This post is a review of a bra. The content contains non-sexual descriptions of breasts, and the links contain catalogue-style photos of bras being worn by models.
Three years after my very first bra-induced back pain incident rendered every sports bra I was professionally fitted with useless, I've finally found a sports bra that provides full support and doesn't hurt at all: the Knix Catalyst!
It holds my E-cup breasts firmly in place with no bouncing whatsoever, and it simply doesn't hurt my back or my ribs or anything. Despite my heavy breasts and protruding ribcage, it keeps my breasts lifted up high enough that they don't rest on my ribcage. Even if I have it on a too-loose setting (there are five rows of hooks rather than the usual three, so there's a lot of range available!), it gaps in the back and still stays snug and supportive under the underbust, unlike all too many bras that gap under the underbust (thereby making my breasts fall straight down with no support whatsoever) while still applying pressure (and, often, pain!) on my back.
I suspect the design feature that makes it painless is that all of the band is equally stretchy. There isn't an elastic at the bottom that's stiffer than the rest of the band, there are none of these things (I don't know what they're called) that are somehow stiffer than the rest of the band and consequently exert pressure in that part of my ribs. It's all perfectly even, thereby distributing the pressure over as much area as possible.
And, as an added bonus, it's a gorgeous shade of purple! (And is available in a bunch of other colours as well!)
A few things to know about buying from Knix:
- Knix products are not available at any other store. Therefore, this bra is likely not in your friendly local bra fitter's repertoire.
- Knix has its own sizing system that is completely unlike any other sizing system I have ever encountered. I am a 36E (in Simone Perele, Fantasie, Freya and Panache), and the Knix size chart put me at at size 7. However, the cups in the size 7 were too small, and I had to exchange it for a size 7+. Knix offers virtual fittings (which I haven't tried), and has stores in a few North American cities (including Toronto, but I haven't visited it).
- Knix offers a 30 days to wash and wear return policy, so you can try on bras, sweat in them, wash them, etc. and return them if they don't work for you. As the Knix website repeatedly states, the bras do start out rather snug, but they loosen with washing and wearing. But even when it was snug, it didn't induce any back pain.
- The Knix website led me to believe that I'd be required or at least pressured to go through a virtual fitting in order to return my too-small bra, but in reality it was an automated system that produced a return mailing label instantly without any human intervention.
Overall, if you think any of Knix's products might meet your needs, I recommend trying them. The process is risk-free, the Catalyst certainly lived up to the hype, and I am definitely going to be trying a few other Knix products in the future.
If anyone from Knix is reading this, I'd love to see more bras that accommodate larger cups (quite a few of the styles seem to top out at the equivalent of a DD cup), and I'd also love to see a sleep bra made of a softer, more t-shirt-like material than the Catalyst is.
2 comments:
Thanks for this, it's super helpful! Now that I don't live near a store where I can get a fitting, I will need this when my current sports bra gives out. It sounds much better than what I have now -- which is comfortable, but has low support.
Damn, I'm going to try them!!! Thank you so much for this review.
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