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Like anyone who has listened to a podcast in the past six years, I am of course familiar with ThirdLove and its sizing system that promises to make a bra so perfectly fitted that you forget you’re wearing it at all. Its own website reads, “uncomfortable is unacceptable.” Now, the brand is applying that philosophy to activewear, a natural progression for the company. According to its CEO, Heidi Zak, ThirdLove’s customers are more than ready for it. “We know sports and active is the number one search term on ThirdLove,” Zak says. “Our customer wants it. We used our customer base to ask what activities they did, and what they felt was missing in the market.”
As of today, ThirdLove has launched three activewear lines geared toward different activities: Muse, which Zak describes as the “workout to brunch” line; Flex, leggings and sports bras made from a compression fabric for your medium-intensity workouts; and Kinetic, which features the crown jewel of the new collection (a cup-band sports bra) and leggings designed for high-impact sports. The collections have been in development for two years, getting the details right. As Zak puts it, there’s no key player in the sports bra space; you don’t have one brand you associate with a sports bra the way you associate, say, Levi’s with jeans. They would like to fill that void.
I tested all three lines, so let’s see how they fared.
The Kinetic Line
I have a medium-sized chest (a 34D, typically) and normally wear alpha-sized (S–L) sports bras for working out. My main forms of exercise are running and boxing, and lately I’ve been finding myself doubling up on sports bras for long runs to get that extra support. The Kinetic sports bra has molded cups and a hook-and-eye closure, giving it the look of an everyday, underwire bra (though there is no underwire). I was skeptical, having never tried a cup-band bra for a workout. I sized down to a 34C and was surprised by how much I liked it for running. It for sure offered a better feel than double sports bras. “Alpha size is never going to offer high-impact support, except for certain sizes,” Zak explains. “If you are a 32G, a very popular ThirdLove size, are you a small or are you a large? Your breast volume would be more like a large, your band would be extra small. How do you cut the difference? No matter where you go in that range, you’re not going to get the right fit and support while you’re doing a high-impact exercise.”
I also tried out the leggings, which come with a phone pocket in the side (the only ones of the range that offer that feature, sadly). They’re good leggings! Easy to run in—not much to write home about.
The Muse Line
I’m not much of an “athleisure set” person (mostly because I dislike crop tops) but, if I were, I would wear this line all the time. As it stands, I wore it to hot yoga and took off the football jersey I wore on the walk over for class. The fabric is like butter and lightweight enough that I did, in fact, mostly forget about what I was wearing. The bra I tried is one of their long-line options, but this collection has a few that walk the line between going-out tops and athleticwear. Remember, this is the one Zak described as going from “workout to brunch.”
The Flex Line
The Muse line is billed as wearable for everyday activities, but I’ve found myself living in these Flex compression leggings. They’re knitted to have a pretty ribbed texture and offer a bit more support than the Muse line. The bra came with pads, which I immediately removed (personal preference). It lacked enough support for me to run comfortably in, but my Rumble class was a breeze. I would also wear it to weight lifting or circuit training, anything that doesn’t require too much jumping around. While I’m not going to be tossing the rest of my workout gear anytime soon, the new ThirdLove activewear offers something for everyone.
