Today the Panache Full Busted Underwire Sports Bra 5021 made its way onto "The Today Show" with Hoda and Kathie Lee.  What they loved about it was its "bounce free" factor.  I agree with them, but I also love its look.

This is one of the prettiest sports bras on the market today.  It’s multi-tone color-blocking and uniquely designed back make it a stand-out that can be worn alone or peeking out of work-out clothes. And, so far our 10 reviews have all given it a 5 star rating – truly high praise.

When looking for a high-impact bra, you really do want full breast coverage – otherwise the breasts will bounce out of the open area on top. And, having a wider strap is not only more comfortable, but can actually give you extra padding against some of the gym equipment that rests on your shoulders.

This Panache sports bra also has unusually high cup sizing for a high impact bra. Panache makes this bra up to an H cup (their H cup is 7 sizes larger than a D cup). Given that this bra is encapsulation designed, this is quite a feat.  And, this bra has been independently tested and was shown to reduce breast bounce by at least 83%.

Many of us share the New Year’s resolution of getting into better shape.  With this bra, you will look and feel good working out in 2012.

Follow HerRoom on Twitter and Facebook for daily tips.

It’s no secret that Elomi is known for bringing full busted women great choices in lingerie and now the brand is expanding their bra offerings of K cup sizing. This is a win/win for Elomi and their K cup customers who until now have had a very limited selection to chose from.  In fact, many K cup women have not been wearing their proper cup size, so these are potentially new customers.

When you combine functionality with luxurious designs, the final product is a bra that full figure/full busted women truly enjoy wearing.  And Elomi strives to create that experience with every style. Key features you’ll find in many Elomi bras are 3 part and 4 part cups that support and give shape, side support panels that project the breasts forward and non-stretch straps for comfort and lift. These key ‘ingredients’ are especially great for those new K cup sizes.

An important point here is that not all manufacturers make the same K cup sizing.  For example, Aviana, Elila, Fancee Free and some Goddess styles all come in K cup sizes, but what they call a K cup is 4 cup sizes smaller than Elomi’s K cups.  So, keep this in mind if you are looking at Elomi bras – your size is not called a K.

Gone are the days of only unattractive lingerie choices for women with larger breasts.  Elomi continues to be at the forefront of bringing beautiful bras to the full figured woman. Even makes us average bra-size girls jealous that we can’t fit into them.

Find elomi lingerie at HerRoom in these departments:
Bras
Panties
Plus-Size Lingerie

Follow HerRoom on Twitter and Facebook for daily tips.

Well, now my bubble has been burst.  I learned recently that a size 0 today was a size 8 back in the 1970′s.  As a child, I remember one of my babysitters telling me that she once waited on Jackie O for a bathing suit and sold her a size 10.  So, for years, I thought as long as I stayed under a size 10, I was just fine.  Well, now I’m finding that her size 10 of the 70′s is today’s size 2!

So, what’s going on? According to Ed Gribbin, President of Alvanon Inc – a clothing size and fit consultant to the fashion industry, the industry is playing with the sizing numbers so that more plus-size women can fit in sizes that sound more standard.  Today’s size 14 has a bust measurement of 44 inches, a waist of 38 inches and hips of 46 inches.  So, though 1/3 of the American population of women are plus-sized, only 15% of clothing sales go to clothing classified as plus-sized.  In other words, they have shifted the sizing scale downward, created sizes like 0 and 00 at the bottom of the size scale so that traditionally average sizes like 10, 12 and 14 are actually fitting plus-sized women.

However, getting the right fit in these new sizes is a challenge.  As I blogged about before, once a woman gets to a certain size, she starts to hold her weight in a variety of areas.   In contrast, the smaller sizes tend to put on weight proportionally in the same areas and this allows the manufacturer to know how to grade a pattern for the different sizes.  We’ve all heard about the fruit shape comparisons.  The apple shape means you have a large tummy.  The pear shape means you have large hips.  These two silhouettes do not fit in clothing the same way – the weight distribution is diverse in these larger sizes.

Lane Bryant, a retailer of plus-sized clothing, has been making 3-D scans of many of their customers’ bodies since 2004. They now have more than 65,000 unique body measurements for comparison analysis.  What they found is that 15% of women in the plus sized category had more than a 10 inch difference between their waist and hips.  70% of these women had a difference between waist and hips within an 8-10 inch variance, and another 15% only has a 4-6 inch variance between these two measurements.  That’s a lot of variation!  So, there is no one dress shape or pant style that will fit all plus-sized women.

The lesson in all of this is that plus-sized women need to know not only their size, but their body shape.  The latest thinking is that there are 4 shapes – round, curvy, bottom-heavy and straight.

Since I sell underwear, once I learned this, I immediately thought of the challenges plus-sized women have with shapewear.  Shapewear is really made with the assumption that you are for the most part pretty straight up and down.  So by figuring out her body shape, a full-figure woman can make the right shapewear decisions  If she has a fuller bottom, two pieces of shapewear – one for the top and one for the bottom – will give her the best results. If she’s more straight, a one-piece shapewear will probably work.

So, say goodbye to the fruit analogies, and figure out what body shape you have if you are plus-sized.  This will go a long way in helping you find the best-fitting and figure-flattering clothing.

Find Shapewear that fits at HerRoom in these departments:
Shapewear
Plus-Size Lingerie

Follow HerRoom on Twitter for daily tips.

Fantasie makes terrific full-busted bras.  So, naturally, when they showed me a new bra that will be coming this fall, I became very excited. 

 The new Fantasie bra is called Esme.  It is their next generation of a t-shirt bra.  Currently their Fantasie Smoothing T-shirt bra 4510 and their Fantasie Molded Smooth Cup bra 4500 have been  "go to" t-shirt bras for many successful years.  And if you own one, you know that both run a little large in the cups. Well, Fantasie has listened to their customer and come up with this new Esme solution.

The Esme uses a new molded shape to the cups.  Though the molded fabric has stripe detailing, it still provides a smooth line under clothing.  The straps have also been brought inward and are what is called "center pull" so that the lift from the straps comes at the breast apex rather than on the shoulders.  This also reduces strap slippage. 

 When comparing the Esme to the 4500 and 4510, I instantly saw that the cups are more paired down for a lighter look on the body.  The cups are also light and thin to keep volume to a minimum.

 So, look for this new Fantasie Esme at HerRoom in the coming months.  I think you will love both the look and the fit.

Find Fantasie lingerie at HerRoom in these departments:
Bras
Panties

Follow HerRoom on Twitter for daily tips.

There have been a couple of articles written this week proclaiming Oprah as the reason that sexy and fashionable plus-sized lingerie is available in the market today.  This is simply nonsense. 

Every plus-size lingerie brand we carry at HerRoom has been around for years prior to Oprah’s ‘Bra Intervention’  programs.  But I will give her credit for bringing an awareness to women that they are probably in the wrong size bra.  However, her deal with Nordstrom stores to promote/push women to get fitted there and proclaiming them as the mecca for lingerie shopping did no one but Nordstrom any favors.

Between her recent big ‘secret,’  these articles of self-promotion and numerous personal interviews as of late, I think we can all figure out that she is simply manipulating the media with her star power in an effort to promote her new network OWN.  But hey, if I had her power, I’d probably be doing the same thing.

Find great plus-size lingerie at HerRoom in these departments:
Plus-Size Lingerie

Follow HerRoom on Twitter for daily tips.

Personally, I think finding the right band size is really tough.  A bra’s cup size either fits or it doesn’t, but finding the right fit in a band size can be a little subjective.  And it’s because of this that mistakes can be made.

Simply put, women – and bra fitters for that matter – have their own opinions on how tight a band should fit.  I know that I prefer a bra band on the slightly loose side.  I’ve seen bra fitters put women in band sizes that I thought were way too tight.  The final decision should ultimately rest with the wearer of the bra.  So, how do you decide your personal band size?

First, women with cup sizes C or smaller can decide what is the most comfortable for them.  Their breast size does not dictate the necessity for a firm band size.  But, D cups and larger really need to consider a few more variables.  Ninety percent of breast support comes from the bra band.  Therefore, the band should be firm enough around the chest to support the breasts.  A quick trick to see if this is the case is to put on a bra, then take the straps off your shoulder.  If the bra falls down to your waist, or slips down your torso, your band needs to be tighter.  Another test is to put on a bra and then twist your shoulders side-to-side.  If your bra band is moving on you while you do this, your band is too loose.

The difference between band sizes is 2".  Almost every bra comes with 3 hook closure options along the back.  The difference between the loosest and tightest position is between 1" to 1 1/2".  So, when you put a bra on for the first time, try it on its tightest position first.  If it feels comfortable, I would go down a band size. The reason is that you have nowhere to go once the bra begins to stretch with wear, and the next band size down will accomodate that stretch.  Say you are trying on a 38 band size on its tightest fastening and it feels comfortable.  I think you should go down a band size to a 36. Note: when you go down a band size, you need to go up a cup size if you want to maintain the same cup volume.

Alternatively, when you put on a bra for the first time, you should fit to the loosest adjustment.  Put on a bra and attach the hooks to the closest eyes on the bra’s other end.  Does it feel snug?  If it does, that’s your band size.  Now, as you wear that bra, you have the ability to adjust it tighter as the bra stretches out over time.  And, all bras stretch over time.

So, where do you start to find the right band size for you?  Begin with a tape measure.  Making sure it’s parallel to the floor, wrap the tape measure around yourself along your bust crease – the place where your breast skin turns into tummy skin.  Do this while not wearing any bra, and exhale to make this measurement as small as possible.  Now, to that measurement, add 3" or 4" to get you to an even number.  This should be your starting band size.  But, it doesn’t have to mean it’s your final band size.  You decide whether that band size feels comfortable to you and you like the support it provides.  Go up or down a band size till you feel comfortable.  But remember two things.  1. Each band increase/decrease means a 2" difference in the circumference.  So, if one size is a little tight, and the other is a little loose, fine tune your decision by moving the bra closure in the back to the second position.  2.  Cup sizes change in fit when you go up or down a band size.  So, say you like the fit of a 38C bra in the cups, but the band is too tight, you should move to a 40B.  If the 38C band is too loose, you should move to a 36D.

Again, let me emphasize that you should be the final arbiter on what band size you wear.  Don’t let someone else tell you what it should be.  There are a lot of women who own bra mistakes because they didn’t speak up or challenge the band size choice when they were fitted.

Find bras in all sizes at HerRoom in these departments:
Bras

Follow HerRoom on Twitter for daily tips.

She’s on the cover of the latest W Magazine nude.  Then inside, Kim is nude but for silver spray paint all over her body.  She has now left nothing to the imagination; Kim is standing full frontal and showing off her actual breasts.  But then the article claims they’re the cup size of DD.  Well, on that point, I disagree.

Being in the boob business, I deal with this all day.  In my opinion, she’s a larger cup size than she is claiming in this article.  What many may not know is that Kim is actually quite petite.  She stands only 5 ft 2 inches.  Her claim of having a band size of a 32 is therefore quite plausible.   But her cup size is more like a DDD or even a DDDD.  So, why not tell the truth?

Here’s my speculation.  She’s claiming double D’s because it sounds better.  Here’s a woman known for her hour-glass figure, yet even she doesn’t want to admit her true bra size. This is also one of the reasons why women are in the wrong size bras – they don’t like the sound of their real size.  For example a 34G.  It just doesn’t sound sexy.  "Look at those E’s!" Anything more than a DD and it sounds like you have implants or are abnormal.  The funny thing is that no one knows your bra size but you.  And, the right size makes you look thinner and younger.

What a missed opportunity for full-figured women everywhere.  Kim is willing to be photographed naked, yet can’t confess to her true bra size.  It could have done so much to help larger cupped women feel more comfortable about their bra size.  And, it could have gone a long way in educating men that there are cup sizes larger than a Double D… and they’re pretty terrific too.

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

Follow HerRoom on Twitter for daily tips.

Every once in a while, you read an article, and you just can’t get it out of your mind.That happened for me last month with the New York Times article, Plus-Size Wars.

It was a rather lengthy article about the on-going debate over skinny models and body image.  But, several data points in the article resonated with me as it relates to the challenge we have at HerRoom helping and satisfying our customers who buy the larger bra and panty sizes.

Here are the current statistics.  The average clothing size for women in America is a size 14.  The average American woman weighs 164.7 lbs.  64% of American women are overweight, with more than 1/3 being in the obese category.  And, here is the real kicker: plus-size clothing only represents 18% of total revenue in women’s clothing – and it’s been fairly constant over the past 20 years.  So, more than half of all American women fall into this plus-size category, and are buying less than 20% of all clothing.  And this statistic was down to 10% in the years 2008 and 2009.

The article then went into a very interesting explanation of the complicated challenges clothing makers have in trying to clothe the plus-size market.  We all know that body proportions change as we gain weight.  Manufacturers, over the years, have been able to very predictably guage where those changes are from sizes 2 to 12 and how much of a measurement increase there is between sizes.  A pattern maker can take a base pattern and make subtle measurement changes in certain spots on a pattern to come up with the other sizes for a particular garment.  This is called pattern grading.  This technique is so predictable that many of the grading changes date back to the 16th century.  But, here is the big but… after a size 14, there is no predictability or certainty where and how the dimensions change.  We women simply get fat differently when we get up into these sizes.

So, here are the plus-size challenges for clothing manufacturers:

1. They can’t grade up patterns to create the larger sizes.

2. They are forced to choose if the plus-size body they are going to design for is trunk, breast, or hip-heavy.

3. It’s difficult to find the right fit model for each size they are trying to make clothing for.

The lion’s share of poor reviews on HerRoom go to bras that come in plus sizes.  My team and I work so hard to provide our customers with the best fitting information possible on each bra that we offer for sale.  We read customer reviews, talk to the manufacturers and go to retail stores to get as much fit information on our bras as we can. We then post our fit findings on our product pages and I personally include them in my ‘Tomima Tips.’  So, when we see a comment from a plus-size woman that our fitting information didn’t work for her, we all get very frustrated.

But now we have new understanding.  Take women that wear a 48F bra, for example.  They are not all alike – one can have particularly large arms, another can have a narrow ribcage, another may hold a lot of her weight in her back.  It’s really impossible to find a universal bra that will fit everyone. 

Let me close this post by saying that my team and I will continue to root out and communicate to you all the bra fitting comments we learn.  We are now just going to be smarter about asking better questions to give better fit advice to the plus size bra wearers out there.

Find Plus Size lingerie at HerRoom in these departments:
Plus-Size Lingerie

Follow HerRoom on Twitter for daily tips.

I came across a curious online survey recently  A UK based retailer, Wickedelic Lingerie, found that 24% of the 500 respondents felt allowing larger women to model lingerie was promoting an unhealthy lifestyle.

Whether you agree or not, my website from time to time gets input from large-sized customers saying they wish we would display our products on models more their size.  So, several years ago, we ran a test on one of our more popular bras where we tracked sales with two different images – half the time we displayed the image of the bra on an average-framed woman, and the other half on a full-figure woman.  The results were signficant–  the average model image generated more sales.

If you think about this, it really makes sense.  I will buy an item I see displayed on a model that is smaller than me.  But, I can honestly say I have never purchased an item when it has been shown on a model that is larger than I am.  Take a look at these two photos of the same dress.  Would you buy this dress if you only saw the model wearing it?  Or would you buy the dress based on the display on the mannequin?   I think most would agree they find the mannequin shot more appealing – unless they are the same size or larger than the model.

I don’t think this is discrimination.  I think this is simple marketing.  However, having said that, I have tried very hard to answer the need for women who wear larger bra sizes to see a model wearing a garment more to their size.

You may not know this, but the HerRoom site has alternate shots on a larger model (usually a 36DD) for bras that come in larger sizes.  For example, look at our page for the Chantelle Fete Bra style 1960. You will see that we also show another image of a 36DD model wearing the same bra.

It is true that some bras have subtle design changes in the larger sizes.  We make every effort to show the larger size on a fuller model, or at least mention the design change in our descriptions. 

No one is here to judge.  Yes, marketing is important, but we also want to satisfy all our customer needs.  If anyone has a suggestion to improve what we are doing, I’m all ears!

Find bras that come in larger sizes at HerRoom in these departments:
Bras
Plus-Size Lingerie

Follow HerRoom on Twitter for daily tips.

My buyers and I have noticed that EVERYONE is now making shapewear.  It’s a hot category in the lingerie industry, so you can’t blame them.  But honestly, it all looks and feels about the same. Everything is either beige or black, seamless, with spot concentrations of firmness and pretty much the same silhouette. There’s been nothing much new.  Then we saw the Diva Defined Collection by Annette.  Our eyes popped!

Based in Cali, Colombia, Annette has been supplying Latin America for years.  In 2002, they brought their creativity to the US, and in November 2009, introduced Diva Defined.

Here’s how I explain the Diva Defined Collection.   We all want firm control when we are ‘on’ – like standing around at a reception, or walking down the aisle, or presenting to a group of people.  But, after that, it would be nice to get a break from the firm control– when sitting down or driving, for example.  In between appearances, wouldn’t you secretly love for your shapewear to loosen up?  Well, Diva Defined does just this.

The five pieces in the collection all have an inside invisible wide belt that attaches in the back.  For firmer control, put the belt on a tighter setting.  When you want a break, reach back and reduce the belt to a looser setting.  Each garment has 4 setting to choose from. We here at HerRoom think it’s genius.

I encourage everyone to take a look at this collection.  It really is shapewear for every day that can be adjusted to fit your needs.  If you’d like more information, we even have a video, which you can find on each product page of the Diva Defined collection.

Find Annette lingerie at HerRoom in these departments:
Shapewear
Bras

Follow HerRoom on Twitter for daily tips.