Bra-fitting services fail to measure up
Trendy-Lingerie.com — Less than a third of bras sold by lingerie stores, department stores and bra specialists in England are a good fit.
The same is likely true for stores in the US and elsewhere as well.
British consumer watchdog organization Which? sent 11 researchers, aged 25 – 75 with a DD cup size or larger, to 70 specialist and high street stores.
A quarter of the fittings were appalling, the organization reports, saying “our experts suggested the volunteers could have been better off ‘picking something off a market stall’.”
Jenny Driscoll of Which? says:
“Whatever their bra size, women want to look good and feel good.
“Heading to the high street for a fitting might seem like a simple solution, but the results we found were shocking – one bra was so poorly fitted there was room for a pair of socks in the cups.
“If stores are going to offer this service to customers they need to up their game: do it properly or don’t do it at all.”
Consultant bra technologist Gillian Spencer and lecturer and technical designer Laura Savery assessed the fit of bras sold to the women. Among other things they looked at the fit and comfort of cups, wire and straps.
Only 29% of the bras sold to the undercover shoppers were rated as a good fit by the experts.
Which? says none of the services tested were good enough to recommend. That includes John Lewis and big bra specialist Bravissimo — the two stores that received the best overall scores.
Of the bras sold by John Lewis, 45% were a perfect fit. At Bravissimo it was 43%.
At M&S, which sells more than 25 percent of Britain’s lingerie, only 36% of the bras sold to the undercover shoppers were a good fit.
Nine of the eleven researchers wear plus-sized bras, but two women with smaller breasts encountered equally poor results.
Are you wearing an ill-fitting bra?
Which? points out that poorly fitted bras don’t just look awful – they can also cause or exacerbate neck, shoulder and back ache as well as poor posture.
It is often said that 80 to 85 percent of women are wearing the wrong bra size.
Check the bra fitting tips in that article, but note: it is not just the size of the bra: the style also counts.
Before you shop for a bra, take some time to re-familiarize yourself with how a bra should fit.
It may help if you wear your favorite, best-fitting bra to the store.
At the store, make sure the person helping you has the time and interest to assure you achieve a proper fit. If you are unhappy, don’t feel bad about leaving empty-handed.
You may also want to consider shopping for a bra online. If you do so, make sure you can return products for full credit.
Amazon.com, for instance, has a extensive collection of bras and other intimates which you can try in the intimacy of your own home.
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Related posts:
- How to measure your bra size
- Understanding Undergarments: Professional Bra Fitter
- Marks & Spencer supports Britain’s bigger breasts with J-cup bras
- How a bowl of warm water can help you buy a bra that fits better
- Women pay a price for large breasts
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I wear a DD size myself and have had a bra-fitting on three occassions — two of which I hated. The first fitting was quite alright although I was somewhat embarassed at how the much older lady handled my breasts. She wasn’t being overly familiar but did not ask permission for some of the things she did. Still the bra I ended up with long was a favorite of mine.
Meanwhile the store had closed so the second time I went to another store. There I was helped by a girl my age who made a rude remark when she saw my bare breasts. “Those t*ts look good enough to kiss,” she said. I got dressed and left rightaway.
The third time the bra-fitting specialist certainly knew her job. I came away with two fantastically comfortable bras. However the women was overly familiar and treated me like I didn’t know how to put on a bra. She was constantly touching my breasts, kind of like Trinny and Suzanne used to do in What Not To Wear.
At one point she even hurt me when she stuck her hand down the bra I was trying on ‘to see if the nipple was positioned properly.’ Well, it was, but she squeezed my other nipple hard enough for me to yelp.
Nowadays I am my own bra fitter. I use the kind of guidelines you have on this website, take my own sweet time to try many different bras, and buy the ones that are most comfortable. After I have worn a new bra a few times and still think it is comfy I go back to the same store and get myself 2, 3 or 4 more, preferably in different sizes.