Redefining the Gear Gap

When I moved from the engineering lab to founding Robyn, I never expected to be sipping my morning coffee and see the headline in the Boston Globe: “Falkson’s Design May Change the Game.”

The Boston Globe. October 31st

Growing up in Boston, a feature in The Globe meant you’d done something truly meaningful. The kind of milestone that got clipped from the newspaper and proudly posted on the kitchen fridge. So to see a full article dedicated to… the sports bra?! Younger Sara would be absolutely freaking out.

This feature isn’t just a milestone for Robyn, it’s a moment for every young athlete who’s ever felt that her gear, her size, or her fit wasn’t built for her.

It’s for the coaches, parents, and teams who know that the “gear gap” isn’t about fashion, it’s about being seen, supported, and equipped to keep playing.

3D-printed, NASA-inspired fabric. Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff

The Globe article highlights something I believe deeply: nearly 50% of girls drop out of sport by age 14 due to low body confidence (Dove).

Many people ask, “Okay, but why 14?”

Because at that age, everything is changing… and it can be incredibly awkward.

“Talking about developing breasts and getting your period and everything else in sports is awkward,” Falkson said. “But how can we just say, ‘Hey, this is something we’re all going through, and let’s try to make it as fun as possible?’”

Body Confident Workshops at the Winsor School

When I first started diving into the challenges of growing up in sport, I wasn’t sure how these topics (puberty, bras, body image) would be received.

Would people take me seriously if I was carrying an armful of sports bras into an engineering lab filled with robotics and sensors?

“There were definitely some eyes being like, ‘What is she doing?’” Falkson said. “But that’s where I thrive and love it the most, where I’m like, ‘All right. This is different. This is cool.’”

But I knew there was an untapped intersection between engineering and women’s sports waiting to be explored. Too often, sports bras are treated as one-size-fits-all inventions, a symptom of the lack of women in product design.

According to the Industrial Designers Society of America, only 19% of industrial designers are women, and women hold just 11% of design leadership roles.

Those awkward moments became fuel.

I am so grateful for the community who has amplified our Robyn voice. A huge thank-you to Emma Healy, the incredible writer behind this piece. Emma reached out this summer to learn about Robyn, interviewed my incredible Harvard advisor Karen Reuther, and even came to a Body Confidence Workshop with Shooting Touch at Noble and Greenough School. Emma’s passion for elevating voices in sports made our Robyn story what it is.

Stay tuned. We’re just getting started.

Love 💜
Sara Falkson
Founder, Robyn Athletic