washed and laid flat to dry so I'm really disappointed overall with the quality of this bra. The band is just too loose to even wear for exercise anymore, and I have other bras that are more comfortable for lounging. ... I hope others have had better experiences, but I wouldn't buy another unwired Panache Sport and wouldn't recommend one to anyone in my size range.
---------------------------------
Well - I read reviews of this bra so I knew about the bottom of the cup folding issue. For me so far it's not uncomfortable and doesn't seem to show under tops but I do worry about the cup collapsing more and the straps having to compensate and take more weight. Mostly I feel great working out in this bra because I've been wearing badly stretched out sports bras with too little room in the cups for years, basically forever. I get migraines from nerve trigger points on my shoulders and neck - so it's something I'm really aware of - I just didn't know there were bras with less painful straps! Which makes me wonder... I always thought my nerve problems were related to repeated shoulder dislocations as a swimmer in high school and college - but now I'm wondering if others with large busts have this issue? I dont have a particularly small frame and didn't feel I suffered from the back issues smaller boned busty women frequently have, but perhaps my breasts have been more physically challenging for my body to lug around that I realized!
Anyway, this bra is still a tad too small for me, I've got some quadding at the top of the cups and the cup (even the fold area) is fully filled - I think the bottom of the cup fold is a construction or design issue, because there are two layers of fabric, I'm fully filling the internal coral shaped cup part but somehow on the outside it looks like there's empty space.
I like this encapsulation design, though for me there is still some compression since I'm being pushed up out of the bra. Panache sport cups seem giant and I didn't want to be swimming around in a sports bra, but if I bought this again I'd go with the 30H, which I believe is the largest size they make in this style. Probably because the weight of breasts that large can't be adequately supported by the design, hence the bottom of the boob fold.
One note about measurements - I think the other reviewer may have had a typo in her bust perimeter measurement, On a full inhale my perimeter in this bra was 40" and I believe the initial measurements say 48. Since the rest of our measurements line up quite well, I don't believe this bra could physically be stretched to an overbust perimeter of much more than 40", the material is not elastic and I fill the cups completely with some overflow, I suspect 38 was the actual overbust measurement. So beware if you have a >40 overbust measurement and thought this might fit due to the other set of measurements.
This bra does feel supportive, but in this size range I must agree with the other reviewers and say it doesn't reduce bounce or jiggling the way a good compression bra would. I never had luck running in my wired panache sport either though, for the record, though it probably wasn't properly fitted either.
I hula hooped rather aerobically in this bra for a half hour yesterday and it felt great - plenty of stability and took so much weight I'm used to off my shoulders. Yoga today was also great wearing this bra. I've jumped around some and expect it won't do so well on the treadmill - it doesn't stand up to that kind of repeated vertical motion. For that, in this size range, I'm thinking I'll have to go to a compression style bra... or a couple layered together.
Read more
640 more words
grey/coral colorway
Updated on Dec 12, 2016 Flag this
Almost all my retro style nonwired bras fold at the bottom, it does not cause strain on the straps at all :-) I'm now more like 37-38" bust but was previously fuller busted, bigger than you are currently (probably around 41-42" over) so I'm pretty confident this should not be a problem for you. An excessively loose band or insufficient coverage/containment of the upper breast could be a concern for strap pulling though.