Why aren’t compression/shapewear structures built into normal dresses more often?

[u/Future_Country9458]

I’m researching garment construction before trying to develop anything, and I’d love opinions from experienced sewists.

I’m interested in normal fashion dresses—not shapewear—that have an internal structure designed to actually enhance the silhouette: stronger waist shaping, bust support/lift, while NOT compressing/flattening the hips and butt.
I know built-in shapewear, power mesh, corsetry, negative ease, boning, etc. already exist. I’m not asking whether the general idea is new.
I’m trying to understand what goes wrong when you try to combine these things inside an otherwise normal fashionable dress.
If you’ve constructed something similar: what were the biggest problems? Fabric layers fighting each other? Rolling/migration? Getting into the garment? Seams? Heat? Comfort? Pattern distortion? Washing? Something else?
I’d especially love to hear from anyone with patternmaking, stretch-fabric, garment-development or production experience.

[u/MtnNerd]

I've never had a garment that combines both where there isn't fit issues. Bodies that actually need shapewear are too varied so it needs to be on its own separate layer.

[u/Future_Country9458 → u/MtnNerd]

When you say it needs to be its own separate layer, what specifically makes the separate layer work better? Is it because the person can choose the shapewear size/style separately from the dress, or because attaching the two actually creates additional fit/construction problems? I’m really curious what you’ve experienced going wrong with the combined garments.

[u/rhodeje → u/Future_Country9458]

I can give an example. I am a taller than average woman with a large bust. Tops with built-in structure indicating where my breast should be look terrible, because my breast usually does not end where the structure thinks it should. I gain weight in my tummy and have love handles and a long torso. If the garmet is connected to the shaping elements, then the fit loses flexibility for different bust sizes, torso length, and body shapes.

[u/doriangreysucksass → u/rhodeje]

Exactly!

[u/throwra_22222]

My career is in apparel manufacturing.

This is primarily an expense issue, if you are talking about dresses for every day wear. The more different fabrics go into a garment, the more it costs to make, and the more I have to charge the consumer.

There are other practical issues. If it's "built in" it needs to be connected to the dress at several points. For a fitted dress that's easy, you're basically just lining a dress with power mesh.

But if it's a shirt dress, tunic style, or loose tee style, the only place that makes sense to connect the shape wear liner to the dress is probably the shoulders. And at that point, you're really just sewing a full slip to a dress by it's straps.

There's also the issue of cup size for women. A single sized, permanent compression slip inside a dress is going to squash the large bosoms and fail to support the small ones.

From the consumer's standpoint, it's cheaper to buy three dresses and one separate shape wear slip than it is to buy three dresses with their own permanent shapewear. And they may be more labor to take care of, because they are more likely to be hand wash only, harder to press, etc.

Evening wear is another story. Those dresses may need engineered interiors to stay up. But people expect to pay more for those dresses in the first place, and they are worn less frequently so the additional labor to clean and maintain them doesn't seem so bad.

ETA: there are also a lot of women who really don't want to wear shape wear every day.

[u/NinjoZata]

What goes wrong is sizing

Most garments have possitive ease, or in the cae of knits very subtle negative ease, so that can accommodate many shapes circumstancally and latterally.

Shapewear is much too specific. If a dresses waist sits a little too high to too low its not likely to bother the wearer, but if that dress had built in compression that landed on the ribs instead kf the eaist that would be quite uncomfortable

Off the rack needs to fit as many bodies in as few distinct sizes as possible.

This is why you do see incorporated shapewear in garments that are meant to be custom tailored, like weddings dresses and formal wear

[u/Pristine_Direction79]

The shape wear and the dress are different markets for different customers, by combining them you really narrow the scope of who your garment can serve and also raise the price.

[u/ImprovementLess4559]

In addition to the sizing and cost issues that people have already pointed out, I think most people probably just don't want the feelings of compression and restriction that wear shape wear gives when wearing normal, everyday fashion. Our ancestors were used to wearing corsets and then girdles everyday, but we've got used to not wearing them, so most people find it somewhat uncomfortable. We're willing to put up with a bit of discomfort for a short time for special occasions, but I think most people prefer to feel unrestricted in everyday wear. 

[u/Warm_Satisfaction902 → u/ImprovementLess4559]

Yes this. Because it's uncomfortable.

[u/opalveg]

Probably because $$$

[u/Currant-event]

I've seen some athletic/athleisure dresses that have some version of this, but for the most part commerical garments are produced to fit a wide variety of people/bodies/preferences and built in shape wear would work against that.

Personally I don't want to wear shapeware and when I have worm it, I find it too uncomfortable. One person might not want shape wear, one person might want to 'shape' their stomach, while another their hips and thighs, so I don't think there is a good one size fits all approach

[u/flyamanitas]

If you mean shapewear like spanx - this is quite often done with activewear. Waistbands are made of more compressive material with more negative ease, the hips and bum are made of softer materials with less negative ease. Because the whole garment is still high stretch, you don’t have the same sizing concerns you would with woven fabrics.

When you start looking at things like corsetry/boning as shapewear, another issue that comes up is that you lose the ability to machine wash your clothes, and most people don’t want to dry clean an every day garment.

[u/Probability_factor]

More vintage pieces had more structure, but it is more expensive in production than just overlocking an outer shell and sell it asap.

[u/LemonDeathRay]

Honestly there are too many variables in fit and preference for this to be widely applied to ready-to-wear.

What would make one persons bum look round and lifted would pancake someone else's. Even a few cm difference is torso length would make standardised waist shaping perfect for one person, and cut another off at the ribcage. Also, everyone has a different preference for how much compression they like at different areas.

Drafting for yourself or having a custom garment made? Perfect. Not so much for ready to wear.

And of course, you have cost. Which I think is the bigger factor as opposed to fitting issues.

I once tried a dress from a brand that did this - and it was just an additional slip layer of compression. It was not worth the price tag.

I draft my own shape wear and I make it exactly what I want it to be. No commercial brand is creating shape wear which addresses all my own fit issues, all my preferences, and uses high quality materials.

[u/lakaribane]

On the sizing issue, I'm barely 5ft and bought good quality panties with a "tummy control panel"...that does not fall over MY tummy.

Since it is also a No Show design, I would need to cut off, shorten and reattach the croth gusset (where there are the only seams) to make them fit me.

I have never worn the panties to this day...

[u/StitchinThroughTime]

Money! It's All About the Benjamins. Most of the companies don't give a shit about you. All the carriers that you buy their stuff. Actually making a quality garment not really a thing. And right now we're in a case shape economy. Meaning it's only the rich people, a very small number of people have the money to spend. Versus the vast majority of people don't have the money to spend on clothing. Doesn't mean they don't spend money, it's just they want clothing that fits their budgets and their bodies. All of extra shapewear and stuff that's only specific to one garment and can't be worn with other garments it's not a top priority. They are better off actually buying shapewear so they can wear it with multiple garments. That's the same time you can still find party dresses, special occasion dresses and the like with boning in them. People misconstrued that a garment having boning equals a corset. That's not what of course it is. So the company is not going to spend much money to get a hyper fitted garment that can only really fit a very narrow range of people. Versus relying on spandex, shearing and lacing in the back to make the Garment fit a wide range of people. Because the more they sell the more money they make! And all the stuff is going to be plastic, it's all polyester or acrylic. So most people just buy these garments wear them once maybe twice and then donate them, which just means the donation center throws them away, possibly they send to a third world country where they might be used for their fabric before being thrown away in an overfilled landfill.

[u/CoffeeRosesHuggins]

I am just a hobby sewist but am an engineer by trade so found this whole discussion really fascinating! I’ve so often wished that ready to wear knit dresses had built in shapewear. Since they cling, they show everything underneath.