Archive for June, 2009
Why Are Bra Strap Adjusters in the Back Instead of the Front?
June 29, 2009
Mary from Boston wrote in to HerRoom this week with a question: Why are strap adjusters on the back of the bra strap instead of in the front? We actually hear this question on a regular basis, so what better to do than blog about it. Here I go…
It makes perfect sense that the strap adjuster should be in front on bras. Think about it. It would make putting on a bra easier because the straps could quickly be let out to get them on your shoulders. Once your bra is on, you could easily adjust the straps yourself until you had adequate breast support. So, why aren’t they in front? Well there are 4 reasons.
1. Strap design. More and more bras now incorporate the front of the bra straps into the overall design of the bra. If there is lace, you will see it also crawling up the bra strap If there is a design element on the cup, many times it will continue up the strap. Designers also like to shape the bra straps differently. For example, start them wide where they attach to the bra cup and then taper them up to your shoulder area. These design options would never work with a strap adjuster. In these cases, the strap adjustment needs to be in the back.
2. Wide Strap Designs. In the last 5 years, the concept of "comfort straps" has really taken off. This is where the top of the strap that rests on your shoulder will be wide and possibly have padding. Such a design necessitates any strap adjusting being handled in the back.
3. Aesthetics. It is the common opinion of the industry that when looking a a bra, it is more attractive if all the hooks and adjusters are in the back. It’s a rather old concept, but one that seems to stick around.
4. Show-through. In this age of t-shirt bras, when no one wants seams from a bra to show through their form-fitting clothing, the strap adjuster gets the same scrutiny. If it’s in front, you would have a bump that would be visible under clothing.
Another interesting piece of information on this came from our friends at Wacoal. Years ago, the strap adjustment was always on the front of a bra. But, unlike today’s adjusters, it was a slide and pull-through strap adjuster that was rather bulky. Women complained about it showing under tops so the industry moved them to the back. When the new adjusters became popular, the industry never moved them from back to front.
So, for all these reasons, we are left taking off our bras and then guessing as to the right adjustment, or depending on someone else to do it for us. Now, there are some bras out there with front adjusters. You’ll just need to look closely at our images, or use our nifty feature to have all the back shots pop up in your search. And, you can purchase a convertible bra and switch the straps to your liking.
With all these explanations, it’s now understandable why the adjustments are in back. But, it sure would be great if someone could figure out how a girl could get to them once she’s put on her bra.
Find bras at HerRoom in these departments:
Bras
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Posted by Tomima at 11:56am
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Two New Ridiculous Bras
June 24, 2009
Came across both of these this week.
The first bra is called ‘The Husband-Hunting Bra’ by Triumph. This bra has a countdown clock that a woman sets to her personal deadline date and time for when she expects to be married. Once engaged, she inserts her engagement ring into a slot in the bra, the clock stops counting down and begins to play the wedding march song. The bra is playing to Japan’s singles market as the country’s marriage rate continues to fall. Think it will help?
The second bra is called the Horny Bra. A Slovenian company has found material that inflates when one’s body temperature climbs. So, when you put this bra on, it allegedly senses if your body temperature is climbing due to arousal from seeing some cute guy, and the bra ‘inflates’ cup size and turns into a more serious push-up bra. When you cool down, the bra does as well, taking your bust back to where it started. Warning: Women experiencing hot flashes should probably steer clear of this one.
Find interesting lingerie at HerRoom in these departments:
Sexy Lingerie
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Posted by Tomima at 9:56am
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Sagging Breasts – Does Wearing a Bra Prevent This?
June 19, 2009
Let me start with the punchline here: No one knows. Believe it or not, research on what causes breasts to sag has not been done. This fact is probably due to the time involved to find out. You’d be hard pressed to find a woman willing to go without a bra for 10 years all in the name of science – especially if she’s full figured.
So we don’t know if bras prevent the inevitable breast sag. But, here are a few things I do know. My 80 year-young mom has great looking D-cup boobs. Even her gynecologist has commented on how high they are compared to those of other women her age. I too have pretty perky ones. What both of us have in common is that we have always worn a bra. Though I’m a C cup, I really avoid clothing where I can’t wear some kind of bra.
I had the opportunity to work with Joanna Scurr last year. Dr. Scurr is the only one I know currently doing work on breast bounce and movement. Her research shows that our breasts move in a figure-8 motion as we move – especially while running. Though she wasn’t able to measure an increase in sagging, she did discover that breast pain and thus breast movement can be reduced or eliminated by wearing a supportive sports bra. The more support, the less the bounce and thus less breast pain. HerRoom, in fact, is the only website that conducts a bounce test on every sports bra and shows you how much breast bounce to expect when wearing various sports bras.
Our breasts, like our faces and other body parts, are subjected to daily gravity. They will sag. And, since they have little to no muscle tissue, it’s not possible to tone our breasts to make them firm. Wearing a bra may or may not reduce your sag over time, but what a bra can do is put your girls in a more flattering light. A bra can lift, separate, push up, minimize, plump up and generally present your breasts in a more youthful and attractive silhouette to make your clothes look better. And, wearing a bra cuts down on breast pain, reduces jiggle, provides modesty from headlights showing, and makes us more comfortable. All in all, it’s a great idea to wear a bra.
Find Sports bras at HerRoom in these departments:
Sport Underwear
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Posted by Tomima at 11:41am
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