Due to the limits of current sizing and fitting methods, over 80 percent of women are wearing the wrong size bra.
For their Bra Project, sisters Xuxu and Aida Amoozegar-Montero are researching how technology can be used to design comfortable custom-made bras.
Sisters Xuxu and Aida Amoozegar-Montero Photo: supplied
Xuxu, an industrial designer, was in class one day when she came up with the idea of using 3D scans for bespoke bra design.
''It kind of just came to me 'wouldn't it be cool if we could personalise our bra fits? Wouldn't be cool if we could 3D-scan and use all this cool technology we've learned in class for bras?' she tells Jesse Mulligan.
Xuxu's idea first sparked "a little research project" that led into her design PhD, her sister Aida's sociology PhD and a friend's Masters thesis – and eventually became the Bra Project.
It's usually not the customers' own fault that they're walking around in bras that are the wrong size, Xuxu says.
The traditional – "concrete" – bra sizing method, which is based on cup size and chest circumference, hasn't changed for hundreds of years, she says, and it isn't obvious to customers that each underwear brand has its own sizing system.
Finding a bra that's well-fitted and comfortable is especially problematic for women who've had breast reconstruction surgery, she says.
"The new breasts that you have after surgery, they don't look, feel or behave like your breasts prior to surgery."
In the last couple of years, more comfortable bra styles – without underwires or moulded cups – have become popular among people working from home during Covid, Xuxu says.
"People started to realise 'oh wait, I don't need to wear these uncomfy bras… I can wear what I want to. And the companies have started to take notice."
To design and create a custom-fitted bra, the Bra Project will gather multiple measurements from a woman and also ask what she wants out of a bra, she says.
Currently, they are developing the first prototype.
