Bothell company testing its sports bras

For a romantic Valentine’s Day gift, give your loved one the promise of fitness.

In the pursuit of exercise, ladies will agree, we need good bras. Nothing cuts short a jog like chafing, getting slapped in the chin or belly button, or sweating through tank tops like modest women in a steam roo

m.

Moving Comfort in Bothell aims to create and sell the perfect sports bra. The company, a division of Brooks Sports, Inc., started in 1977 by introducing the first running shorts made for ladies.

Sara Woods, marketing manager for Moving Comfort, said the company does research aimed at creating the ideal sports bra for shape and activity level.

To that end, they need bra testers, size 36DD, to bounce along, or not bounce along as the case may be, on treadmills to determine if movement in their garments is sublime. (Testers must be natural 36DDs.)

I arrived to interview the folks at Moving Comfort during the afternoon running time for the business next door, Brooks shoes.

Brooks employees, thin ones with carved calves, trotted to the nearby Burke-Gilman Trail dressed in jogging clothes and all colors and models of Brooks shoes.

My nephew, Ty Whitten, sells Brooks and Moving Comfort products. He’s the manager of Super Jock ‘N Jill in Seattle. I adore him, but more on point, I talked to him because he knows the importance of wearing comfortable workout clothing.

Ty, an excellent runner, is an expert on fitness wear and had just spoken to folks working at an Everett rehab center about proper footwear.

Women need the right structure in their running or exercise bras. It’s like fitting shoes for folks with different widths of feet, Ty said.

His store sells Moving Comfort bras as does REI, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Title 9 and Nordstrom online. Woods said their competition is the Champion sports bra line.

If you are a natural size 36DD and want to test four to six bras for about three hours, here’s the deal: You’ll be running in a bra in front of female analysts with clipboards. Reflective markers will be taped to your bra for movement measurements. You’ll be expected to run for about 30 seconds at an 8-minute mile pace for each tested bra.

The company would prefer testers be between 25 and 40 years old, who have had only one or no babies, and haven’t breast fed an infant in the past six months. You can’t have had sports-related injuries or surgeries in the past six months that would alter your running gait.

They also occasionally need fit models for their clothing line.

For more information, e-mail fitmodel@movingcomfort.com.

They’ll be testing an array of sports bras and bras in development later this month and next. In particular, they are analyzing body movement to determine ideal bra materials and construction, the degree of support each bra offers and an impact level rating by cup size.

You get to take home a bra and a pair of Brooks running shoes worth $150.

In Wood’s office, I looked at samples of some of the more than 20 Moving Comfort styles. They are made for A to E cups, she said. They offer racer backs, front zips, seamless, some with and without added shaping.

I loved the names. Fiona is their number one seller. They have other bras named Luna, Helena, Vixen, Cara and Phoebe.

Woods suggested I might like the Juno model.

It made me think I should take up jogging.

Maybe after dessert.

Kristi O’Harran: 425-339-3451, oharran@heraldnet.com.