ThirdLove’s 24/7 Is the Only Bra I Don’t Fling Across the Room As Soon As I Get Home

I spent decades quietly despising every bra in my drawer—until I discovered the ThirdLove 24/7 Classic Uplift Plunge Bra. The ThirdLove 24/7 is an exponentially better bra than anything else I’ve encountered.

In my frog-kissing quest to find the perfect match, I had sampled countless brands and styles. I knew I was wearing the right size, after subjecting myself to multiple manhandlings by imperious experts at bra fittings. But I had nearly given up hope.

“Hey,” I thought, “maybe this just isn’t in the cards for me, much how it’s unlikely I’ll ever learn to drive stick shift, make sourdough bread, or figure out how to fold a fitted sheet.”

Once I’d availed myself of ThirdLove’s free returns and exchanges policy—totally clutch—and secured the correct (half) size, I donned my new 24/7 bra.

It wasn’t that I had set a sky-high bar for my bras; my needs are not especially niche. I won’t share my bra size here—’cause the internet is forever—but let’s just say that it’s covered by the first couple of letters of the alphabet.

The issue was always comfort: I had yet to own a bra that would do me the simple solid of showing up for work and then allowing me to forget that it was on duty.

Instead, I’d come home at the end of the day and rush to claw those constrictive nylon and metal offenders from my body—I couldn’t get my old bras off quickly enough. My husband would discover the undergarments discarded triumphantly throughout our home, dangling from end tables, tucked behind sofa cushions, and strewn across lampshades. (He used to remark that it made him feel like he was living in a sorority house, and he didn’t mean it in a fun-’n-frisky way.)

But my luck finally turned in 2021, when—two months into my then-new gig at Wirecutter—I took a leap of faith and ordered the ThirdLove 24/7 Classic Uplift Plunge Bra, one of the picks in our guide to the best bras.

This versatile, cute, comfy bra has removable padding, so it’s great for daily wear. But it can also transform to provide a subtle push-up look for special occasions. It comes in a wider range of sizes than our other picks, including half sizes, but only a few colors.

Why do I love it? Let me count the ways.

The ThirdLove 24/7 is available in band sizes from 32 to 44 and cup sizes from A through H, most of which are—unusually—offered in half-sizes as well (A ½, B ½, and so on). It had never before occurred to me that I might be between cup sizes—women born before 1980 weren’t raised to make a fuss. Well, it turns out I actually am a half size, and it completely made a difference. (MIND. BLOWN.)

Once I’d availed myself of ThirdLove’s free returns and exchanges policy—totally clutch—and secured the correct (half) size, I donned my new 24/7 bra.

You know that scene from the movie Pleasantville, when Reese Witherspoon’s character finally turns from black-and-white to color? Well, that’s pretty much what happened next.

At $72 (if it’s not on sale—but it does go on sale), it isn’t the cheapest one out there, but it’s far from the spendiest either. And it’s well worth it for what it offers: the just-right amount of shaping and lift (the push-up is subtle, not va-va-voom); the absence of any scratchy tags or too-sharp hooks; and smooth memory foam cups that mold to my body and then, exactly as I had wished for, vanish from my awareness entirely.

As the name implies, this is a push-up bra with a deep plunge, enabling it to stay out of sight with a wide variety of necklines. I like the way the 24/7 itself looks, too, especially the delicate mesh overlay covering the cups. (I could do without the little gold ThirdLove logo charm that dangles front and center; I’m not your billboard!)

I’ve gradually expanded my collection of 24/7s, and now have four in nude, two in black, and one in fuschia—it comes in a few color options. But just to be clear, I’d still remain faithful to this bra even if it were completely hideous or exclusively available in a Powerpuff Girls print. It’s merely an added bonus that it’s pretty.

Of course, no bra is perfect, and it’s hard to imagine any other item of clothing that’s quite this subjective. Zoe Vanderweide, a staff writer on Wirecutter’s style team, says she had hoped that the 24/7’s removable pads could help even out the appearance of her differently-sized right and left sides. (Leave one pad in, take the other one out—presto, balance!) But it turned out the pads’ diminutive size and placement, at the very bottom of the cups, made the plan a non-starter.

And another colleague who otherwise adores her 24/7 bra noted that she would prefer the bra’s straps to be more adjustable, so they could be shortened up further, since she has “not a lot of shoulder.”

Minor quibbles aside, it’s clear that ThirdLove has a particular knack for making undergarments—a notoriously fraught category—more palatable. The brand’s Comfort Stretch Thong is one of the picks in Wirecutter’s guide to the best women’s underwear.

“I hate, hate, hate thongs, and the ThirdLove thong is literally the only one I ever wear,” confirms Samantha Shoech, Wirecutter’s gift guide writer. “It’s very soft and thin, and it doesn't ride up in the front or make me feel like I have a wedgie all the time.”

This stitch-free style doesn’t cut or rub, but the seams don’t feel as durable as those on other picks. And the thin material might not provide sturdy support for folks with looser skin.

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When you find a product that you love, there’s a joy and relief in knowing that your search is over—and since discovering the 24/7, I’ve been pretty much monogamous, with the exception of the occasional sports or strapless bra. But if you work at Wirecutter, trying new things comes with the territory, and I recently began testing—yep—a fresh round of bras. Playing the field has only reinforced my loyalty to the 24/7—and started to clutter up my lampshades again.

This article was edited by Annemarie Conte and Ben Frumin.

Ingela Ratledge Amundson

Ingela Ratledge Amundson is Wirecutter’s supervising editor for style coverage. She has previously contributed to publications including The Wall Street Journal, Real Simple, Time, Parents and Cosmopolitan.