How MAAREE Is Changing the Women’s Game One Sports Bra at A Time

The women’ s game is an ever-growing industry, with more and more attention spotlighting the way women perform and the equipment which they perform in. As a woman who plays football, I am all too aware of the lack of focus on essential female sport apparel, such as sports bras. We all know we can go buy a sports bra from any shop or any sports brand like Nike and adidas, but do we really know what we are buying? With a scarcity of education around sports bras available, it becomes hard for women to know exactly which products to buy, or which would fit their body type best.

Female footballers should be able to perform and achieve their potentials without stress or concern of the lack of support they may have that could lead to future health issues. MAAREE is working hard to break down these barriers by providing women with accurate fittings and, most importantly, specialising in crafting supportive sports bras – enabling women to compete at every level with comfort and confidence. Since hearing of Chelsea and England star Millie Bright’s investment in the company, I have been intrigued to see the work that MAAREE is doing and how this can benefit women in football.

Founder Mari Thomas-Wellend started MAAREE back in 2018, with an idea to help all women feel empowered and confident to achieve their full potential. After learning the harsh realities of the lack of support many big brands provide with their sports bras, Mari wanted to find a way to directly tackle the problems hundreds of female athletes may have when finding a supportive product. Sitting down with Mari, I got a refreshing insight into the inspiration behind the company and what is yet to come.

With so many other sports bras in the market, what made you decide to start MAAREE?

I’ve always been interested in sports from a young age. I even went on to study sports engineering at Loughborough University where, following my degree, I was fortunate enough to land a job testing the performance of sports bras under laboratory conditions for many of the big brands, like Nike, Lululemon, M&S and more! It was then that when speaking to all the women in my trials, I found I wasn’t the only person who’d never managed to find their perfect sports bra.

Many of the big brands would come to us and say they need to reduce downward motion of breasts by X%. However, I could see that your breasts move in a figure of eight when we’re running, so I used to suggest that they put something over the top of the chest to reduce upward motion too. Unfortunately, for one reason or another, this never came to fruition. So, I decided to do something about it myself. One day I went to a charity shop and bought a belt, of all things. I adapted it to make it a curvy shape to suit the shape of my body and attached it to a sports bra that I already had in my wardrobe. I went for a run and, even without all that fancy equipment, I could feel how much of a difference it made. I then went on to find suppliers, research fabrics and work on prototypes. In December 2018, with my own savings and a small local grant, I finally launched our first sports bras with Overband® Technology.

How did Chelsea star Millie Bright get involved with MAAREE and why?

So Millie’s team actually reached out to me as she’s never been able to find her right sports bra and that they’ve heard great things about MAAREE. After jumping on a quick online fitting call with her, she was surprised at the sizes I recommended but was keen to try them. I made sure to let her know of all the reasons behind her new size and all the ways our bras can help. So I sent her a couple of different styles to try for all her needs. A few days later I received a message from her team to say that she was blown away! She loved them and couldn’t stop bouncing up and down in amazement of how little bounce there was. It also wasn’t until this point that I was told that she had a long-standing shoulder injury which has now disappeared thanks to our sports bras. She was so impressed that she decided to join us in our first ever funding round to join us on our journey to empower more women, athletes and to help bring more awareness to breast support in sport.

What are your personal experiences with other sports bras in the industry and what have you learnt about them?

I’m a size 34F myself so I, like so many other women, had always struggled to get a supportive enough bra. Having to double-up on a number of occasions to get through any long distance runs when I was training for the marathon back in 2016. I’ve also experienced that pain you get in the shower when you discover that your sports bra chafed you during your workout. It’s not nice! But more importantly, even though I was a sporty person growing up, I knew nothing about sports bras. There was no education out there.

Since researching this industry further and starting my own brand, I’ve understood exactly what causes all of these problems and how to solve them. However, the biggest take away I discovered is that there isn’t that one bra out there that suits everyone. You have to think of them in the same way as your trainers. You wouldn’t wear running spikes to go and play tennis in and so you shouldn’t wear a sports bra designed for yoga for your marathon training. Just because something is categorised as a sports bra doesn’t mean that it’s going to be perfect for all of your sports or activities.

What is your opinion on the importance of well-made women’s apparel?

Oh it’s so important! If you think of all the research centres and money put into trainers, we need the same level of attention for our sports bras. They are just as important for women! We don’t have any muscles in our breasts, and they can move up to 14cm when we’re active. So we must rely on external structures to help reduce this bounce and protect the Cooper’s Ligaments in our chest from elongating and damaging.

One of my most worrying realisations during my time testing other company's bras was that there are no standards, criteria or tests out there for deeming a sports bra suitable for high-impact sports. Anyone can call any sports bra they want ‘high-impact’ even if it’s made from the flimsiest fabrics. So that’s why I make sure I hold my own bras to the highest standard to ensure it delivers on what it says it’s going to do. So often we see £15 sports bras out there on the high-street, but I can guarantee you that these bras won’t perform for you. High-impact sports bras are more complex to make and so if you are looking for something that supports you well, make sure to do some research and to shop with a reputable sports bra brand. It’s important that we don’t neglect our breast health.

Can you tell us the kind of challenges you have faced starting a business from scratch?

The big question we always get asked is ‘there are so many big brands out there, how are you going to compete?’ but time and time again we can see that these big brands don’t prioritise sports bras. Too often we are still seeing the biggest names in the industry producing bras in sizes Small, Medium and Large rather than investing in a more detailed bra size range, like 36FF. We wanted to ensure that we offered a greater range of sizes from the beginning. We started with 20 sizes and we’re now up to 52!

Additionally, something we couldn’t ever see coming, we had to endure through a pandemic. I was still a one-woman band at this time and I completely sold out of sports bras in the spring of 2020 but couldn’t get re-stocked until the Autumn. So suddenly I had a sports bra brand with no sports bras to sell! So I started putting a lot of helpful educational pieces out on socials and in my blog, but that’s also when I had the first idea of holding fittings online. It became so popular that the service grew from something I offered once a month to now multiple times a week. We still hold them today and it’s now one of the main reasons people keep coming back to us and is part of what makes us special.

What makes MAAREE sports bras different to other brands?

There are three things that really make us different to what’s currently out there:

1. We have the only sports bras with Overband® Technology, reducing that upward bounce. It’s won us 10 ‘Best in Test Sports Bra’ awards to date and 4 ‘Sports Bra of the Year’ awards during our time.

2. We are founded by a sports bra tester, meaning we come from a scientific background, rather than a fashion one. Ensuring we deliver high performing support as a priority.

3. It's a fact that more than 80% of women, that’s 4 out of every 5, are wearing the wrong size. So we knew we needed to offer free online fittings alongside our products to ensure everyone gets their perfect fit and style.

We hope that this is the perfect recipe for getting your ideal support. There are such big players in this industry, combine that with the fact that women have been let down by so many bras previously, that they can be nervous about trying a new brand. Not only do we understand all the pitfalls and troubles that many have experienced but, more importantly, we know how to fix them!

How do you think MAAREE can have an impact on women’s performances within sport?

Research from Portsmouth University Research Group in Breast Health has proven that wearing an ill-fitting sports bra can reduce your stride length by up to 4cm. This means that over the course of a marathon distance you would finish a whole mile behind where you should have been if you were wearing a sports bra in your right size. Athletes and coaches are often looking for that extra 1% gain in performance, this alone can bring 80% of women a gain of 4%.

Not only this but there are other subconscious gains to be made when wearing the right sports bras. Including a decrease in perceived effort, a decrease in ground reaction forces, your upper body becomes less restricted, and your performance is more efficient. Most importantly, your comfort and confidence improve. As all women out there will know, that alone is a goldmine! So much attention and focus has been on men’s sport historically. It’s great to see the increased attention in women’s sports coming about now, even if it is overdue. This also means that there are great strides and opportunities to be made in everything surrounding it. Research in women’s health being one of them.

With Millie Bright becoming an investor, what exciting things can we expect to see in the future?

Millie’s involvement marks an exciting new chapter for MAAREE. Having a world-class athlete like Millie on board not only reinforces the importance of our mission but also opens the door to opportunities that were once out of reach. One of the things we’re most passionate about is spreading education and information around the importance of sports bras and breast health, particularly within the football community. Sports bras are often overlooked in conversations about performance, yet they have a significant impact on how women perform, feel, and even their long-term health.

With Millie’s platform and influence, we’re aiming to break the silence and remove the taboo surrounding these conversations. By encouraging elite athletes to speak openly about these issues, we hope to empower women everywhere to prioritise their own support and well-being. In addition to this, Millie’s support enables us to shine a brighter light on broader issues in that specifically affect women in sport. We want to amplify conversations about the barriers women face, both on and off the pitch, and work towards building solutions that help remove these challenges. This isn’t just about bras—it’s about empowering women in sport at every level and creating a community that puts women first. Millie’s investment is a clear sign that we’re on the right track, and we can’t wait to show you what’s next.

For more info on MAAREE and Millie Bright's investment check out maaree.com