Every body is different, which makes finding the right clothing or gear a challenge to start with. Add to the fact that a lot of existing clothing is designed for people in their assigned gender. There are great companies that are now designing clothes for trans, genderfluid, and non-binary individuals which is super helpful, but I have struggled finding the perfect sports bra. At the time of writing this, I still have small boobs that may develop more, which may help, but I’ll share the challenges I’ve encountered so far. I will as well that I’ve only tried a fairly limited number of sports bras so far, and I will update this post if I ever have any good insights to add.
Size challenges
I’ll start off by saying once again that every body is different, so my experience will by no means be universal for AMAB individuals undergoing hormone therapy. With that said, I have a very broad chest with small breasts set very wide apart. Sizing guidance might suggest I should wear a size 36B, but because of my chest shape I found that a 38A fits more comfortably. This may be helpful for narrowing down which bras may fit, not many are designed with this kind of size and chest shape in mind.
The challenge of sizing gets even more difficult when sizing is broken down into the S/M/L/XL/etc. sizing. Bras in this style may fit on me alright, but they usually either provide only light support or they will have more compression than I desire. On the support side, they are usually designed to fit a few cup sizes, so the support for smaller breasts will be on the lighter end. If they provide me more solid support, they typically have more compression, which makes me look more flat chested (which can cause dysphoria some days).
At least one study that I could find suggests that these chest shape differences may be common between AMAB and AFAB bodies (see here, although the sample study is small).
Bra Cup Challenges
The three styles for sports bra cups that I’ve come across are to have molded cups, removable foam inserts, or to have minimal/no cups. Each comes with its own set of challenges.
Molded Cups
With molded cups, the biggest challenge I’ve had is the size and placement of the cups. Frequently that smallest that any will come will be in a B cup size, which I do not fill out. This means that these do not prevent the painful bounce of higher impact activities. Furthermore, the cups are usually placed much closer together than where my breasts actually are. This just isn’t comfortable and doesn’t work at all. So if you are going to try anything with molded cups and have a shape similar to my own, I recommend not ordering online unless you can exchange them for something else. On the plus side, the molded cups don’t hide my breasts (they actually make them look bigger), which is very satisfying. I have found one bra, the Brooks Dare Strappy Bra (review here), with molded cups that works for me better, as it is actually designed for 38A/B and has a bit wider set (although still a bit narrow for me).
Here is an example of how the sizing and cup placement just doesn’t work out a lot of the time. I tried the Brooks Dare Racerback Bra in a 38B thinking that maybe even if it was a bit loose to begin with, maybe it would fit later. That was not the case:
This bra probably works for a lot of other bodies but definitely not for people shaped like me. This is probably a common issue with a lot of bras with molded cups, which is why I haven’t taken too many shots on this style yet.
Removable Inserts
The bras with inserts are nice because they are more adjustable in terms of placements of the cups. These provide some nice padding for comfort while running and can actually be placed where my breasts are (unlike the molded cups which are fixed). I haven’t tried a large number yet, so I wouldn’t be surprised if there are some where the pockets can’t be set as far apart, but this hasn’t been issue for me yet. The downside here is that these (or at least the ones I’ve tried) do have a compression effect, which can make me look more flat chested. Running with a shirt on isn’t an issue, but with any kind of looser fitting t-shirt can result in some dysphoria (this is the case with a lot of race unisex shirts). The cups do provide a little shape, but it’s fairly small. Right now I use the TomboyX Adaptable Soft Sports Bra (review here), which can also accommodate breast inserts, as well as the Brooks Drive Three Pocket Bra (review coming soon!).
Minimal Cups
The last type of bra, which I will be honest and haven’t tried yet, are the bras with minimal/no cups. My concern is that they would either provide too little support, or that they would be super compressive giving me a flat chest look. I imagine I will buy something in the compression style soon, primarily for hot and steep runs where I probably won’t be wearing a shirt over the top anyways. I’ll update this section with observations when I have some feedback here!
Other Challenges
I first came out and started expressing my femme identity during the COVID-19 pandemic. As such, I couldn’t actually try anything on in stores. This left a lot of guess work to picking out sports bras. I’ve got lucky and have only had one bad miss so far (see the Brooks Dare Racerback pics above). Even as things are opening back up, I have felt too self-conscious to go into any stores to try some on. I live in Everett, which isn’t terrible, but I don’t always feel completely comfortable expressing myself. I feel more comfortable when I drive down to Seattle, but that can be a pain for other reasons (my spouse Katie always gives me a hard time about my anxiety trying to find parking). This inability to try things on has greatly complicated finding a great sports bra, and would be a challenge for a lot of trans, genderfluid, and non-binary even if there weren’t a pandemic for these social reasons.
Summary
In summary, finding a great sports bra is hard! This is true for a lot of women, but especially so when your body isn’t what most companies are designing for. I don’t know what the fashion and clothing world is like, but I do know aerospace designs for individuals between the 5th and 95th percentiles for size, so I would expect companies designing for broader chested women with small breasts to be a niche unfortunately. I’ve reached out to one company and already had a positive reaction, so hopefully this is something that can be improved on going forward.