“Your wireless bra isn’t a bra. It’s a bralette. That’s why it never lifts.”

“That’s not a bra,” Earl said. “That’s a bralette.”

I was standing in our bedroom in the third wireless bra I’d bought that month. This one promised lift and shape. It cost more than the other two put together.

I’d asked him one simple question: does this look supportive?

He picked the other two up off the bed, pinched the bottom edge of each one and turned them over.

“Where’s the shelf?” he said. “And where are the cups?”

I had no idea what he meant.

But I knew what I was missing. I’d bought softness. What I wanted was softness that still held me up.

Understanding what he meant took one conversation. Getting it right in our own bra took eighteen months and 43 samples.

Why I kept buying them.

For 28 years, I thought good lift meant underwire.

Then came a sixteen-hour journey home. The wire dug in so badly that I ripped my bra off before my coat.

Red, itchy tracks under my bust. Ribs that felt bruised.

Every time I leaned over, the wire dug in. I spent whole days counting the hours until I could take it off.

Taking it off wasn’t comfort. It was relief.

So I tried wireless bras...

The digging stopped. But new problems came up.

By lunch, the band under my boobs had rolled up and gone sweaty, and everything had squished down and out to the side.

By evening, my shoulders were killing me. The band couldn’t hold the weight, so the straps did.

I’d tried practically every bra on the market. I tried a fitting. A calculator. Another size. None of it worked.

What Earl saw that I’d missed.

Earl trained at Central Saint Martins and has spent over twenty years designing clothes, including developing bras for brands selling in Taiwan.

I looked at how a bra fitted under my clothes, but he turned it inside out.

Those details won’t tell you everything about fit. But they’re easy to overlook when the first thing you notice is how soft the fabric feels.

I certainly had.

Taking out the wire leaves a job to do.

A wire helps the cups hold their shape beneath and around each breast. It works with the rest of the bra to support you.

Without it, the bra needs another way to provide that structure.

That was what Earl meant by the “shelf.”

So we took apart more than 30 wireless bras on our kitchen table, looking at what they used instead.

In the soft ones I’d been buying, I started to see what Earl meant.

Some had shaped cups but little structure underneath. Others had support underneath, but the cups were just stretchy fabric.

Cups, no shelfShaped cups, nothing firm underneath

Shelf, no cupsA thin strip, cups are just stretch fabric

I wanted both, and I still wanted it to feel soft.

Could we make the support wider and softer, without losing the shape?

Think of a heavy shopping bag. A thin handle presses into your fingers. A wider one spreads the weight.

That was the idea behind our wide, flexible gel panel beneath the cups.

But getting support underneath was only the beginning.

One sample felt right. Then I looked in the mirror.

An early sample felt supportive without the wire pressing in.

I was thrilled.

Then I turned sideways. Still flatter than I wanted. From the front, everything seemed to spread outward.

Earl knew the cups and sides needed more work. I was beginning to understand why.

Feeling held up and liking your shape aren’t quite the same thing.

The rest of those eighteen months went into getting the combination right:

• Separate, shaped cups, fuller at the bottom, to add a gentle boost and a rounded shape.
• Support up the sides, helping each breast stay within its cup.
• A raised centre between the cups, giving the soft fabric more structure.
• Adjustable straps, wide enough to feel comfortable without looking like a sports bra.

The inserts come out when you want less padding. The straps can cross at the back if yours tend to slip.

Small details. Quite a lot of samples.

By sample 43, I liked what I saw.

We had the support, the shape and the fit I’d wanted.

And it still felt like a soft bra.

No metal wire. No clasp pressing into my back. Just soft stretch fabric, smooth edges and an underband designed to stay flat.

When I came out of the bedroom in it, Earl looked up and said one word:

We called it the Soft Essentials True Support Bra.

Real women, real days in it. Filmed at home, no studio.

Will it lift you?

Yes. That’s exactly what it was built to do.

1. The wide gel panel holds each breast up from underneath.
2. The side support stops it spreading.
3. The teardrop cups, fuller at the bottom, push it up and forward.

It’s the job a wire does, without the wire.

But the morning was never the real test. That was when I’d liked all the other soft bras, too.

You need to see how it feels on your body, through your day.

Put on your usual T-shirt and try this check:

• MorningDo you like your shape?
• LunchtimeIs everything still where you put it, or lower and flatter?
• EveningHave you had to reach in and rearrange anything?

Then wash it and wear it again.

Find your size.

Our bra comes in just two sizes. Yes, you heard that right.

You might think two sizes can’t possibly fit you properly. That’s what I thought too.

But the four-way stretch fabric adapts to your shape, so each size fits a range of bodies instead of one exact number.

That’s on purpose. We want our bra to move with you, not against you, instead of forcing you into one exact fit.

Between sizes? Size up. If your measurements point to different sizes, email me at ellen@softessentials.se and I’ll help.

Launch offer · 30% off

Try one for 489 kr instead of 699 kr.

The True Support Bra is new, and I know buying a bra you can’t try on first feels like a risk. So we’d rather more women feel the difference for themselves than leave it at full price while you wonder.

Your first order through this page is 30% off until 23:59 on Sunday, 1 November.

Ends in 0days 00hrs 00min 00sec

True Support BraBlack · Wireless · Pulls on, no hooks

1. Your size

One Size66–80 cm under bust

Plus Size80–95 cm under bust

2. How many?

1 braTry it699 kr489 kr

Most popular2 brasOne to wear, one in the wash1 398 kr899 kr

3 brasBest value, free shipping2 097 kr1 199 kr

Choose my True Support Bra →

90-day money-back guarantee on every option. Orders outside this offer have our standard 14-day returns.

90 daysto decide

Gothenburgships from Sweden

In daysnot weeks

A few practical questions.

P.S. Earl still picks up wireless bras in shops and pinches the band. I’ve stopped apologising to the shop assistants. At least now I know what he’s looking for. — Ellen