Wacoal’s Latest Collection Says Breast Shape Matters
Wacoal is taking a second look at what it means to be inclusive in the intimates industry.
Last week, Wacoal revealed its latest collection, Shape Revelation, a “first-of-its-kind” variety of bras and shapewear catering toward women with larger chests. Shape Revelation garment incorporate particular features created to address specific needs of three normal but less common breast shapes, including pendulous, uneven and shallow-top, along with hourglass and straight body shapes, according to the intimates maker.
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“At Wacoal, we are stripping back what inclusive means and getting to its core. To be inclusive, you need to honor differences,” said Miryha Fantegrossi, senior vice president of merchandising and design at Wacoal. “Bras designed in easy stretchy fabrics that can cover everybody don’t support anybody properly. All aspects of a bra must work in harmony with a woman’s breast shape to truly enhance how she looks and feels. This requires a deep knowledge of construction, pattern-making and the female form. Our NYC-based design team has those skills and has put them to the test in creating the Shape Revelation collection.”
Working toward creating a more diverse offering, the Shape Revelation collection features three bras and five shapewear pieces. Notable pieces include the Uneven Underwire Bra which has adjustable front straps, allowing women to “align [their] breast tissue as needed for even support” and the Straight Hi-Waist Thigh Shaper and Shaping Brief, designed to be “slimmer at the hips” with more room at the waist “to fit a straighter frame.”
Shape Revelation is also “making it easier” for customers to make educated bra decisions on their own, according to Fantegrossi.
“We have consistently designed bras with individual breast shapes in mind, but we relied on our trained Fit Experts to make the connection between style and consumer,” Fantegrossi added. “With the launch of Shape Revelation, we have simplified product merchandising by putting the breast shape information forward. We’ve also created self-service navigation in-store and online and provided product and breast shape educational information directly on the product hang tags and product page. The key to demystifying bra shopping is giving women the tools to make good decisions.”
The Shape Revelation collection retails for $64-$76 with shapewear sizes ranging from S-2XL and bra sizes ranging from 32C-42H. It’s available now through Wacoal’s website as well as at The Short Hills Mall in New Jersey and Pennsylvania’s King of Prussia shopping mall.
In 2021, the company launched MyBraFit, an AI-powered fit app developed to quickly generate a shopper’s bra size without the use of measuring tape, math calculations, or an input of the wearer’s current bra size. The patent-pending tech also delivers personalized recommendations of the brand’s products, based on the consumer’s breast size and shape.
“One of the greatest challenges we faced while creating MyBraFit was updating our measurement charts because we learned that the charts were misaligned and essentially had to be rewritten to give a more accurate size recommendation,” said Fantegrossi. “Most bra measurement charts were established in the 1930s and only went to size 38D. Over time, increments were added to expand size charts to include a broader range of sizes. So, with the launch of MyBraFit, we were able to improve our size accuracy by 300 percent.”
