KALYX Sports Bra Review - I.B.T.C. Approved!

As ya'll know, I like to talk about boobs, or rather my lack of them. Remember when I posted about my boob loss situation the other day? Well ya'll were more than kind with your words of encouragement and support. (Support for what? There's nothing there!!!) But hiding amongst all the comments SJS El Capitan (whose Blogger Profile link doesn't work but THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!) recommended I try KALYX sports bra's. Ever the seeker of boobage support, I headed over to their website and fell instantly in love with their product! If you haven't already clicked their website link you should, they have sports bra's for all types of athlete's and sports. I perused the site and then clicked the little contact box... Why? Because I wanted to know if they ran true to size of course! I have tried numerous sports bra's and sometimes "Small" or "XS" really aren't so small after all. So I pleaded my case in the most humorous fashion possible and hit send...

Not even a few minutes later I received a reply from their customer care department and so began my education on sports bras and women athlete's boobs. Did you know that most women athlete's are a size 33B? Me either! According to Ashley, the KALYX rep I worked with, "Lots of athletes seem to fall into the 33 B size, their back muscles tend to be more developed and it makes them slightly broader across the rib cage, and, their low body fat makes them a bit flatter than they would be if they weren't in such killer shape. It makes it a bit of a challenge to find a great fitting bra because they are right between sizes."

That kinda sounds like me, I'm in between Flat-Chestville and a training bra. She continues, "It's a very common size among the trainers and athletes who have participated in our beta testing. It's a bummer for most girls, because so few manufacturers offer bras in the 32B, C, D category. Most company's think the "average" woman in America wears a 34B, but, it's not really true...that's the size women have to buy because that's what people make. We do have some XS and some of our S sizes run small....we fit down to a 30A/B." I'm bound to fit somewhere amidst these sizes... can someone say SOLD!!!

At her recommendation I would try the Uplift MAX & Kickstart bras for battle testing. As we continued to talk at length about the products, she introduced me to the bio of the company's founder, Kimberly Cayce;

"A former NCAA-ALL American and All-ACC Team Member at Duke University, KALYX founder Kimberly Cayce competed on tours around the world as a professional golfer for 5 years. Throughout her athletic career, Cayce became increasingly frustrated by the lack of attractive, comfortable and supportive sports bras in the marketplace.

...Cayce spent 3+ years researching breast bio-mechanics, studying the latest innovations in intimate apparel manufacturing, and, working closely with a team of textile developers in order to better understand emerging trends in nanotechnology and environmentally-friendly fabrics."

So not only is the founder a former athlete herself but she totally gets it! When I received the bra's I was so excited to test them out, the fabric is sooo soft and really lightweight. We're talking as soft as my Zensah sleeves. The Uplift MAX was a no go as the small was not quite small enough but the Kickstart was perfect! I tested it out the following morning on my 9 mile pace workout and L-O-V-E'd it! I def got sweaty but it had wicked away the sweat effortlessly and the fit was perfect and didn't leave me chaffed at all. I tested it out again over the weekend and again had no complaints. I've washed it a few times with absolutely no bleeding of the material or shrinking. My one and only wish is that the straps were adjustable so I could make them just a wee bit shorter but over all I'm absolutely in love with this bra!

I bet you want to see it don't you? Well mark this day down in history as the one and only time I will ever ask you to please look at my boobs...
(Warning: Do not look directly at the radioactive glow in the dark paleness)

Why yes I am left handed how did you guess?
Puberty, you've FAIL'd me.

I wanted to get more info on the product itself, how it came about and what prompted Kimberly to get so involved with coming up with a better sports bra so I asked and her response did not disappoint;

THE MOMENT OF INSPIRATION FOR KALYX:

I've spent my entire life as an athlete. I grew up playing golf, tennis, soccer, and basketball. I played golf professionally for 5 years, trained as a yoga instructor under master teacher Baron Baptiste, was a proud member of the Equestrian Club in college, summitted Kilimanjaro a few years back, dived the Great Barrier Reef, rafted the Klinaklini in northern Bristish Columbia, and, have hiked, biked, boxed, lifted weights, and, even have run the occasional 10K.

When I moved to California in 2006 and enrolled in the UCLA Anderson's MBA program, I knew that I wanted to start a woman's athletic apparel company. I had just been awarded a fellowship to continue my research on advances in athletic and intimate apparel manufacturing, including new trends in textile development. I had been tinkering around with nano-fabrics, green fabrics, kevlar, technical outerwear, power meshes, and also, just for fun, recent advances in both bra design and swimwear manufacturing.

I was spending a lot of time studying, and, to my dismay, gained a couple of pounds. I decided the best way to get back in shape was to start training for a marathon. On my first day of training, I made it exactly 200 yards down Venice Beach before I had to stop - admittedly, I was wearing a crappy old sports bra and my boobs, thanks to the weight gain, had gotten a little bit bigger. Needless to say, I was in excruciating pain.

So...off to my neighborhood sporting goods store I went. In the dressing room, I promptly proceeded to dislocate my shoulder while trying to get into the athletic apparel industry's equivalent of a straight jacket: the high impact sports bra. As I was sitting there on the dressing room floor, surrounded by a pile of the most unattractive, uncomfortable sports bras imaginable, in tears of both frustration and pain, I asked myself "Why can't someone make a better sports bra?"

It turns out, that someone was me.

In addition to my other research, I started to focus on breast biomechanics. I also started deconstructing things like body armor, tool belts, shoulder holsters, and baby carriers. I started working with some architects to understand cantilevers and structural engineering. I engaged a "dream team" of experts, including not just architects, but also designers, engineers, reconstructive surgeons, seamstresses and textile developers to figure out new and innovative ways to develop a better sports bras.

In the middle of my research, I really started thinking about all the different sports that I play, and, started looking more closely at the way a woman's body moves while engaged in a variety of activities. Most sports bra companies just stick a woman on a treadmill and say "see, see how she bounces." Not every woman is a runner, and, for different sports - like yoga, golf, cheerleading and horseback riding - a woman's breasts and body are subjected to different kinds of motion stress than they are when she is running over a period of time. That's the genesis behind our decision to make KALYX sports bras activity-specific.

DESIGN NOTES FOR KICKSTART:

I'm a California girl at heart. I love hiking in the mountains, walking on the beach, riding my cruiser along the boardwalk, rollerblading through Venice, and, trying my best to learn how to ski on the slopes during winters spent at Lake Tahoe.

One thing I noticed during my regular hikes in the Santa Monica Mountains is that many younger women wear bikini tops while hiking in order to minimize their tan lines. It hurts my heart to see bouncing breasts because I know the long term damage being inflicted on their delicate breast tissue.

We designed this bra to appeal to all the "California Girls" out there - it's ultra lightweight, with flirty, feminine straps and a fresh design. The center mesh panel allows for ventilation and the shirring makes this bra super sexy - you can totally go topless in this one, if you dare to bare - even when hitting the slopes for spring skiing!

Do you see now why I fell in love with the product even more so after learning about Kimberly and the company's roots? Did you notice that part I bolded about having run a marathon?! Amazing and inspirational is what she is, what Cosmo would undoubtedly dub a Fun, Fearless, Female!

Now I know what you're thinking, the bra's are a bit on the pricey side, especially if you're used to buying the $16 C9 bra's at Target like I am, but I assure you these bra's are worth every penny. In fact I intend to pick up the other colors of the Kickstart ASAP and because the awesome people at KALYX totally rock they gave me a discount code for ya'll to use!

It's good for 20% off through March 31, 2010. Just type it in at checkout: RedHead20

I'm Redhead Running, card carrying member of the Itty Bitty Titty Committee, and I wholly endorse this product. :)
*KALYX sent me both bras to test free of charge to review on my blog and are offering the 20% discount to promote their product. Go forth and support your "girls"!