Ask an Australian runner about her berlei sports bra and she will probably answer with a number, not a style name: SF3, maybe SF4. Berlei is the Australian sports bra specialist that grades support on its own Support Factor scale, SF1 to SF4, and it has spent more than a century fitting Australian women. The honest catch for US readers comes first, not last: Berlei has no real US distribution. There is no Berlei US store, no Berlei Amazon storefront, and almost nothing to buy on Amazon US. This guide decodes the system Berlei built, walks the range line by line, translates the Australian sizing, and then tells you plainly what a US shopper can and cannot actually buy.
Most brand guides quietly skip that availability problem. We would rather explain it, because wanting a Berlei and being able to buy one are two different projects in the US right now.
The brand in one paragraph
Berlei is an Australian label with over 100 years of bra making behind it. Berlei describes an Australian based, female led design team and a range built around fit work rather than fashion drops. HerRoom, one of the few US retailers that stocks the brand, dates Berlei to 1917 and describes sizes running from B to J cups across its bras. Berlei sits inside the same Hanesbrands family as Shock Absorber, the British support specialist we profile in our Shock Absorber guide, and the family resemblance shows: both brands treat bounce as a measurable problem, publish their own support grading, and size sports bras in real band and cup sizes instead of small, medium and large. Brand lore has Serena Williams wearing the bras since a junior trip to the Australian Open. Lore is not evidence, but the lab work below is real.
The Support Factor system, decoded
Berlei’s own fit guidance, published on Berlei, assigns each level a job:
- SF1, low impact. The entry tier, for yoga, Pilates, stretching and easy walking.
- SF2, medium impact. Berlei names weights, walking and cycling.
- SF3, high impact. Berlei names tennis, basketball and netball.
- SF4, extreme impact. Berlei names running, kickboxing and HIIT.
Two things make this system better than the usual low, medium and high labels. First, the activities are named, so you match your actual sport instead of guessing what a brand means by high. Second, the grading grew out of laboratory testing rather than a marketing meeting. The Australian Sports Commission published biomechanics testing of the Berlei Sport range in which the top styles reduced measured vertical bounce by more than 50 percent, and in which wearing the straps crossed improved the reduction further. Those are the Australian Institute of Sport lab’s numbers from its test program, not ours, and the range has been revised since. Treat them as evidence that the grading is earned, not as a promise about any single current style.
If you want the general framework behind impact levels before the brand specific version, our explainer on sports bra impact levels covers how any support scale should be read. Berlei’s version is the same logic with better labels.
The Berlei sports bra range, line by line
Berlei builds its sports bras on single breast encapsulation: each breast sits in its own cup and is supported individually, rather than both being pressed flat by one panel of stretch fabric. That choice explains most of the range. The lines below are the ones a US shopper will meet in listings and AU storefronts.
| Berlei line | Support Factor | Size reach in current listings |
|---|---|---|
| Electrify underwire bras (Mesh YYN7, Non-Contour, Contour YYPV) | SF3, high impact | AU bands 8 to 16, cups A to DD in AU specialist listings |
| Electrify Wirefree and Electrify Crop (YZ6A) | SF3 family, high impact | AU band and cup sizes, AU retail |
| High Performance Underwire (YYR9) | Top of the ladder, extreme class | AU band and cup sizes, thin import stock |
| ProElite crop | No current factor published in the sources we checked | AU retail only in our checks |
Size reach reflects retailer listings checked on 29 Oct 2026, not a brand promise, and it shifts by style and season. Where a current Support Factor for a sub-line is not published, the table says so instead of guessing.
Electrify is the core line, and the one with the widest footprint. The family covers a mesh underwire (style YYN7), a non-contour underwire, a contour underwire (style YYPV, also sold in two packs in Australia), a wirefree version and an underwire crop (style YZ6A). Brand copy carried by David Jones describes the non-contour Electrify as reducing bounce by up to 50 percent, with customisable straps that convert to a cross back, which matches the AIS finding that crossed straps tested better. The mesh underwire’s published specification lists a cotton lined cup in a polyamide, polyester and elastane body, adjustable straps and a hook and eye closure. We feature the mesh underwire in our tennis coverage; it is discussed here in prose only, because this site never cards the same bra twice.
High Performance Underwire (YYR9) is the flagship and the historical lab star. In the AIS test program it was rated the best bra of the range on the combined measures of bounce reduction, pain, comfort and preference, averaging a 51 percent bounce reduction and reaching 58 percent with the straps crossed. It is the Berlei our horse riding guide discusses, and it is covered there and here in prose for the same one card reason.
ProElite is the crop end of the range: a firmer, more compressive silhouette for women who prefer a crop shape with brand engineering behind it. In our checks it surfaces at Australian retail only, and Berlei does not publish a current Support Factor for it in the sources we could open, so we will not assign it one.
Affiliate disclosure: Stellaleah is reader supported. When you buy through links on this site, we may earn an affiliate commission, and as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. This guide carries no Berlei product cards, for the availability reasons explained below. Our full Affiliate Disclosure explains how the site is funded.
AU sizing, translated
Berlei sizes are Australian sizes, and the band number is the first trap. Australian bands use dress size style numbers, so an AU 12 is not a small band. The conversion published by Target Australia and cross checked against the chart at Casa Mia Lingerie runs like this:
| AU band | US and UK band |
|---|---|
| 10 | 32 |
| 12 | 34 |
| 14 | 36 |
| 16 | 38 |
| 18 | 40 |
| 20 | 42 |
The cup letters need more care than the bands. Australian cups follow UK lettering practice, which matches US letters up to D and DD, then keeps climbing with single letters: the size after DD is E, then F, then G. US brands usually print that same E position as DDD or F. So convert by counting cup steps from a size you know fits, not by matching the letter alone. A US shopper who wears a DDD and orders an AU DD has quietly ordered a cup too small.
Berlei’s own fit advice is conventional and sound: the band should sit level and firm, straps should pass the two finger test, and the brand suggests refitting every six months or so because bodies change. On an import purchase with expensive returns, that refit advice matters twice as much: measure first, convert second, order once.
Buying a Berlei sports bra from the US, honestly
Here is the full picture, because it is the section most guides would skip.
Amazon US is close to empty. Our checks on 29 Oct 2026 found exactly one Berlei sports bra listing family on Amazon US: the Electrify Mesh Underwire, a listing that dates back to 2016 and is sold by marketplace sellers rather than by any Berlei storefront. It is already featured elsewhere on this site, so it appears above in prose only. The High Performance Underwire has no Amazon US listing at all, which is why our riding guide discusses it without a card. No other current Berlei sports style, not the Electrify Contour, not the wirefree, not the crop, not ProElite, produced a verifiable Amazon US listing in our research. That is why this guide has no comparison table and no product cards. Padding it with another brand would break the rule this site runs on: cards are for products we verified, in the article they belong to.
The routes that do work are specialist import retail. HerRoom stocks a small Berlei sports selection in the US, two items when we checked, and describes the brand’s sizing as B to J cups. Brastop carries Berlei sports bras through its US storefront in UK sizing, with filter grids running from UK 28 to 44 bands. Beyond those two, the realistic route is ordering from Australia (Berlei’s own store, or department stores such as David Jones and Myer) and accepting Australian dollars, international shipping and a returns process that makes getting the size right the first time the whole game. The sizing section above is not decoration. It is the tool that makes an import order survivable.
Who Berlei suits, and who should look elsewhere
Berlei suits you if you like a published, activity named support grading instead of vague labels, you prefer encapsulation in real band and cup sizes over alpha sized crops, and you are willing to buy through a specialist importer or an Australian store.
Look elsewhere if you need Amazon US availability, easy returns, or a running bra tomorrow. Berlei’s own scale puts running at SF4, and the styles at that end of the ladder are the hardest of all to source from the US. The sister brand story is the practical shortcut: our Shock Absorber guide covers a Hanesbrands sibling with the same lab graded mindset and a somewhat better, though still imperfect, US footprint.
Common questions
Is Berlei sold in the United States?
Only thinly. There is no Berlei US store or Amazon storefront. A small selection moves through US specialist retailers such as HerRoom and Brastop’s US store, and the rest is Australian retail with international shipping.
What does Support Factor 3 mean?
It is Berlei’s high impact tier. Berlei assigns SF3 to tennis, basketball and netball, SF2 to medium impact training such as weights and cycling, and SF4 to extreme impact work such as running, kickboxing and HIIT.
What is my Berlei size if I wear a US 34DD?
Your band converts directly: US 34 is an AU 12. For the cup, count steps rather than matching letters. Australian cups follow UK practice, so the sizes above DD run E, F and G where US brands often print DDD and beyond. If your US size is above DD, convert with extra care or ask the retailer’s fitter before ordering.
Is the Electrify a running bra?
By Berlei’s own scale, not quite. Electrify is SF3, the high impact tier, and Berlei reserves SF4 for running. Plenty of runners wear SF3 bras happily at smaller cup sizes, but the brand’s own answer is to step up a factor for running, and the honest summary is that US runners will struggle to source the SF4 end of this range anyway.
Why does this guide have no product cards?
Because none of the fresh Berlei styles we researched could be verified on Amazon US, and the one style that is listed there is already featured in another article on this site. Rather than pad the page, we documented the gap. If Berlei’s US distribution changes, this is the first page we will update.
The bottom line
A berlei sports bra is one of the best argued products in the category: a four step Support Factor scale with named activities, encapsulation in real sizes, and Australian Institute of Sport lab work behind the grading. For a US reader, the bra is the easy part to admire and the hard part to buy. Learn the scale, learn your AU size, use the specialist importers that actually stock the brand, and go in with your eyes open about returns.
