How To Care For Your Bra

Stop! It’s time to rescue your bras

We all know the importance of getting the right bra type and fit, to keep you feeling confident and supported. However, it’s just important to care for your bras after you buy, so they can care for you even longer. In this article, we share our top bra care advice, from storage, to laundry, and a few extra Triumph tips. While a little bra maintenance can go a long way, it’s still important to remember to replace your bra if it’s not pulling its weight.

Why care about bra care?

Bras use a combination of elastics, material, and sizing to give you the support you need every day. Proper bra maintenance helps your bra to be at its best while you wear it, preserving the fit and preventing problems like chafing, uncomfortable riding, and back pain. The right bra care will significantly extend the life of your bra and keep you feeling good for longer.

Washing and drying your bra

Let’s start with bra care basics: cleaning your bra. Bra elastics degrade more quickly when soaked in sweat, so make sure to wash your bras before they have time to stew. Frequent, but delicate washing is the key to good bra care.

When you wash your bra, we recommend using a delicates wash formula, to provide a gentle cleanse while preserving the soft fabrics in your bra. When deciding where to wash, individual care instruction are provided on each bra. As a rule, if the bra has a wire, then it is recommended to be hand washed. The movement in a washing machine cycle can affect the fabrics, elastics and can shrink back the wire casing and could push the wire out, or worse the wires become caught in the machine and tear the fabrics.

Hand-wash your bra: Fill a sink or bucket with warm water, and add delicate wash formula. Put your bras in the water and wash for a few minutes. Then, rinse them under a cold tap and gently squeeze out the excess water, taking care not to stretch the fabric or twist the wires. For those with busy lives, a good time saving trick is to wash your bra with you in the shower!

Machine wash your bra: For bras that recommend machine washing, place your bras in a delicates bag with the bra hooks done up. This stops other clothing damaging the bra, and also prevents your bra hook from being stuck or tangled. Put the machine on the delicate cycle with the lowest temperature and least spin.

Once your bra is clean, let it dry the right way. Never put your bras in the dryer, as this is a quick way to damage the elastic! Instead, gently squeeze the excess water out of your bras, and then lay them flat on a towel to dry. Put them in the shade to avoid sun damaging the elastics. You can also hang your bra up to dry using the centre of the bra, not the straps which may stretch.

Storing your bras correctly

Our next bra care tip is to take care when storing bras with moulded cups. These bras need to maintain their cup shape, and should be stored on a flat surface like a drawer. Close your bras at the back, then place them on top of each other so they lie in the same direction. This way, your bras will support each other which help the bra maintain its shape.

Giving your bras the rest they need

Did you know that bras work best when they have time to “rest” between uses? The fibres and elastics need time to recover to avoid being continuously stretched out. Ideally, you should rest each bra for at least one full day after it has been washed and dried, to prevent wear. For best bra care, you will need several bras that you rotate through.

Along with rotating which bra you are wearing, you might also want to consider alternating bra style, so that you aren’t always putting pressure on the same spots on your body. This can also be a good opportunity to try a new fit and see if it works for you.

Put your bra on correctly to reduce stress

Once you have a great fitting bra, wear it right to prevent it from wearing out. You can read our full explanation of how to put on a bra correctly here. The short version is that you should do up back-clasp bras behind your back after putting them on, and make sure they are properly adjusted. Too loose, and you’re not getting the support you need. Too tight, and there’s too much pressure on both you and the bra.

Bra care is a great way to keep your bras at their best. But even the most well maintained bra can’t last forever. Your body changes regularly, so when it’s time for a new bra be sure to check out our size calculator, or book a fitting online.