Archive for the 'Bra Fitting' Category
Breast Bounce in Sports Bras
March 26, 2008
Sports bras are really in a category all their own. You see them less in lingerie departments, and more in the active sportswear stores. This is because sports bras are all about performance. And that performance is their ability to reduce breast bounce. It’s a pretty standard occurrence that a sports bra will declare itself to be one of 3 support levels: light, medium or maximum in its breast support.
Maximum support sports bras are claiming their design will keep your breasts supported during high impact sports such as running, tennis, basketball, etc. This is all great, but do we really know if a bra claiming to be maximum support is doing its job? Before answering this question, let’s talk about breast bounce. The leading researcher in this field is Dr. Joanna Scurr — Professor in the Department of Sport & Exercise Science at the University of Portsmouth in the UK.
Dr. Scurr has done extensive research and testing in this field. Her findings are rather interesting. The first interesting point about breast bounce during running is that breasts move in 3 directions: up and down, side to side, and in and out. And, because of the alternating movement of our arms, the up and down and side to side movement looks like a sideways figure eight.
This movement happens both with and without a bra on. Testing 20 D cup women (ranging from 32D-36D), Dr. Scurr was able to measure the movement. Without wearing any bra, these women’s breasts had a total movement of 15.4 centimeters or a little over 6". That’s a lot of breast movement! Dr. Scurr than set out to find if this breast bounce was reduced significantly by wearing various bras. What she found is that breast movement reduced by 49% just by wearing an average everyday bra, and that wearing an encapsulated high impact sports bra reduced breast bounce movement by up to 73%.
Given this research, can one conclude that all maximum support sports bras will reduce your breast bounce by 73%? Well, HerRoom put all their 35 sports bras claiming to be maximum support to the test. With a 34D model running in place, a still video was shot of the model both in front and to the side. The results of "The Bounce Test" showed that the label of "maximum support" or "High Impact" on these bras did not guarantee a consistent reduction in breast bounce during high impact sports. The poor performers included:
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Champion Double Dry Seamless Sports Bra 2893 |
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Donna Karan Casual Active Underwire Sports Bra 35160 |
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Lily of France In Action Sport Underwire Bra 2111210 |
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Moving Comfort Sera Seamless Sports Bra 705360 |
Another point Dr. Scurr observed is that encapsulation style sports bras reduced breast bounce more than the traditional compression style sports bras. The Bounce Test proved this out, with the best performers being encapsulation, or a combination of encapsulation and compression. The best performers included:
See all the Bounce Test videos on HerRoom.
Posted by Tomima at 12:51pm
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Making Sense Out of All the Bra Cup Sizes
March 08, 2008
Let me just state up front that if you wear a D cup size bra or smaller, you can ignore this posting – you won’t know what I’m talking about. IF, however, you’re bigger than a D, read on – I’m finally going to explain to you why you think different bra brands don’t fit you right when you buy what you think is your size.
Here’s the set up. Okay, you purchased a 36DDDD in Lunaire. You love it. It’s the perfect fit. You’ve found your size – hurray! Now, you see a bra by Freya that you want. You pull down the sizing options and… no 36DDDD. What’s going on? You find a Chantelle bra you like. Again, you look for your size; it’s not there. You see a Goddess bra. Again, no 36DDDD. “What is going on?” you say. “Is my size unique?” “Am I stuck with only one bra brand that fits me?”
Well, here’s what’s going on. Sizing for A to D cups is the same for all brands I’ve ever worked with. So, a C cup in one brand should be the same cup size in any other brand. And most of the time, this is absolutely true. However, once a brand goes beyond a D cup size, for some reason the naming of cup sizes became a free-for-all with every brand deciding for themselves what to call those cup sizes. Put another way, It’s not that your bra size is different in the various lingerie brands, but rather your size is simply called by another letter or group of letters.
In the scenario above, here are your proper bra sizes in the aforementioned brands:
Lunaire = 36DDDD
Freya = 36F
Chantelle = 36G
Goddess = 36F or 36FF
Here’s another frustration. You are told you’re a 36F. So now, armed with this fact, you march into a lingerie store and start trying on 36F bras. But many of them don’t fit. Why?
Again, 36F is not the same across all brands. If you are a perfect 36F in a Goddess bra, a 36F in Freya will be one cup size too big. In Elomi, their 36F bra will be 2 cup sizes too big. And, in some specific Goddess bra styles, your 36F could actually be too small.
After seeing this, I know you probably want to throw up your hands in disgust and frustration. Well, I don’t blame you. It took me a long time to wrap my arms around all the sizing names myself. But, having gone through this analysis, I discovered a simple trick to help you find your correct size in any lingerie brand. So, pay close attention, I’m about to make your bra sizing/fitting dilemma go away.
First, know that regardless of the cup size name, your band size number will always be the same. In our example of a 36DDDD, you can count on your band to be a 36 throughout all bra manufacturers. Now, for the cup size. Here’s my trick: don’t try and find a specific cup size when shopping. Instead, know how many cup sizes you are larger than a D cup. In our above Lunaire example, Lunaire sizes their cups as follows: D, DD, DDD, DDDD. As a DDDD wearer in Lunaire, you are 3 cup sizes larger than the standard D cup. So, when you want to find your size in another brand, simply find what out what cup size letter (or letters) they give to the 3rd size past D. Let’s look at a Chantelle bras. Chantelle cup sizes go D, E, F, G, H. The third cup size after D is G. So, you’re a 36G in Chantelle. Let’s look at Panache. They size D, DD, E, F, FF. You’re a 36F in Panache. Voila! You’ve got it!
Now, I can’t help it; I’m an Internet retailer. I would be remiss if I didn’t drop a pitch in for why you women above a D cup size should shop for bras on-line. So, here’s my argument. Online retailers have a greater selection of plus size and full figure bras to choose from, AND at HerRoom, I make sure the sizing is displayed sequentially from the smallest to largest on every style. This makes figuring out your size in any brand much easier. You can’t do this at a retail store, because the bras are not hanging in any specific size order. There’s my pitch.
After reading all this, if you’re still finding it all a little confusing, this chart is the ticket. Simply find your best fitting bra by size and brand. The vertical column will be your size in all other brands on the market today.
Here’s the chart: available at HerRoom.com
Posted by Tomima at 8:23pm
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So, What’s the Difference between “Full Figure” and “Plus Size”?
March 03, 2008
Full figure vs. plus size. The terms "full figure" and "plus size" have been in the lingerie lexicon since the beginning. They’re frequently mentioned and used interchangeably so often that many consider them synonymous. Well, they aren’t. That’s right, there is a difference between the two terms; you can be full figured without being plus sized. Let me explain.
In the lingerie business, the term, full figure means you have a cup size of D or greater. Plus size means you have a cup size of D or greater AND a band size of 40 or greater. So, a 34DD would be considered a full figure bra size. A 42D would be both a full figure and a plus size bra.
This is important for a couple of reasons. The bra size 38D is the cut-off size for the largest bra size in many brands. A bra can therefore have a size range up to a 38D and be considered an "average figure" bra. But, bra styles that include and exceed a 40 band size in their size run are considered a plus size bra. By contrast, a bra style that only goes up to a 38 band size, but includes cup sizes larger than a D is considered a full figure bra style, but not considered a plus size bra style.
The point here is that you need to pay attention to what term is actually being used on a bra style. If you wear a 42E, don’t be so sure that a bra claiming to be full figure will come in your size. Conversely, if you wear a 34DD, don’t think you need to be looking only at plus size bras in order to find your size.
There has been an increase in manufacturers who cater to the full figure market. These brands include Lunaire, Panache and Chantelle. Plus size brands are also on the rise. They include Goddess, Le Mystere, Fantasie of England and Freya.
If you need help with full-figure sizing, see HerRoom’s full-figure fitting guide.
Posted by Tomima at 4:28pm
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