Disclosed embodiments include an upper body shaper garment for women. The garment contours the breasts and other aspects of the chest area into a fashionable form by delivering distinct amount of compression force at select areas of the garment. In various embodiments, the shaper garment includes a support area covering the breasts and a shaping area including one or more compression zones for moving the support area to enhance the appearance of the wearer. The shaper garment may be knitted from one continuous piece of fabric with the compression areas knitted directly into the base layer. The shaper garment may also include one or more transition zones between the areas and/or zones of the garment to smoothly transition between different areas and/or zones.

An underwire for use in a brassiere, and the associated brassiere, the underwire including a generally arcuate base member having a first end, a central segment, and a second end, and a spiral boning member fixedly attached to the base member, where the spiral boning member has a greater flexibility than a flexibility of the base member.

A garment with a built-in stretch bralette comprises an outer garment and the built-in stretch bralette, wherein the built-in stretch bralette is attached to the outer garment using intermittently secured attachment means.

Disclosed embodiments include an upper body shaper garment for women. The garment contours the breasts and other aspects of the chest area into a fashionable form by delivering distinct amount of compression force at select areas of the garment. In various embodiments, the shaper garment includes a support area covering the breasts and a shaping area including one or more compression zones for moving the support area to enhance the appearance of the wearer. The shaper garment may be knitted from one continuous piece of fabric with the compression areas knitted directly into the base layer. The shaper garment may also include one or more transition zones between the areas and/or zones of the garment to smoothly transition between different areas and/or zones.

The present disclosure provides for an under-support, which includes curved end portions and a support portion extending between the curved end portion. The support portion includes a plurality of openings. The present disclosure further provides for the under-support embedded in a foam cup. When the disclosed under-support is embedded in a foam cup, the foam extends through the openings in the support portion.

A brassiere includes bra cups holding a wearer's breasts. A shaping foam layer is sandwiched between outer and inner layers of each bra cup and extends from a lower to an upper edge of each cup. A support shelf assembly spans across a lower portion of each bra cup and includes a support component located proximate the lower edge of the cups, a non-stretch stabilizer fabric layer spanning between both cups and along a full length of the support component, and a supportive foam layer spanning between both cups and along the support component. The inner, outer, shaping foam, stabilizer fabric, and supportive foam layers span across a center gore that connects the bra cups to form a front panel of the brassiere. The support shelf assembly is molded between the inner layer and the shaping foam layer and is an embedded, integral part of the front panel.

A brassiere according to one embodiment of the present invention is a clothing article having cup parts for covering the breasts, the clothing article having cup hollow parts each of which is provided along a lower edge of the cup part and has a curved shape, the lower edge portion necessitating a small tensile strength for expanding a space between a front center extremity and a side extremity of the curved shape against a retaining force of the lower edge portion of the curved shape; and expansion suppressing parts each of which extends from a front center end to a side end of the lower edge portion along a shape of the cup part in a lower part of the cup part, has a non-stretchable or poorly-stretchable characteristic, and suppresses expansion of the space between the front center extremity and the side extremity of the lower edge portion.

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 method of forming a textile element (10) for use as a structural support component in a garment is provided. The method includes providing a fabric strip (12) having a plush surface (16). A molten thermoplastic coating (14) is applied to the plush surface (16) of the fabric strip (12) so that the molten thermoplastic coating (14) penetrates the plush surface (16). The molten thermoplastic coating (14) is allowed to cool or cure and solidify so as to embed at least surface yarns of the plush surface (16) in the thermoplastic coating (14) and thereby form a composite structure at a juncture (J) between the thermoplastic coating (14) and the plush surface (16).

A garment adapted for wearing around a torso of a human body. The garment may include a first and second brassiere cups, a first and second side panel wings attached to the outermost edge of said cups to support the peripheral sides of the breast and armpits. An adjustable bridge system containing a mechanism that allows the wearer of a bra, swimsuit, or similar foundation garment to adjust the distance between the cups or breast coverings.