Promoting Adolescent Health and Confidence: Novel Seamless Sports Bra Design for Comfort, Biomechanical Support, and Satisfaction

Abstract

The lack of well-fitting and supportive sports bras is a significant public health barrier, hindering adolescent girls from engaging in physical activity and negatively impacting their physical and mental health. This study aims to optimize sports bra design through seamless construction to improve aesthetics, comfort, support, and user satisfaction. A comparative analysis between proposed seamless designs and conventional sports bras evaluated anthropometric fit, biomechanical pressure distribution, and subjective user feedback. The proposed seamless design outperformed the conventional bras in both objective and subjective measures. It received high subjective ratings for support and satisfaction and provided favourable breast shaping. All measured pressures were within a comfortable threshold (<0.96 kPa), and arm movement significantly influenced breast morphology, underscoring the need for dynamic design considerations. The customized seamless knitted design provided smooth aesthetic, adaptive fit, and superior comfort while maintaining robust support, yielding high satisfaction among adolescent users. Bra D2 received the highest satisfaction rating, whereas D3 was the most preferred overall and provided the most favourable balance of comfort, support, coverage, and cushioning. Pearson’s correlation analysis revealed significant associations between specific breast anthropometric parameters (CIBP-OBP, CSNP-SP, HRBP-LBP, HRMSP-LMSP, VFNP-BP) and contact pressure distribution, providing a scientific basis for future pattern engineering. These findings demonstrate that ergonomically optimized seamless sports bras can mitigate the biomechanical barrier to adolescent sports participation.