OPINION
The Engineering of Empowerment: My Founder’s Story
By Claudia Glass I
was a cross-country runner in high school and winning race after race. Until I hit puberty, then it hurt to run at every impact, and I quit. But that story is not unique. Approximately 45% of girls drop out
of sport altogether during puberty—it’s uncomfortable, your body is new, and it’s painful. I spent years wondering what I would have done had someone given me a proper sports bra at that time. I was on track to win the European championships, but I believed that puberty simply made me slow. After twenty-five years of teaching high school English, I really wanted to do something entirely different. I knew I wanted a business that had something tangible - not consulting, not coaching, but a product I could touch and feel. Every day on a summer vacation in 2020, I ran down to the beach thinking about what my invention could be. I’d arrive hot and sweaty and wanted to jump in for a swim without changing clothes. That’s how the idea for Swijin was born: I wanted a matching set to run through the streets and jump in and out of the water that dried in a flash.
The 6% Blind Spot Before deciding to turn Swijin into a brand, I visited the head of technology at a leading European sportswear brand. I was thinking about selling the IP or co-developing. They
Above: Claudia Glass, Founder of Swijin Left: Claudia as a teenager
50 | April 2026
told me: “Claudia, we’d never make a product that expensive. We buy the least expensive fabrics from the biggest mills in Asia and produce them in the least expensive way possible.” I eventually discovered that legacy sportswear brands only invest 6% of their R&D into female-specific sportswear. The sports bra has been largely treated as an accessory, a bralette with some compression. But even A-C cups need support. If you
weigh two B cups, it amounts to the same weight as a can of soup. In motion, that force triples to three cans of soup being absorbed by the body and the knees. Female
athletes tear their ACLs 6-8 times more frequently than men, and while many factors are involved, we know a direct correlation exists between breast support and musculoskeletal health.
Science in the Land of Innovation Switzerland is famously innovative, so it’s the perfect place to work with scientific institutions to invent something entirely new. I began by applying for a government grant through Innosuisse together with the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (Empa). We interviewed professional athletes and identified their major pain points: Lack of support (63% experience breast pain), chafing injuries from rubbing seams, and uncomfortable underbust bands that restrict breathing. We quickly realised that thousands of sports bras are on the market, but none solve all problems in one product. Women are still forced to choose between support and comfort. A supportive bra has
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