Shirt design for Lymphedema

carol57

Cindy, thanks for posting the photos!  Does the new shirt tend to roll at the bottom? A lot of the shirts are almost tapered toward the bottom, and sometimes they tend to roll up because they're too tight on us non-athletes.  Does this one stay put?  And would you say it falls at your waist, below it, or even lower?

Carol

Tamiami

I have a question...something I have been wondering about since I have been wrapping for my LE.  Cindy's picture shows exactly my concern.  Can you see where the top of her sleeve is "digging into" her upper arm?  What is the difference between this and say a blood pressure cuff that we know is a big no-no.  I mean absolutely no disrespect Cindy, I'm just curious.  The top of the lightweight "sleeve" that goes under my wrapping digs into my arm a little bit, and I think it's causing cording...and is painful at the site and all the way to my elbow.  Any thoughts?

Cindyl

It's nice and long... 27 inches from shoulder to bottom hem.  I haven't worn it long enough to say if it will roll or not, but not rolling yet.

purple32

It seems to me that the Eastbay fabric is slightly heavier and slightly less stretchy.

Cindyl

The sounds of ' heavy' isnt exciting me for summer, and the less stretchy makes me wonder about compression.

What is YOUR opinion?
THX for your review !

Cindyl

Tamiami, if you look at the pictures, you can see the the dig in factor is much worse with the UA (white) shirt than with the Eastbay shirt (Navy)  It's the tightness of the shirt sleeves that cause  the problem (at least in part). Which is why I don't wear the UA shirt unless I really hike up the compression sleeve, and why I'm looking for a shirt with a longer sleeve. That part of my arm is one of my worst swell spots. I am fine in the morning, but as the day goes on?  My cup runneth over. I know we worry about double compression, but I think for my upper are, a gap is worse.  Today I wore the long sleeve Eastbay shirt with no compression sleeve.  When I get home I'll measure and see how far I've drifted from my target diameter. 

Carol - Only a little rolling at the bottom of the shirt, and none when I tucked it into my slacks and it was plenty long for that.  The sleeves however are quite excessivly long for me.  (I wear a 17" long sleeve, so yeah my arms are short) I'd guess these sleeves are 21 or 22 inches long)  I'll need to shorten them before I wear them again.

Purple - they are heavier than the UA heat gear, but much lighter than the UA cold gear.  Lighter than a standard cotton T-Shirt for sure.  I kind of like the weight, they aren't as transparent as the UA things can be (especially the white) and I would feel OK about wearing them out and about without an additional layer on top, which I pretty much always need with the UA heat gear.  I think the compression in quite satisfactory for me... but as with everything else it's going to depend on how they fit a given individual.  I may try one bra less at home, but I'm reasonably sure I won't like that.

I've got a couple of the UA mens 1/2 sleeve shirts on order.  I'll keep you posted.

carol57

Cindy, great details in your post!  It sounds like the new shirt is going to work for you, and that's terrific.  I have a couple of compression shirts with long sleeves that are loooooooong sleeves, and I always wondered who they were made for.  Having said that, I'm pretty short, and of course I know that there are tall people in this world, and that makes me think what an incredible challenge it is for any garment maker to make anything in standard sizes that could possibly meet the needs of a wide range of people with all our different body types.

cfdr

I've always had the opposite problem...I have very long arms and have trouble finding clothes with sleeves that are long enough.

Cindyl

My bff is the same.  We wear roughly the same size, but her arms are abnormally long, while mine are freakishly short.  Often I'll try something on, reject it because it totally covers my hands, give it to her to try, only to have her reject it because the sleeves are too short.  But gat damnit, why can't manufacturers size things like they do men's dress shirts?  I'd highly recommend it for anyone trying to fit we sisters of swell.

carol57

Time to update on the Go Athletics project, and I do want to clarify that I'm not trying to advertise for them in any way, just working with them to encourage their interest in making shirts that work better for us, so we can all have more alternatives.  I am very thankful that they're willing to help us, that's for sure!

To Cindy's point, there needs to be a way to have certain fit options, and sleeve length is an excellent idea for that.  Go Athletics is now working on a standard cut for a compression T that will have some features we're interested in, and they have our very long wish list from earlier in this thread. To help with that, I have some samples they made up and I've been asked to take a sharpie and mark on them where shape changes would be helpful, and send them back.  I'll be working on that this evening.  Of course, my shape is not everyone else's shape, so this is just a start for them to get a general sense of how 'we' differ from athletes in our shirt-fit needs.

But--and here's where I think we can all be very optimistic--Corey at Go has suggested that they would be able to make custom shirts. I think their first step is to get some standard-sizing shirts in the product list, but then just think about the possibilities--a downloadable worksheet to specify things like sleeve length and perhaps circumference of the sleeve cuff, to accommodate some extra room for those of us with large upper arms because of LE.  I'm thinking out loud here on the 'how' because nothings's been said in my correspondence with Go, since an initial conversation that included the possibility of offering custom shirts.  I rather imagine that the number of custom-measurement choices can't be unlimited, but if you think about it, there probably are only a few individual adjustments that any of us might need.

It helps everyone, including Go and any other garment maker who is paying attention (not holding my breath on that, however!) if we continue to review our various shirt experiences in this thread, which might save some trial-and-error as this project continues.

Carol

Cindyl

Sounds great Carol.  Hope they come through for us.   Something like this is what we really need. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703805004575606533495860918.html

carol57

Cindy, very interesting article. Last month I was mall walking outside Chicago and saw one of those retail scanners the article mentions. I asked about it, and it uses the same technology as the TSA back-scatter scanners at airports. I have to use those regularly and satisfied myself some time ago that the radiation is less than what I get on a flight, so I had the mall kiosk put me in their scanner.  

You stand still in a booth, and the scanner goes in a circle around you, as you hold your arms out. What you get as a result is a printout that shows which specific garments on sale at that mall would best fit your figure.  In theory, anyway, because I think there was one pair of pants, maybe one dress and one sweater on the list.  I was told that if I registered on the company's website, I could generate lists of garments from lots more retailers, but when I tried that, the list was really puny, too.  I don't think I have an odd shape that disqualifies me from 99% of clothing, so I assume they're just not partnered up with many clothing lines so they don't show many options.  

Anyway, it's an interesting concept whose time may yet come.  I think the Solaris folks have a scanner-type machine that they're experimenting with; at least I think there was something like that at their NLN booth in September.  Wouldn't it be grand, however, to be able to  go to a local mall, stand in a booth for ten seconds, and then order a custom-made compression garment?  Heck, most of us would probably be willing to stand in there necked from the waist up (with curtains around the booth of course!) to get a really precise compression fit.

We should keep in mind that dreams cannot come true if people are not dreaming.  So let's dream on.

Carol

Cindyl

Carol - yes. The technology is just getting there now.  The possibilities are amazing.

trail2

Hi Ladies,  I am reading your site for a friend that is having torso lymphedema problems and was interesting in your compression shirt discussion.  I have to wear compression garments for my work, and have tried several brands.  The ones that I find do the best job of compression and staying down I get at walmart in the men's department.  It is the Starter brand,  I then customize them with scissors  .  I don't like the high neck, so I cut off the neck section.  Even though it looks a little ragged, it has never continued to fray even with several washings.  I would think that you could get a long sleeve and cut the sleeve to the length that would comfortable adapt to your sleeve.  Sort of a 3/4 sleeve length.  Just thought I would make the suggestion.  This time of year you can often find the long sleeve shirts on sale for under 10 bucks, so you could try.  I get mine so tight that I sometimes have to have help pulling them down in the back, but once on, they stay in place.

Hope this is helpful. 

carol57

trail2, I'm chuckling at your mention of needing help to pull the compression shirt down in the back, because I know that story too well!  Wiggling in and wriggling out of compression shirts must be entertaining to watch.  Thanks for the suggestions!!  I wonder about trimming a sleeve, though, because the cut end might tend to roll up, and we could end up with too much tension around the tops of our compression sleeves.  Has anyone ever taken that bold step?

purple32

Cindyl

 Lighter than a standard cotton T-Shirt for sure.

That's important for me to note, esp for the summer. I thank you for taking the time to respond.

Best Wishes.

Journey

Has anyone tried SkinnyTees brand yet?  I found them by accident a couple of weeks ago on line and ordered a cap sleeve T-shirt in suntan (nude) to try out.  It really smelled strong when I got it so I washed it in cold and let it air dry.  Well I wore it yesterday and was comfortable all day!  Now I did wear it inside out since there are seams running under the arms where the sleeve is attached to the body.  There are no side seams! The neckline is a scoop and was perfect under my fashion t-shirt that I was wearing.  My observations are as follows.  SkinnyTees only comes in one size and are supposed to fit size 2 to 22 (or something like that).  I am a size med in street clothes so this fit nicely but was not a strong compression at all.  Hardly any compression, but it did make my t-shirt look pretty darn good as it evened out things.  So I thought it would just be nice for that and nothing else.  Today I am not wearing it and I miss just that gentle compression!  I feel the fluid under my armpit going towards my back, and I really wish I had it on again.  That speaks volumes for me to say that. 

I would think that the smaller you are the less this shirt will feel like it does anything, but the larger...maybe could get some very mild compression...I'm guessing?  There are LOTS of styles and even more COLORS!  They are not cheap.  My shirt was $ 42 with shipping.  For those without same issues as me there are tank top and cami styles for less.  Also short sleeve, 3/4 sleeve, long...

Hate to encourage anyone to spend yet more money while we wait for our holy grail but if you are desperate like I am you may want to check it out.  www.skinnytees.com

Again this is NOT a full compression shirt...just gentle hug kind of thing.  I was surprised this little bit helped me like it did.  I'm happy to try and answer questions about my experience.

carol57

Journey, great information!  And it reminds me to update progress with Go Athletics' project to design a compression T shirt that addresses our long list of needs and preferences.

They sent me some samples in men's extra-small, which was a good size for me, so I could comment on the compression fabric and where the fit and design might be changed.  At their request, I drew on the shirts with a sharpie to show where the neckline should be, and to mark a suggested length for the sleeves.  They have those shirts now, and they are working on designing a pattern for a first shot at a women's shirt with wardrobe-friendly neckline and compression-sleeve-friendly sleeve length. They are quite aware that there will be a need to figure out sizing and sleeve length for a wide range of women's sizes.  We had a good conversation --several of them in a conference call with me--and I sent them a lot of LE information so they can learn about LE as needed to understand shirt design needs.  

purple32

Carol

Thanks so much for the detailed update- sure sounds promising!

Journey,

I am in love with this  tie dyed top : http://www.skinnytees.com/tye-dye-tank.html

Bu there is no way I will pay $40 for one size fits all :>(  I'd really want to try that on if it didnt come in a  large.  Thanks for all the info. I am sure it will help some of the ladies here.

hugz4u

Carol. Thank you so much for the update. I never did hear back from underamour. I am waiting with baited breath to see what your tee turns out to be.

Journey

It's pretty sad about UA's lack of interest or at least communication.  Looking forward to seeing what Go Athletics has in mind.  Carol you rock!

Purple - I know the price is really high for what it is...but I'm sure if you really liked it the fit would be fine for you too. 

carol57

Journey, Go is working on it, and I expect to hear more from them before too long, so I'll learn about next steps.  They are the most sincere folks, so I know they'll do what they can for us.

purple32

You're right, journey. I would pay the 40 - no question.  ...but not for one size fits all that I can't try on.

cfdr

I purchased two sleeveless compression shirts from Go Athletics. I normally take a women's Large but ordered a men's Small. They fit just fine and are very comfortable. I've worked, slept and gone hiking in them. I like that they are very long...the shirts I've bought from Spanx and Maidenform ride up like crazy, but this stays in place. They hold a swell spot in place, which my UA shirt did not. The only complaint I have is that the neckline is pretty high...even higher than a t-shirt neckline. But I figure that I'll mostly be using these for hiking and other exercise, and I can use my Wear-Ease camisoles for going out, since they layer better than these.

The price for these can't be beat!!!!

carol57

cfdr, what a timely post!  I am helping Go Athletics with a shirt redesign to meet our needs, and yesterday I received two versions to try on.  I'll do that today and send them back with my comments, and markings with a Sharpie if the necklines need more adjustment. The biggest change from their standard shirt is that they indeed lowered the prototypes' necklines, for both a V neck and a scoop neck.  When they have settled on the neckline locations and on the sleeve length for a 'small' --which is my usual women's size in compression wear--they'll be working on other sizes, too.

Carol

cfdr

I couldn't wait for their special design and ordered their current ones. I'm excited to see (and buy and wear) what they design for us.

hugz4u

Im getting ready for those shirts to come off the assembly line. I hope they allow for bigger bellies so they don't roll up.

Thx carol for all your hard work.

carol57

Hugz, they know that we LE ladies come in all sizes. They're great people, and their interest in our needs is genuine.

carol57

Oh, and it's not been hard work at all.  The hard work is going on at Go, in Minneapolis!

purple32

Carol

Thanks so much for  doing all this.

When you consider the neckline etc .... of the shirt, please bear in mind that many of us wear compression camis  24/7.  Thsi proved top be quite a challenge when I was  doing the Diva shoot and it was time to  out the tank top on !

carol57

I'm hoping that eventually, they'll offer a few neckline choices--high, low, something in between.  Hope I'm not overwhelming them with our wish list!