When I think of wearing bras I think of being poked in the ribs by underwiring through worn-out bras. Or having the fabric around the back and sides being itchy. Or being taken to an awkward bra-fitting appointment at a department store as a young teenager when they first started growing. Any of these sounding familiar?
The days of a visibly braless woman being used for men to ogle at – think Rachel Green from ‘Friends’ or Penny from ‘The Big Bang Theory’, are becoming less frequent and in its place are women ditching bras in favour of going ‘au naturel’ for their own personal preferences.
Wearing a bra less regularly has proven scientific advantages. Researchers have long since established a link between the extent of wearing a bra and breast cancer. The longer a woman wears a bra or the tighter (or ill-fitting) the bra is the risk rises (brasandbreastcancer.org). Women who wear a bra 12 hours a day but not to bed have, statistically, a 1 in 7 chance of developing breast cancer, and this figure drops to 1 in 152 chance of developing breast cancer for those who wear a bra for less than 12 hours a day (High Frequency Food by Lee Bracker).
It’s ridiculous that statistics like this aren’t common knowledge and that the extent of becoming more likely to develop breast cancer could be reduced with such a simple solution of wearing a bra less!!
Searching ‘Why I don’t wear a bra’ on YouTube brings up an abundance of women discussing their reasons for ditching their bra citing reasons such as comfort, lack of benefits in wearing one, increasing self-confidence or simply because they don’t want to. This trend isn’t limited to those with smaller breasts either, as the women in these videos have a huge range of breast sizes amongst them. A 15 year long French study also found that breaking up with your bra led to increased levels of collagen production, strengthened breast tissues, firmer breasts (from Professor Jean-Denis Rouillon, 2013).
On a much larger scale, bra’s are also harmful to the environment, as they are often made with non-biodegradable materials, meaning that they end up staying on landfill sites for a very long time, contributing to the 92 million tonnes of waste produced by clothing manufacturing annually. However, companies are realising the environmental issues with bras and, over the last few years, many businesses and lingerie product lines have been creating bras that are more eco-friendly and sustainably produced. One example of this is The Very Good Bra company. Launched in 2018, the Australian-based company has created the world’s first zero-waste bra. By not using polyester thread, nylon labels, synthetic elastic or elasthane, these bras are completely waste and toxin free as well as the delivery process using the carbon-neutral courier service Sendle and the packaging being made from a recyclable material.
Of course this trend brings bad news for lingerie companies. Whilst popular lingerie companies such as ‘Boux Avenue’, ‘Victoria’s Secret’ and ‘Bluebella’ have pages on their websites that cover how an individual can correctly measure themselves and ensure their bras fit correctly, none of them seem to be catering to this increasingly popular trend of bra freedom and pro-environmental products. As everyday bras are the first styles women are ditching in favour of going bra free, lingerie companies could develop a larger range of nipple covers including different styles, designs and skin colours, for those individuals who are embracing going bra-free but are still conscious of visible nipples. Companies could also shift their portfolio to focus even more on bras that are made from recyclable materials that value comfort over style – bras with no underwiring, different materials and that come with reminders in the label reminding the wearer to ideally only wear when necessary e.g. if required at work, supported by correlating breast cancer and bra findings.
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