A garment, such as a bra, may include a frame, support structure, casing and/or housing. The frame may be adapted to fit underneath a wearer's breasts and partially wrap around her torso. The support structure be coupled to the frame and may include a volumetric cup positioned thereon, which may be a cantilever projection from the frame adapted so that a portion of a wearer's breasts may be inserted therein. The frame and/or support structure may be encased in a casing. Casing may increase the size of volumetric cup to cover a larger portion of the wearer's breast. Casing may also provide padding or other mechanisms to increase the comfort of wearing the frame, support structure, and/or casing for the wearer. The casings (one for each side of the wearer) may be housed in a housing that wraps around the wearer's torso thereby enabling the wearer to wear the garment.

A chest wall adapter apparatus for supporting a user's breasts includes a right section and a left section, wherein the right section and the left section are contiguous on a front side of the apparatus. The apparatus also includes an inwardly extending convex portion located between the right section and the left section, wherein the inwardly extending convex portion is configured to lie against the chest wall of the user between the breasts; a horizontally extending and upwardly angled right shelf configured to extend along the right section and follow a contour along an underside of a right breast of the user; and a horizontally extending and upwardly angled left shelf configured to extend along the left section and follow a contour along an underside of the left breast of the user.

A soft brassiere garment with flexible support structure having a fabric wing on each side of the garment, another piece of fabric on each side of the garment at least partially comprised by a bra cup allowing for the projection of the breast, with one edge of each cup attached to a wing, and with a seam formed under each cup and extending along an edge. A piece of elastic applied within each seam where the fabric of each wing meets the fabric of each cup and at least one additional piece of elastic attached to the bottom of the garment, wherein the elastic pieces are attached in such a way that the stretch ratio between different points on the garment is modified to influence the amount of projection afforded by different pieces of the garment.

This application relates to an improved brassiere cup structure, which includes a brassiere cup body, the brassiere cup body includes an outer surface layer and an inner surface layer, the brassiere cup body at least includes a breast supporting part and a lower cling part; at a junction of the breast supporting part and the lower cling part, at least a part of the outer surface layer forms a hollow window area, and the inner surface layer covers the window area, so that a thin and light heat dissipation structure is formed at the window area, at the same time has the characteristics of good air permeability, in addition, the window area allows the breast supporting part and the lower cling part to move relative to each other, so that when the breast is displaced, the shape can be changed adaptively, thereby improving the comfort of the wearer.

This invention relates to a breast support garment for use in active environments, where the wearer of such garment is engaged in an activity that results in accelerating movements. In some preferred embodiments, these garments may be athletic or sports bras that redirect momentum related to a wearer's accelerating movements, for example, during exercise.

An underwire for a brassiere comprises an elongate, substantially u-shaped body having a chest-engaging portion and a breast-engaging portion. The underwire is constructed from a unitary piece of plastic material. The chest-engaging portion and the breast-engaging portion are connected together along their lengths in a dogleg-shaped configuration, with, in an embodiment, an angle of between 110 and 140 with respect to each other. The breast-engaging portion has a shorter length dimension than the chest-engaging portion and thereby leaves a substantially flat chest-engaging portion at each end of the elongate body. In embodiments, these flat ends of the chest-engaging portion are rounded or thinned compared to the remainder of the chest-engaging portion. The configuration provides good support to the wearer's breast, increases comfort, and is less likely to injure than other configurations.

A garment incorporates shape memory alloy, either in shape memory or super-elastic states, an accelerometer, a power source, a microprocessor, and an algorithm implemented by the microprocessor to learn and adapt to the displacement pattern of the wearer's body during a physical activity. The shape memory alloy is in the form of SMA or super-elastic wires integrated into portions of the garment, whereby activating the wire(s) shortens the corresponding wire to produce a compressive force on the wearer's body within the garment. The system thereby provides real-time, active suspension to control breast displacement, jiggle or bounce. The system provides real-time feedback to a memory or super-elastic material integrated into the garment to provide adaptive force and displacement to counteract the push-off and landing forces at each footfall of the moving wearer affecting displacement of the body.

A chest wall adapter apparatus for supporting a user's breasts includes a right section and a left section, wherein the right section and the left section are contiguous on a front side of the apparatus. The apparatus also includes an inwardly extending convex portion located between the right section and the left section, wherein the inwardly extending convex portion is configured to lie against the chest wall of the user between the breasts; a horizontally extending and upwardly angled right shelf configured to extend along the right section and follow a contour along an underside of a right breast of the user; and a horizontally extending and upwardly angled left shelf configured to extend along the left section and follow a contour along an underside of the left breast of the user.

An underwire for use in a brassiere, as well as the associated brassiere, including a generally arcuate base member having a length, a central portion, and opposed first and second end portions, and at least one support member having a length shorter than the length of the base member, the support member fixedly attached to the base member along the central portion of the base member and spaced from the opposed first and second end portions, where the opposed first and second end portions of the base member have a greater flexibility than a flexibility of the central portion of the base member having the at least one support member fixedly attached thereto.

A garment, such as a bra, may include a frame, support structure, casing and/or housing. The frame may be adapted to fit underneath a wearer's breasts and partially wrap around her torso. The support structure be coupled to the frame and may include a volumetric cup positioned thereon, which may be a cantilever projection from the frame adapted so that a portion of a wearer's breasts may be inserted therein. The frame and/or support structure may be encased in a casing. Casing may increase the size of volumetric cup to cover a larger portion of the wearer's breast. Casing may also provide padding or other mechanisms to increase the comfort of wearing the frame, support structure, and/or casing for the wearer. The casings (one for each side of the wearer) may be housed in a housing that wraps around the wearer's torso thereby enabling the wearer to wear the garment.