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Our FourthWear Postpartum Recovery Underwear is an innovation close to our hearts. FourthWear is our flagship bestseller and the very first item we launched with, back in September 2019. The idea came to Nyssa’s founders– longtime friends Mia, Eden, and Aubrey– while we were recovering from the births of our children.
Despite having prepared diligently for pregnancy and birth, we found ourselves profoundly at a loss when it came to recovering from our vaginal and cesarean deliveries. We didn’t know what to expect and we certainly didn’t have the items we needed to recover.
Like many other new moms, we spent hours Googling DIY hacks for healing, making padsicles and trying to secure them inside the flimsy mesh underwear provided by our hospitals. It was uncomfortable. It was time-consuming. It was disheartening. Recovery from birth is an immense undertaking. But we still felt like patients rather than the strong, capable new mothers we were.
FourthWear was born from our desire to provide the next wave of mothers and birthing parents with a recovery solution that was clinically proven to ease pain (ice and heat therapy is the primary natural pain relief measure recommended by doctors) while also being super soft and incredibly comfortable to wear.
We spent a full year sampling and testing fabric for FourthWear before landing on the perfect solution: a buttery soft blend of spandex and recycled polyester that performs exceptionally well when it comes to holding ice/heat packs in place and gently conforming to ever-changing postpartum bodies.
We utilize a sewing method called ‘serge stitching’, which encloses the seam allowance, thereby reinforcing the 4-way stretch that makes our super soft fabric the perfect choice for bodies that are in recovery– in fact, our material can keep its shape while expanding and contracting to hold more than 100lbs in either direction! Most fabrics cannot perform to this high level of recovery: ours can.
Our FourthWear pattern cutting and size grading is handled by our longtime collaborator, Meilin Schneider, the founder of Digit Pattern Services based out of our hometown of Chicago, IL.
FourthWear features a dual-layer, 360° pocket that enables you to insert an ice/heat pack and slide to anywhere in the garment— front, back, sides or gusset (which we made extra wide, so the packs can comfortably slide right inside the gusset itself). Creating an opening to the pocket that wears well over time and helps keep the ice/heat pack in place was extremely important to us, so we use an extra strong bonding tap to reinforce the pocket opening.
Our double-patented design basically features two pairs of underwear in one and functions as an ‘infinity’ pocket– there’s nothing quite like it out there. Being able to insert ice/heat wherever you need it is a game-changer. Lingering back pain from labor? Pop a pack through the pocket and shimmy it round the back. Hemorrhoids?
Slide it through the gusset towards your butt. C-section scar? Place a pack right over your tummy. Wherever you need ice or heat therapy, FourthWear will hold it secure so that you can receive relief, wherever you are, whatever you’re doing.
In addition to speaking to dozens of moms around the country to find out more about their postpartum recovery needs and ‘dream underwear’ scenarios, we formed an Innovation Advisory Board of compromised of women's wellbeing professionals, including OB-GYNs, Doulas, Midwives, and Pelvic Floor Therapists.
We worked especially closely with our advisor, Dr. Laura Laursen, an OB-GYN and director at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago and NYC-based cryotherapist Dr. Susan Kwiecien, who consulted on the impact of ice and heat therapy for a faster and more comfortable postpartum recovery.
FourthWear also represents our ongoing commitment to producing with supply chain and manufacturing partners that are primarily led by women. We are proud to work alongside our production partners in Mexico and Pennsylvania.
Since FourthWear Underwear’s launch in 2019, it’s been called “genius”, “revolutionary,” and “game-changing.” It’s been coveted by celebrities. It’s even been featured on display in a museum, as one of the most impactful innovations in women’s health in the past 100 years. This is all amazing, of course. But, for us, nothing quite beats the messages we get from our fellow mothers. We’ll leave you with some of our favorites:
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