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A t-shirt bra is a perfect basic underwear piece that no underwear drawer should be without and one of the most popular bra types. But what exactly is a t-shirt bra? And is there a difference between a contour bra, a molded cup bra and a t-shirt bra? Below, we shed some light on the subject.

BRA WITH MOLDED CUPS

In a bra with molded cups, the cups are smooth and without seams, each cup is made of a single piece of fabric. The shape is created by molding the fabric under heat over a metal breast form, this allows the material of the cups to conform to the shape of the breast even though the cups have no seams. There are two molds for each cup size - one for the left breast and one for the right breast. The molded fabric retains its new shape and does not revert to its original state.

"A molded shell is made from a single piece and has no seams".

Molded shells usually come with a thin padding a few millimeters thick, but there are also models without any padding at all, as well as with or without lining. 


The advantage of molded cups is that they give the bust a round shape. However, a molded shell has certain limitations in that it is not possible to make them in very large sizes because the fabric cannot be molded to any shape.

T-SHIRT BRA

A t-shirt bra is a bra with smooth, seamless cups. The name originally comes from the fact that it was designed to be worn under a white t-shirt without the seams of the cups or structures showing. It is quite simply the perfect bra to wear under tight fitting, thin clothing. Below is Keep Fresh, our t-shirt bra with non-padded molded cups.

"A t-shirt bra has smooth, molded cups with or without padding".


T-shirt bras are available with or without underwire, and the cups can be finished quite differently. They range from unlined to fully padded cups or cups with cushions, such as push-up models. A t-shirt bra can cover the cleavage or have lower cut cups. The common denominator for all t-shirt bras is that the cups are molded.

CONTOUR BRA

In recent years, contour bras have become more common, or rather, you hear the term more often. A contour bra is nothing new in itself, it has been around for many years. A contour bra has fully padded cups that are almost always molded (sometimes discreet, flat seams can occur to improve support) and often an underwire. When you wear a contour bra, it shapes your bust, not the other way around.


"A contour bra always has fully padded cups".


It's not uncommon for women with larger cup sizes to avoid Contour bras, believing that the padding will increase the circumference and cause the bust to appear larger. However, a Contour bra is cut to give the bust a rounded shape without bulking. The padding is usually only 2-3 mm thick.

"A contour bra has a defined cup shape even when the bra is not worn"


Another advantage of a contour bra is that it ensures that the breasts look perfectly symmetrical, as the molded, padded cups already have their firm shape, so it is not noticeable if the smaller breast does not completely fill the cup. If you want a perfect round shape, the Contour bra is an excellent alternative.


A good example of a contour bra are bras made of spacer material, such as our popular novelty, the Confident
Underwire bra, which has become a real bestseller.

IS A T-SHIRT BRA ALWAYS A CONTOUR BRA AND VICE VERSA?

The difference between a contour bra and a t-shirt bra is that the contour bra always has a fully padded shell and the shell keeps the shape even when you are not wearing the bra, while a t-shirt bra can be unlined and non-padded and therefore does not define the breast shape in the same way. All t-shirt and (almost all) contour bras are seamless and have molded cups. But not all bras with molded cups are t-shirt or contour bras, as a molded bra may be covered with, for example, lace, embroidery, or fabric with seams.


So in summary, a contour bra is a type of t-shirt bra, but not every t-shirt bra is always a contour bra.