The Panache Sports Ultimate Impact #5021B is a padded underwired Sports bra. While it comes in many colorways, I ordered them in the Stripe Print, which is a white bra with Grey stripes and netting, with neon yellow accent stripes, inside of cups, and under the netting, . I love the print!
The padding is what I’d call medium thickness, and for comparison, firmer and more dense than Ewa or Comexim padded bras. I assume this is for adding support/lock down during workouts. With this firmer foam, there is almost no stretch or give to the cups.
The straps are also padded, and go from narrow to wider over ... the shoulders then back to narrow on the back. Adjustments for straps are only half way.
Details/oddities noted
The gore was 4.75" tall to the top of the wires while it is 7.4" to top of bra, so over a 3rd of the gore is a soft gore. Notable Oddity-I couldn’t feel the wires. A Panache Bra that you can’t feel the wires? How is this possible?!? Potentially related to this, I am not sure if it is the too large band, the too small cups, or a combination of both, but the gore at the bottom of the band floats off my ribs/belly by 2 fingers. Also, Sports bras have always run tight in the band for support, but both of the Panache Sports bras that I received ran large in my opinion.
As for fit, Gore is 3.5 fingers off the sternum, Cups sort of fit but the floating gore so far off my sternum for Panache tells me that they are really too small…add that the side of the cup was not eating my armpit, and well, I have to admit the cups are too small. Plus the band floating, and size was a no go as well. I love the print and color though so I am so sad!
And for the technical aspects:
All measurements are taken prior to trying the bra on to insure no figure is obscured by the body. I also take all flat measurements before taking the stretched cup then band measurements for the same reason.
The band measures 27.25” and stretches to a max of 32.25”. It has 3 hooks and 3 rows of eye loops.
Cup Depth as measured by:
1 Hovering the cup between the knees, then placing the tape measure into the cups without any resistance.
This measurement is: 12.25”
2 Placing the cup over the knee and stretching it similar to what a breast would, to the maximum resistance.
This measurement is: 13.25”
I feel these two figures give you a general idea of the minimum and maximum depth that the cup can accommodate, just like the flat and stretched band measurements do with bands. Since Bratabase only has one cup field, I enter the larger of the two, as it’s this larger number that determines if a cup is going to fit me or not since I am on the max end of the cup scale, but do realize that some may need the lower number to determine fit for their needs, so I will always include both figures in the reviews for full disclosure.
While the 34GG they sent me only had a ½” max give to the cups, this one had a full 1” give which is odd. This one gave me that “I’ve been worn then returned” vibe so I am thinking that may be why the cups had more give to them. (The packaging was different, and with the bar code labels just being looped through the straps for easy removal, it would unfortunately be very easy for someone to wear a bra for a few days or weeks to try it out and still return it within the Amazon 30 day return window without issue. The foam still felt firm, but had creases within it, which indicates improper storage at the least, but also the potential of machine wash/dryer dried. I can’t say for sure, but altogether it had that used vibe.
Anyway, needless to say, this one also went back to Amazon, and the Sports Bra search continues….
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Updated on Jul 29, 2019 Flag this
Telllllll me about it. They just released a bunch of new sizes for their Sculptresse line, but the largest cup/band combo is 40GG, which is 4 cup sizes too small for me :(