At the start of this year, Panache contacted me to ask if I would like to participate in their new year fitness campaign, Support Every Move. The campaign was very successful, including a crowd-sourced workout playlist on Spotify, a motivational pinboard on Pinterest, articles about fitness and music, reviews of the Panache Sports bra and lots of giveaways. I contributed to the pinboard, and I am pleased to say that I was also able to try the Panache Sport, which is what I’ll be reviewing today! I’ll give you the summary now: I am in love with it. 

As with my last sports bra review, I have made bounce test videos to show their effectiveness. For comparison, this is me in a well-fitted balconette bra:

The Panache Sport is available in 28 DD-H, 30 D-H, 32 C-H, 34-38 B-H, and 40 D-GG. I usually wear a 30K in UK brands, or 30JJ/28K in Panache, so my usual size is not available. However, I had heard that many people had found the Panache Sport to be generous in the cup and, for some colourways, tight in the band. Knowing this, I decided to try a 32H with size 14 briefs.

I love the appearance of this set! The coral base is bright and fun, the blue and yellow accents are bold and striking, and the contrasting panels give a definite sporty vibe. The construction of this bra is a bit unusual – it is built like a regular underwired bra, but the front of the bra is covered by a panel of fabric, to give it a sort of crop top appearance. It is an encapsulation sports bra, so it does have a regular centre gore to provide support and separation underneath the outer panel, and the panel is shaped so as not to give a monoboob effect. This is definitely a sports bra that could be worn alone (if you felt brave enough)! My hips are currently 42-43 inches, and I found the briefs to be generously sized, and could possibly wear the size 12. I found the briefs to give good coverage, and they are extremely comfortable.

Size-wise, the bra could be better, but it fits surprisingly well considering it isn’t my usual size. I often find Panache bands are loose in the higher cup sizes, but I found the band of the Coral colourway to be fairly true-to-size, stretching to 32 inches. I have to wear it on the tightest hooks for exercise, however I do wear it on the loosest hooks around the house, and I still find that it gives me great support, though the band does ride up slightly. I get minor overspill at the top, and the centre gore doesn’t sit flat on me, so ideally I would probably go a cup up. I would say this is generous by perhaps 1-2 cups, so I think a 30J would be the best size for me if it existed, but for now I am happy to wear the 32H.

The cups are moulded, giving a fantastic uplifted and rounded shape. I found the wires to be a great width for me, as I do usually need narrow wires, but obviously this is in part due to me sizing down. I am not sure how wide the wires would be in the right cup size. The bra is made with moisture-wicking Coolmax fabric, which is great for keeping cool and dry during exercise. But really, the main reason I adore this bra is the level of comfort it gives. I have to say that this is the comfiest bra I have ever owned. Seriously. Ever. Since I got it, many of my other bras have ended up sitting sad and unworn, as I find myself reaching for this day after day. This bra is perfect for exercising, but it’s also perfect for everyday wear, or even loungewear/sleepwear.

The three-hook band is wide, spreading my breast weight over a larger area, and the sides are low enough not to rub my underarms at all. The straps are close-set (so again, no issues with rubbing my shoulder/armpit), as well as being wonderfully wide and padded, so there’s no digging in. The underwires are wrapped in silicone, which is something I now wish was done for every bra, as they allow the bra to be supportive without even a hint of rubbing or discomfort. The fabric of the briefs and outer layer of the bra is polyamide polyester elastane, similar to swimsuit fabric, which is soft and stretchy. Finally, both the bra and briefs have what I can only describe as flat seams, with no visible thread. This means there is no rubbing or irritation from moving around, which is obviously perfect for sports. All of these things mean that the comfort of this bra is unlike any other bra I own, and for the past couple of months, I have basically lived in it. This bra makes me feel like I am ready for anything, and it looks great doing so.

So, how does it fare as a sports bra? This is a bounce test with the straps in the regular position (apologies for the weird focusing). This is slightly small on me, so I am not entirely contained in the bra, which does have an effect (given it’s an encapsulation sports bra, not compression). I am curious if a bigger cup would reduce bounce more, but I do find I still have significantly less bounce than I get in a regular bra.

The main issue with the Panache Sport is the half-adjustable straps, however, there is a reason for them. This bra has a J-hook, which means it can be converted into a racerback. While half-adjustable straps often mean a bra will not work for those who are shorter or have high-set breasts, the J-hook both adds support and makes the straps shorter, so it may be worth trying even if you usually need to tighten your straps a lot. I personally find the J-hook quite easy to fasten, though some people may find they need someone to help them with it.

This is a bounce test with the straps in J-hook position. I do find it to be more supportive like this, though it does mean there is more pressure towards my neck, so I can’t wear it hooked together for hours on end.

After receiving my Coral sports bra and wearing it for 4 days in a row, I knew I had to invest in more. This is the black colourway, also in a 32H, which I ended up buying from Large Cup Lingerie within a week of owning the first one. Seriously. I acquired two in a week. That’s how much I love this bra.

Fitwise, I found it to be pretty much identical to the Coral. The shape and support are equally good, and the black colourway is very practical.

Finally, while having a nose through a recent Amazon clothing sale a week after buying the black colourway, I stumbled across a few colourways at a very low price. So, obviously, I had to snatch up yet another one 😉 This time I decided to try a 30H, as I wondered if the tighter band and smaller cups would give better support during exercise.

Once again, I love the colourway – the red and charcoal combination is bold and practical, and retains the sporty aesthetic beautifully. I found the shape to be great, the straps and height wonderful, and it has all of the lovely features that make it so comfortable. I do find that the cups are now definitely too small to fully contain my breast tissue – I get much more noticeable overspill at the top, as well as the centre gore not sitting flat, and my breast tissue is pushed out at the sides. The small cups mean my chest is more compressed, and I can’t quite inhale fully, which can be uncomfortable after wearing for a long time. However, the band is much better for me, and seems to be a true to size 30 (stretching to about 30 inches).

This is a bounce test with the straps in the regular position. Due to the cups being too small, I now have quite a bit of jiggle on top, but again, I find it to be more supportive than a regular bra.

You can see here that the band is perfect on the loosest hooks, and as expected, this bra also has a J-hook fastening.

This is a bounce test with the straps in J-hook position. I think you can see that the J-hook and tighter band combined makes a world of difference, and results in very little bounce at all. Ideally I think I would wear a 30J for exercise or a 32HH for everyday wear, but I find the 32H great for lounging, and the 30H with the J-hook fastened is my current bra of choice for exercise.

Finally, just a quick picture to show the shape of it under clothes (this is the black colourway). All in all, I really do adore this bra. It is genuinely one of the comfiest, most supportive bras I have ever tried, and the generous sizing means it may work for more people than the size range would suggest. For anyone looking for either a sports bra or just a comfortable everyday bra, I would definitely recommend the Panache Sport (though I imagine you would want to make sure the band is firm to wear it for sports). For more reviews, check out Boosaurus’s review (including a list of reviews from other bloggers) here.

The Panache Sport is available in 28-40 bands and B-H cups, with matching briefs available in sizes 8-20, retailing for £38 and £15 respectively. It is currently available in the SS14 colourways of Coral and Cobalt, along with the continuity colours Black, Grey and White. If you are interested in any of the past season colourways, you might have luck finding your size on sites such as Belle Lingerie, Brastop or Amazon.

Panache Sport set in Coral provided for review by Panache Lingerie. Though I received this free of charge, this is not a sponsored post and all opinions are my own.

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Anna

Founder and main author of Bras and Body Image. Anna is a lingerie lover, feminist and maths student based in the UK, who hopes to someday cuddle every cat in the world.

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