Tomima’s Blog – Lingerie & Underwear Expert

It’s been fun watching the launch of Emporio Armani underwear for men and the recent Emporio Armani lingerie lines because the marketing buzz it has created has been fresh and exciting.

The latest buzz was that Armani had signed up David Beckham and Angelina Jolie for the next round of ads.  One can only imagine how fabulous it would have been to see both of them sporting Emporio Armani underwear as well as their tattoos.  And I wonder if the Armani marketing team thought about putting the men’s items on Angie and the women’s on David?

Well, all my fabulous fantasies of this pairing were dashed today when US Weekly quoted Beckham on the topic as saying "I don’t think that’s true.  I definitely don’t think that’s true."  Oh well…

However, on this same topic, I came across a great video to share with you–Emporio Armani’s behind-the-scenes video on YouTube of David and Victoria Beckham during one of their joint photoshoots in underwear and lingerie, Definitely worth a gander.

And, of course, you can purchase both men’s and women’s Emporio Armani underwear lines at  HisRoom and HerRoom.

There is a new test available to clothing manufacturers to determine if a garment is hypoallergenic.

The Hohenstein Institute, based in Germany, has figured out how to analyze a fabric’s interaction with living skin cells and determine if that fabric will induce an allergic reaction or skin irritation to the wearer.

HerRoom.com and HisRoom.com are constantly contacted by people with latex allergies looking for underwear and lingerie they can wear without irritation.  Though we do our best to identify items the manufacturers have told us qualify, read any of the customer reviews on these items and you will see people complaining that they don’t work.

I contacted Sam Moore from the Institute and had a fascinating conversation with him.  First, he is not aware of any underwear/lingerie brands on the market that are free of latex and spandex.  Without either fiber, a garment would only have as much support as a draw-string could deliver.

I asked Sam about products containing latex and/or spandex where the offending fiber is covered by another fabric, cotton for example.  Why wouldn’t  this type of garment work for consumers?  His answer was enlightening.  Both latex and spandex break down in the wash.  Therefore, small particles of the offending fiber will work their way out of the casing and eventually wind up on the surface of the fabric covering them.  So, even if latex or spandex is covered, the wearer is not protected and an outbreak will occur.

The Hohenstein Certification on products will be of great interest to those consumers with skin sensitivities and allergies. Scientists have identified more than 3,700 substances that are skin allergens.

The Hohenstein test currently costs about $3000 per garment.  At that price, it’s prohibitive for a retailer such as myself to have the test conducted on everything I sell.  However, manufacturers could find great financial benefit in having their products Hohenstein certifiied.  As of this writing, Fruit of the Loom has made an inquiry.

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Today, my customer service team forwarded to me this inquiry from a customer named Denise:

"When I was young, my mother told me the average and also perfect bra size was 34B.  Now I have noticed a lot of 34B in pictures, and the basis of your fitters measurements.  What is it that is so special about 34B?  So is 34B really the average size?  Or was it at some point, the average size and we’ve now outgrown it?    Thank you!"

Well Denise, you ask a very good question.  First, let me address why HerRoom uses 34B as the basic average bra size for photography and measurements.

The reason HerRoom uses 34B bras and thus 34B models is because in the lingerie industry, the established sample size is 34B.  Months before a new item is displayed on our site, my buyers go to market where they are shown the new styles by each vendor.  With the exception of manufacturers who specialize in larger sizes, all the samples the buyers are shown are in 34B.  We take those samples, photograph them, and measure them before they are shown on the site.  So, it’s not our choice, but rather, 34B is the only size we can get our hands on.

Now, this sort of answers your second inquiry which is why are there so many 34B mentions on the Internet, and is it the average bra size.  No, it is not the average bra size.  Today, U.S. manufacturers tell us that 36C is the average bra size in America, and that it is trending towards 38C becoming the new average U.S. bra size.  Yup, we are getting bigger. Again, because everyone makes their samples in a 34B, we are somewhat forced to photograph that size on our site.

Denise, I’m also glad you asked this question because it gives me an opportunity to point out something we do at HerRoom that no one else does.  From reading years of customer comments, it was clear that larger busted women find it very difficult to make a decision about a bra unless they see it on a model with a fuller figure.  To address this, any bra that comes in DD cup sizing or larger at HerRoom will have an alternate image shot titled "36DD".  That’s right, once we have inventory of a bra, we pull the 36DD and bring in a model of that size and have her photographed.  So, a full figured woman can now see a bra at least close to her size on a more voluptuous model.  She will also be able to see if the manufacturer makes any design changes to accommodate the large cup sizes.

Great question.  Thank you Denise.

Find bras at HerRoom in these departments:
Bras
Plus-Size Lingerie

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