Bra fitting advice with The Book Book

Why we need a new approach

Forget about the traditional tape measure based system. It works for some, but it’s far from reliable. Manufacturers developed this bra sizing system over 70 years ago and body shapes – and our understanding of them – have changed a great deal since then. Then there’s the fact that the system was designed for cup sizes A to D. We now have cups up to a JJ and the same rules don’t work at both ends of the scale.

The classic system also ignores the shape of the ribcage. If, for example, you have broad shoulders that taper to a small waist, you might end up with too large a cup size since the cup measurement won’t take your wider ribcage into account.

So forget about squeezing yourself into a certain size just because that’s what is available or because that’s what you are being told you are.

The 40page Bra Book, based on research conducted by Figleave's in-house sizing team, is available free from figleaves.com. It also contains information on bra styles, plus the different kinds of bra you are likely to need throughout your life as well as how to wash and look after your lingerie.

So what else did this book's researchers come up with? Did you know it was such a science finding the right bra?


Key observations

• The Figleaves.com sizing team fitted hundreds of women in the course of researching the Bra Book. The most common mistake they come across was women wearing a bra that is too small in the cup and too loose around the body, for instance, a 36B instead of a 34C or a 40C instead of a 38DD.
  
• In fact a quarter of the women we fitted who thought they were a C cup or less turned out to be a D or more.
  
• Over half of figleaves.com customers are already D cup or more. And with the majority of women underestimating their cup size it’s clear that the average bra size is no longer a 36C – we are a nation of D and D+ women.
  
• Wearing too loose a back band and too small a cup gives poor support and causes bulging necklines and lumps under fitted tops. Worse, it can also lead to skin irritation and bad posture and cause the underwire to pinch into delicate breast tissue.
  
• figleaves.com’s research into breast shapes has revealed just how different women are even if they are the same bra size. Two 32DD women can vary enormously in height, weight, cleavage and tone of breast. For instance, we measured two women – one 5’8” and 13 stone, the other 5’2” and 10 stone 4 pounds – to be 34D. So just because your friend is, say, a 34E and you are very different physically and don’t have anywhere near as much cleavage, don’t assume that you are not a 34E too.
  
• We also discovered a strong psychological factor – there is a strong perception among women that a D cup is very big while it’s actually average. This perception is perpetuated by the media and even cosmetic surgeons who commonly equate back size with breast size – for example claiming that Katie Price who has a petite frame is a 36DD. Actually she’s a 30G.

The Bra Book: 8 Easy Steps To Your True Bra Size is available free from: www.figleaves.com/brabook