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Racerback Bra Review: ThirdLove vs. Target

Two racerback bras, one black, one "nude" against a red background.

It’s summer, which means that you might want to stock up on some racerback bras for cute shoulder-baring tops. Also, if you, like me, have that bra-straps-always-falling-down problem, maybe a racerback is the answer. I didn’t have much success with ThirdLove’s 24/7 Classic T-shirt Bra (review) because of the straps, but I otherwise found it comfortable, so maybe the racerback version would be the answer to my bra problems.

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Two racerback bras from ThirdLove. One is "nude" and the other is black. They are on a red background.

I ordered the 24/7 Classic Racerback Bra in two colors and they arrived pretty quickly.

The advantage of ThirdLove is that they make bras in half cup sizes. I found that a half size down from my usual size fit best.

Two things I liked about the bra: the back is seamless and it’s tagless.

Closeup of gold-colored clasp at the front of a ThirdLove bra

The front-closure clasp is metal, not plastic — shiny gold metal at that.

Third Love racerback bra unclasped

The cups are constructed out of “ultra-thin hybrid foam,” which has memory foam on the inside to form to your body. On the outside is a different kind of foam for support. They’re lightly padded and the padding thickness seemed perfect to me.

ThirdLove says their racerback “fits exactly like our most popular, classic bras,” but I didn’t find that to be the case. While the cups fit great, the underwire dug into me in a way they didn’t with the T-shirt bra version of this bra.

Two racerback bras. Both are black. One is from Target and one is from ThidLove.

Visually, the bra seemed very similar to Target’s Gillian & O’Malley Everyday Racerback Bra (review here) (shown on the left) so I thought I’d compare them.

The backs of two racerback bras, both black. One is from Target and the other is from ThirdLove.

The Target bra is made out of bulkier fabric. See how the fabric has gotten bunchy after being worn a few times? I prefer the seamless, stitch-free material on ThirdLove’s bra.

Closeup of the strap attached to a cup on a black bra.

The details on the ThirdLove bra seem nicer. The strap on the Target bra is stitched right onto the corner of the cup.

Closeup of the strap attached to a cup on a black bra.

The ThirdLove bra has trim on the cups, so the stitching blends in better. This probably has no effect on functionality though. I did prefer the cups on the ThirdLove bra, not only for the half-cup size, but for the light hybrid foam.

Is the ThirdLove racerback bra better than Target’s? Yes. The materials and details seem nicer. However, ThirdLove’s bra retails for $68 (if you buy one, purchasing multiples triggers a discount) and Target’s goes for $15. Is ThirdLove’s bra 4.5 times better? No, at least not for me.

At the end of the day, I found the underwire on both brands constricting. (To be fair I didn’t wear the ThirdLove bra as long as the Target bra, which I had already purchased because I need something, so the comparison isn’t perfect.) At $68, a bra better be perfect, and it wasn’t so, I returned the ThirdLove ones. (From the time I dropped them in the mail to when I received a refund was about two weeks.)

My bra search continues. You can find all my unsponsored bra reviews here.

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