When Debra and I launched our company 12 years ago, with her best selling adjustable pumping band style, nobody knew what a pumping bra was. We hustled to bring her innovation to boutique maternity stores, get our product listed on this website called Amazon (we weren’t really sure if people shopped online at the time) and probably made every mom we met uncomfortable by asking way too many questions about their breastfeeding and pumping routines. We made it our mission to make other moms breastfeeding and pumping journeys easier.
As the years have passed, we have continued to obsess and innovate. As of today, Debra and I are the inventors on 11 utility patents for pumping bra designs. If you don't know what a patent is, it is a document issued to inventors by the federal government to provide protection so no one can copy your innovative designs for a specific period of time. To receive a patent you must be able to show that your invention is unique and useful to society. Having 11 utility patents goes to show the lengths we have gone to in order to create the perfect pump support bra. We joke around that we think about breasts more than your average teenage boy albeit with our focus being to make your pumping experience easier.
In light of making your pumping experience easier, we also get that bras are very personal and while the majority of moms who try our bras are thrilled, for the small % we can’t satisfy, we want to help cut through the increasingly saturated pumping market. It’s clear that other brands have caught onto the fact that moms using a breast pump want to be hands-free. Our perspective is, choice is good and competition drives innovation. We welcome other brands innovative designs and have highlighted a few choices below.
Bravado Designs
This brand was started by a Canadian mom over 30 years ago who wanted to make a nursing bra moms want to wear. Their original bra was actually in a leopard print. How great is that? Within the last decade, they were acquired by Medela, the global leader in breast pumps. Debra and I both lived in their nursing bras when we were breastfeeding our kids. I can’t say enough good things about the quality of their construction. It is the gold standard.
They have two pumping bra options. Their strapless pumping bra accessory “The Clip & Pump” is actually great to pair with one of their nursing bras with their proprietary “B” nursing clasps. Their latest design, “The Original Nursing & Pumping Bra” is a bit of a misnomer. The name implies first to market but it only launched within the last year and the shell design is modeled after the design of their “Original Nursing Bra” that launched their company 30 years ago. In terms of pumping function, we have heard mixed reviews. The common issue is the underlying pumping layer, rather than being clip down access for breastfeeding, needs to be pulled aside. As a result it may be a bit compressive on the breasts. Also, the openings to insert pump parts are too small to accommodate pumps brands like Spectra. This makes sense that their pump openings would be optimized for Medela breast pumps given their ownership. Given the brands outlined in this article this would be our #1 recommendation for lounge around the house, 24 hour wear. The lack of padding would prevent us from wanting to wear it in a more professional, corporate environment.
The Dairy Fairy
Surprise, surprise…this brand was also started by a mom. Isn’t it amazing what we as moms can come up with? Their innovative Arden bra design is for those moms who have a dramatic “slacker boob”. You know when one breast overproduces and is a full cup or two size larger than the other? You can adjust the size of each cup independently. Amazing. In terms of pump support it’s ok. The common theme with all day wear nursing & pumping bra designs is that once your bottles fill beyond a certain weight maintaining suction of your pump could become a problem. This means you end up holding the bottles, defeating the purpose of hands free. This brand has also done a fantastic job of catering to the plus size market making sizes from 42D – 52G. This brand would be our #2 choice. Again, the lack of padding is a downside but we think the mama innovation is fantastic.
Kindred Bravely
This brand has a broad catalog of maternity/postpartum apparel. They were the first brand to introduce alpha sized bras for women in regular and “busty” size ranges so women with smaller ribcage sizes but larger breasts didn’t have to choose between a properly fitting band or cups. We applaud their innovation in that respect and have implemented that same approach into our own Alpha sized Sling & SuperMom Bralettes.
In terms of pumping bra innovation, in our opinion, they missed the mark in a few areas. Their Sublime Nursing & Pumping Bra is incredibly thick and bulky with not just 2 but 3 layers of fabric in the back band. Some reviewers have described it as feeling like they are wearing a girdle. We also see frequent complaints about the straps being incredibly scratchy and others have stated they believe the bulkiness of this design has resulted in clogged ducts/mastitis. I just seems like this was rushed to market without enough quality control.
Functionally, to nurse, you must undo two clasps, making it less than ideal when trying to discreetly feed a hungry baby. Finally, they also have the flaw that if you are an over producer or pump into glass bottles the pump support construction simply cannot hold up to heavier weight causing the pump to lose suction unless you hold onto the bottles. We give an A for effort but an F for actual execution on this design. With the price of $50 one would expect more.
Our mother always taught us if you have nothing nice to say, say nothing. For this brand, we cannot remain silent as they are pervasive in the market. This is an overseas brand who sells on 3rd party e-commerce platforms such as Amazon, Walmart, Alibaba etc. They launched their brand several years ago by copying, down to the stitch, Debra’s patented adjustable pumping bra design. It took several years for us to find a way to get this brand to stop copying our intellectual property. Now that they can no longer copy our designs, they have pivoted to come up with another series of cheap all day wear pumping bras that, while functional, are severely lacking in quality. The idea for their current highest volume product sold on Amazon is Bravado’s Clip & Pump accessory. They just added bra straps. It’s unfortunate that consumers do not know the back story behind this brand. I’m sure, if moms knew, they would avoid from an ethical perspective as a brand that has no problem copying others who have unique, patent protected designs.
Conclusion
The bottom line is it is difficult to create a pumping bra that is not too compressive but can hold up to the weight of full bottles. In terms of hands free pump support there is simply no product out there that can match the support found in our SuperMom and Sling styles. The key difference is the innovative Comfort Sling that offers supplementary support, if you choose to use it, to the pumping panel liner in the SuperMom collection and is an essential part of the Simple Sling pump support system in the Sling collection. If you embrace that accessory and use it with our bras you will always have a hand free experience. We guarantee it. At the end of the day, whether you use our bras or another brands the common goal is to make your nursing/pumping experience easier so you breastfeed longer.
