Grasshopper-generated custom fit sports bra prototyping and testing.
My hypothesis was that if a bra were custom designed to perfectly fit its wearer, then it could be constructed from developable stiff panels, removing the need for the underwires and molding of encapsulated bras. This would mean a bra with the benefits of a high support bra, and the comfort of a low-support bra.
In order to fit a person perfectly, I created a tool in grasshopper to generate a bra design based on measurements from the intended user.
Using the grasshopper tool, I iterated through 3 prototypes before creating final bras to be tested. In order to fabricate these bra designs using stiff fabric, extra steps were taken in CAD to adapt the designs to developable panels that could be unrolled flat.
The final prototypes (in black with diagrams) were user tested against industry standards. User testing helped shed light on changing perception simply by adjusting strap tightness.
