Why Bras Are Like Shoes

April 24, 2008

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. Why Bras are like shoes

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.

Posted by Tomima at 7:26am
No Comments »

The Cup Size Game

April 21, 2008

 

Finding a bra you love only to discover its size range stops just before your bra size can be frustrating. However, in some circumstances, you may not be totally out of luck.

Say you’re a 40C and the bra you have found stops at 38DD. You MIGHT be able to wear the 38D or 38DD in that bra if the band doesn’t feel too tight. Deviating from your traditional bra size is called the cup size game. Substituting bra sizes really works more successfully on women with band sizes 40 and above and D cups or larger because there is more breast tissue and body circumference to work with - a 2" band increase or a 1" bust line circumference increase is less significant than on a smaller framed person. But, smaller framed women also have way more bra choices.

There are 2 important things you need to know about cup size. The first is that a cup size on one band size is not equal to the same cup size on another band size. In other words, a 32D bra has smaller cup volume and diameter than a 34D bra even though both bra sizes are a D cup. So I bet you’re wondering why the industry assigns the same cup size to both.

Cup size is a measurement of how far your breasts project from your chest wall. Each cup size denotes a 1" increase in your body’s CIRCUMFERENCE measurement at your bust line. Knowing this fact can help you zero in on your correct bra size. For example, you try on a bra and the band feels comfortable, but your breasts are spilling out. Keep going up in cup sizes on the same band size until you find the bra that fits. Alternately, the cups fit great, but the band is too big. When you go down a band size, you now know that you need to go up a cup size to maintain the same underwire diameter and similar cup volume (Example: Go from a 40C to a 38D).

The second important point about cup size pertains to women with cup sizes larger than a D cup. Trying to find cup equivalents among brands can be very difficult. In one brand you are a DDDD, but this same cup size can be a G, F, or FF in other brands. The first thing you should know is that all manufacturers size their cups up by 1" circumference increases. They may call their sizing by different letters, but the increases between sizes are uniform. So, as mentioned above, find out how many cup sizes above a D you are. At HerRoom.com, when you look at the sizes available in a particular bra, HerRoom displays the cup sizes in order from smallest to largest. If you are 4 cup sizes larger than a D cup, you can count 4 sizes from D to find your correct size in that particular brand. Again, it doesn’t matter what the cup size letter is. Just make sure you count the right number of sizes above their D and you will have the right size.

 When a manufacturer grades his patterns to create different sizes for a bra style, he moves the bust points slightly wider with each cup size increase. B cup bust points are 1/2" farther apart than A cups. Bust points get 1/4" farther apart between B, C and D cups, and 1/8" farther apart with larger cup sizes. Now that I’ve shared the cup size game with you, I want to make a final point. It is always best to purchase your true and accurate bra size if you want to maximize your proper fit.

Learn more about bra cup sizing at HerRoom.

Posted by Tomima at 7:06am
No Comments »

Andrew Christian Visits Dallas

April 17, 2008

andrew christianOn April 12th,Andrew Christian arrived in Dallas for the weekend to make a couple special appearances.  First stop was the store Union Jack on Oaklawn.  The crowd was huge for his 2 hour appearance where he signed photos and underwear.  Later that night a fashion show of Andrew Christian underwear could be seen at a very popular bar and grill in Oaklawn called JR’s.  Again, the bar was packed as local models strutted and received cat calls.

My buyer for HisRoom, Tom Johnson, was invited to dinner with Andrew.  It was a great opportunity to hear first hand what Andrew is doing, and his plans to grow the Andrew Christian line.

Andrew has been designing for over ten years.  Though he designs sportswear underwear and swimsuits, his recent notoriety is with underwear.  Andrew attributes this recent success to a number of things including his episode on the TV show "The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency."  This national recognition really catipulted his underwear brand.  As a result, his brand is receiving international attention, and he now is selling to accounts all over the world.

One of the many special things about the Andrew Christian line is that all his products are made in the USA.  That’s right, he is one of the very few underwear lines that has all their products made in America. His operation is based in Los Angeles and he keeps a very lean team of just 15 employees.

Tom was also impressed with Andrew’s thoughtful approach to his customer.  We’ve all heard of a metrosexual, but Andrew also spoke of a technosexual.  This is someone who is very interested in the technical aspects of a product.  For example, is the product made in organic cotton and not just cotton.  Does the fabric wick, what kind of microfiber is used etc.  This technosexual needs to know the specifics of a garment before he will purchase it.

Andrew Christian underwear is atheletic inspired.  You will see lifeguard, nautical and sailor themes as well as coloring in his underwear.  It’s great classic underwear that fits well and is made in performance fabrics.  This is Andrew Christian’s winning combination.  We at HisRoom.com are excited to be selling the Andrew Christian brand of underwear

 

Posted by Tomima at 11:22am
No Comments »