A brassiere fashioned from a circularly knit fabric blank has a central panel between the breast cups that has a greater resistance to stretching than the remainder of the body of the brassiere. The brassiere preferably is formed from a blank that is knit to have two pairs of breast cups that are arranged in mirror image about a fold region at which the blank is folded to place one set of breast cups in overlying relationship with the other set of breast cups such that the resulting brassiere is a two-ply structure. The brassiere can be formed in either non-underwire or underwire form. When included, the underwires are attached either to an exterior side of one of the plies, or alternatively between the plies. The blank can be circularly knit as a two-ply tubular structure similar to a long turned welt.