Tomima - Lingerie and Underwear Expert

That’s right. Eco-friendly fabric made from wood is now available. French lingerie designer, Sophie Young is designing lingerie with Lenpur fabric under the label By Nature. Her collection, called g=9.8 (the scientific equation for earth’s acceleration due to gravity) claims not only to be eco-friendly, but ultra comfortable and soft as silk, with the feel of cashmere and the coolness of linen.

Lenpur is made from white pine trees. Tree trimmings are mixed with enzymes and turned into fibers for weaving. The claim is that these fibers regulate the wearer’s temperature so she is never too hot or too cold. Lenpur is biodegradable and anti-bacterial. It also washes and dries very quickly. Not only is g=9.8 a sexy brand, it is trying to be innovative as well with strong ethics. It has based its entire production in a small village near Angers, France to help strengthen the local economy. The dyes it uses are certified by Oekotex as non-toxic. The pine used is not part of a deforestation project.

Young’s line was introduced recently at a Paris ethical fashion show this spring and in Lyon Mode. There is one British company selling the underwear line, but interest has been brisk, and many others retailers have asked for linesheets.

Having helped women with bras now for more than nine years, I have discovered that bras and shoes have a lot in common.

Comfort - For everyday wear, bras and shoes must be comfortable. At the end of the day, if you can’t wait to take either of them off, you know they will never be your favorite. Now, you’ll wear a pair of shoes or a bra even if it’s not comfortable as long as it’s fabulous and shows off your outfit to best advantage.

Prefer certain brands - You pretty much know which shoe brands fit you the best and are the most comfortable for your feet. Well, the same holds true for lingerie brands. When you find lingerie brands you like, you should go to them first when looking for a specific style like a strapless or racerback. This is because, like shoe manufacturers, a lingerie manufacturer will use the same molds and patterns year after year. They know they fit a certain customer well and don’t want to lose them by changing the fit.

Don’t know until you wear it for a while - You can try it on in a store and wear it for a little while, but you never know if your bra or shoes are going to be comfortable until you actually wear them for a day. This is why we all have shoes and bras we rarely wear sitting in our closet and drawers.

Sizing is predetermined - but you don’t always buy your same size. When trying on shoes, you go up or down a size based on the fit. The same is true with bras. You try on your size, but you adjust the cup or band size to hone in on your best fit. Also, if the shoe or bra doesn’t come in your exact size, you will consider getting another size simply because you love the item so much.

Design and shape matter - With bras and shoes, their design and the way they look matter. With shoes you know that strap will hit your baby toe and hurt, the arch support isn’t high enough, or the heel is too high. With bras the straps aren’t wide enough, the underwires aren’t short enough, or the center panel is too high.

Price matters - The better the shoe, the higher the price. The better the bra, the higher the price. This is simple economics. The best quality product cost more. You also get a better product if you’re willing to spend more money, and it will last longer. In shoes as well as lingerie, you really do get what you pay for.

Have you ever bought an underwire bra in your size and felt like the underwires didn’t fit right? This posting is to help you understand bra underwires and how they are designed, selected and ultimately sewn into your bras.Let’s begin with some basic geometry. Breasts, for the most part, are shaped like orbs. They have a diameter and a projection. When selecting your cup size (e.g. B, DD, G, etc.) you’re basically choosing a size that addresses your breast projection — how far out from your body your breasts project.

Your breast diameter measurement, on the other hand, is already predetermined by the manufacturer who makes your bra. Your band size (32, 38, 42 etc) has a pre-determined breast diameter built into it in the form of an underwire. That’s right, manufacturers determine your breast diameter whether you like it or not, when they decide on the underwire that will be sewn into your bra. And all lingerie manufacturers pretty much follow the same sizing conventions with regard to diameters. As a side note, augmented breasts tend to have a wider diameter than their natural counterparts. This is why many augmented women tend to wear larger cup sizes than they thought they would wear - it’s to get the correct fit with a wider underwire.

So, now that you know this, you can understand why changing your band size will also change your breast fit. And here’s another industry secret. Manufacturers use the same underwire in different bra sizes. This is done to reduce the number of different underwires they need to work with., but it also makes sense. Remember, your cup size is determining your projection. A woman with a larger band size, but with the same projection should also have the same diameter - in theory. Here’s an example to explain how all of this works. Suppose you are a 36C. The industry has quantified over the years that your projection is the same measurement as a woman who is a 32DD, 34D, 38B and a 40A. So, most of the time, these bra sizes will all have the same underwire sewn into them. This makes sense when you consider what you do with weight fluctuation. If you are in a 36C and the cups fit, but the band is too tight, the correct size change would be to go up a band size to a 38 and down a cup size to a B to maintain the same cup volume. After all, your girth changed; not your breast diameter.

I put this chart together to guide you in all of this. So, the next time you feel you need to change your bra size, stop and think about what needs to change. If it’s just your band, consult with this chart to find the next size you should consider moving to.

Underwire shapes can and do vary among brands and manufacturers. In fact, many feel their underwire grading and shaping choices are the trade secret to their fit. This is why you’ll find slight underwire variations among manufacturers (however they will not tell you or us what they are). This explains why one manufacturer may fit you better than another.

Underwires also have different lengths - their curve will follow the same size circle, but, like a pie chart, the diameter length can vary. For example, demi cup bras, balconette bras, bras labeled "petite" and low-plunge bra styles generally have shorter wires. If you are short in stature, this is good to know, because a shorter wire will have a less chance of poking you under your arm since these wires do not come up as high. Strapless bras tend to have the longest underwires, and for good reason. Without strap support, a strapless bra requires more wire to circle around the breast in order to give proper support and keep the bra up.

Now that you understand underwire sizing, you can understand why underwire swimsuits with just a cup size like a "C" don’t fit all C cup women. And, for you analytical types who are probably wondering, when underwires are graded to create their different sizes, the diameter increase is approximately 3/8" and the underwire length increase is approximately 5/8". Underwires are also engineered to have some spring. Once a bra is fastened, horizontal pressure is exerted on the underwires so that they splay or spread. Then, when a bra is unhooked, the underwires return to their original shape. This springing or splay gives additional support to your breasts by exerting inward pressure on them - like a gentle squeeze. If you are in the wrong size bra such that your breasts are wider than the splayed diameter of the underwire, over time the pressure and weight of your breasts can cause an underwire to break in half. If this happens to your frequently, you are probably in a bra with too small of a band size, or one where the cups are too small.

I appreciate that learning all of this may be a little overwhelming. But, you should also know that manufacturers work very hard to get you the best fit possible and try and make your size selection easy. However, it’s always nice to know the logic behind what they do.