First, I must confess, I have never bra-tucked. Crop-tops are out of the picture for me, and apparently tik-tok and instagram know this as the bra-tuck hack is not in my feed. I do follow @mrsbrookeknaus on insta though – we sat next to each other at a Mint event years ago and I’ve enjoyed seeing her set up life in CLT. So I’ve been watching her reels about tucking her tops to achieve a more flattering fit and look.
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Evidently, women have been tucking their tees, sweaters, shirts and tops into their bras for years to achieve a cropped or tucked in look, without the bulk at your waist. Honestly, we’ve all done it at some point, with a sweater looking in the mirror, folded it up under itself wishing it was shorter. So while this isn’t a new thing for influencers, it looked fun & fresh to me, and I followed along. Next thing I knew, Brooke had designed and created a belt just for top tucking. The Tucky Belt was born! Genius. Here’s Brooke’s story behind the invention.
The Tucky Belt came about in a very organic way. Like so many others, I was spending a lot of time in sweatpants in 2020. The plus side to that was of course comfort, but the downside was always feeling frumpy and un-put together. I started tucking my sweatshirts up into my bra more often (I’d done it for years before, but not to the daily level like I did in 2020) to give myself a little bit of a waist back. I was also freshly postpartum from having my second child, and doing the bra-tuck hack helped me feel better about my body again – like I had a bit of my old body back.
It was around Thanksgiving of 2021 that I swapped out the bra-hack for an elastic belt that I borrowed from another outfit that’d been hanging around my closet. I liked that using that elastic belt allowed me to crop my sweatshirts a bit lower on my torso, so I wasn’t showing as much skin. I also started using it to tuck sweaters up and into over summer dresses, which before I’d been doing with an uncomfortable leather belt.
The downside to the elastic belt I was using was that it was too stretchy and my tops would slip out easily. I loved how comfortable it was though, so I looked online to see if any product existed that would get the job done better. Nothing existed. I was surprised!
That’s when I got online and started looking at manufacturers who might be able to help me make something that would check all of those boxes: comfortable to wear, could hold up a bulky sweatshirt without slipping, and adjustable to various crop lengths on my torso.
After lots of back and forth I found an elastic company who was willing to take my Bic pen sketch and turn it into a real product. We finally created a prototype that did exactly what I wanted it to do. I wore it everywhere! That’s when I started to notice that the bra-tuck hack was everywhere on social media. I just new it was something so many other women would benefit from!
I didn’t know the first thing about designing, importing, how to set up a commerce website, taxes, trademarking, package design, shipping or marketing. But I believed in my product and taught myself as much as I could through online resources and calling on a few friends who had some experience in those fields. If I can launch a product from scratch, anyone can.
The Tucky Belt is made from thick, luxurious jacquard elastic and lined with silicone strips for extra grip. It’s fully adjustable from size 00 to a size 14. It’s currently available on ShopTucky.com and will be sold at Sloan and Girl Tribe in the near future. It retails for $30.
