I can't get comfortable in a bra without underwires. They always seem to push my breasts in weird directions, whereas with an underwired bra, I can't feel that I'm wearing it at all unless the size is wrong.
Ah, you see, that's my experience in a decent non-wired bra. There are styles that are totally wrong for me -the ones where the cup does not cover the full breast, so I feel that half of my breast is being squashed while the other half is hanging out unsupported. But the ones that Marks & Spencer currently sell in their Total Support range (designed for larger bosoms, rather than a standard bra that simply comes in a larger size) are great.
I suspect there is a lot more anatomical variation than the makers of bras are willing to admit to. Which is slightly crazy, because many people would willingly pay more money for a well-made bra that fits properly and will last for years. Especially if they could then know that any bra of that style in the right size would fit without needing to try it on.
I really really like underwired bras. The last time I tried one of their non-wired ones it felt like my breasts were being supported by the shoulder straps and hanging against the fabric rather than the support coming from the band around the back.
But, yeah bras are one of these things where everyone's mileage varies and what works for me won't work for foo and what works for foo won't work for bar.
Whilst I can sympathise, surely your experience is a side effect of where you shopped and your particular shape (underwired bras work for some women, but not others).
You already know that Ann Summers sells tacky underwear that's designed for sex. It's supposed to go on and come off easily and look sufficiently pretty for the (over)price - not to be comfortable and supportive for long periods.
MS are a fundamentally different market.
I'd also question why hand wash only is any more ridiculous for underwear than any other garment. There are day to day clothes that should be easy to wash and comfortable to wear, and occasional use clothes that are a faff to wash and wear. What's wrong with having both?
Most bras I've seen are supposed to be handwashed, not just the sexy ones. I don't bother but they wear out sooner and there's a risk of killing your washing machine if it has underwires in it and they escape.
Sometimes I wonder if you deliberately play devil's advocate on livejournal.
I had no choice but to go into the Knickerbox - there wasn't anywhere else immediately obvious to buy a bra from. (I know my way round Wimbledon but only to find the bus stops - wouldn't ever choose to shop there because it has a lousy selection of shops.) I went in knowing that whatever I got from there would be crap. However, I was shocked by how crap it was
( ... )
There is a growing community of DIY mad scientist types, and the more ambitious ones have dabbled in making their own shoes and other more decorative clothing. Reading your post, I had to wonder how hard it would be to open-source a kit for custom brassiers. It's all well and good for male geeks to adore breasts from afar, but building a better bra would benefit *everybody*.
(Heh. The LJ spell-checker doesn't even recognize the word brassiers.)
The other your story made me think of, was how much easier it is to buy junk food when hungry, than something nutritious. There's more profit to be made selling overpriced junk.
Thanks for this post, it's useful to remember that there are people inside the clothes.
I'm sure I must be imagining it, but I seem to notice many of the female geeks are quite keen on admiring other women's breasts from afar/closeup too ;).
I'm lacking somewhat in the busom department due to being male, but as far as I can see finding the right bra is a fairly personal thing. It's like skincare : whilst there are basic rules that can be followed, the fine tuning is specific to each person.
The analogy with junk food is a good one : not everyone wants the sensible option, they're not prepared to pay the price or they've never been given anything that isn't junk and so accept what they see as the status quo.
It's clearly not economic to run a mainstream bra customisation service, otherwise people would be doing it already.
I did idly wonder if you could have a 'lego' type approach to bras where they're slotted together, but looking at larger sizes the engineering seems fairly formidable. It'd be tricky to just slot bits together without losing structural integrity.
I've actually gotten enough flab in the chest to qualify as having 'man-boobies'... and I've thought about the construction of a training bra that would fit me. It's given me some appreciation of the engineering involved.
I think 90% of the hard stuff would be getting to the point of printing out a pattern on a printer. Actual construction costs the manufactures a tiny fraction of what they charge the consumer. It's mostly post-manufacturing costs, distributing ad advertising it, that pushes the cost up. A homebrew version could spend a bit more on the construction phase if it didn't have to worry about branding and shelving the stuff.
As for what's economic... if you went by what's available, you wouldn't think it's economic to have air to breathe or water to drink, given what the market is telling us. There's a lot of untapped potential once the financial giants have fallen.
I think part of the issue for any bra customizing business is that an awful lot of women are not aware that bras CAN be comfortable, so it wouldn't occur to them to pay customized prices for something that they assume will do the same job as the 10ukp thing they got on sale.
Plus, if you're used to buying (relatively) cheap piece of crap bras and replacing them every 6 months when they fall apart, you probably have a lot of sticker shock looking at even a well-constructed mass-market bra, even though THAT bra, cared for appropriately, will probably happily last you years.
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I suspect there is a lot more anatomical variation than the makers of bras are willing to admit to. Which is slightly crazy, because many people would willingly pay more money for a well-made bra that fits properly and will last for years. Especially if they could then know that any bra of that style in the right size would fit without needing to try it on.
Bah.
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I got phone tech support for my bravissimo bras.
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I really really like underwired bras. The last time I tried one of their non-wired ones it felt like my breasts were being supported by the shoulder straps and hanging against the fabric rather than the support coming from the band around the back.
But, yeah bras are one of these things where everyone's mileage varies and what works for me won't work for foo and what works for foo won't work for bar.
Reply
You already know that Ann Summers sells tacky underwear that's designed for sex. It's supposed to go on and come off easily and look sufficiently pretty for the (over)price - not to be comfortable and supportive for long periods.
MS are a fundamentally different market.
I'd also question why hand wash only is any more ridiculous for underwear than any other garment. There are day to day clothes that should be easy to wash and comfortable to wear, and occasional use clothes that are a faff to wash and wear. What's wrong with having both?
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I had no choice but to go into the Knickerbox - there wasn't anywhere else immediately obvious to buy a bra from. (I know my way round Wimbledon but only to find the bus stops - wouldn't ever choose to shop there because it has a lousy selection of shops.) I went in knowing that whatever I got from there would be crap. However, I was shocked by how crap it was ( ... )
Reply
(Heh. The LJ spell-checker doesn't even recognize the word brassiers.)
The other your story made me think of, was how much easier it is to buy junk food when hungry, than something nutritious. There's more profit to be made selling overpriced junk.
Thanks for this post, it's useful to remember that there are people inside the clothes.
Reply
I'm lacking somewhat in the busom department due to being male, but as far as I can see finding the right bra is a fairly personal thing. It's like skincare : whilst there are basic rules that can be followed, the fine tuning is specific to each person.
The analogy with junk food is a good one : not everyone wants the sensible option, they're not prepared to pay the price or they've never been given anything that isn't junk and so accept what they see as the status quo.
It's clearly not economic to run a mainstream bra customisation service, otherwise people would be doing it already.
I did idly wonder if you could have a 'lego' type approach to bras where they're slotted together, but looking at larger sizes the engineering seems fairly formidable. It'd be tricky to just slot bits together without losing structural integrity.
Reply
I think 90% of the hard stuff would be getting to the point of printing out a pattern on a printer. Actual construction costs the manufactures a tiny fraction of what they charge the consumer. It's mostly post-manufacturing costs, distributing ad advertising it, that pushes the cost up. A homebrew version could spend a bit more on the construction phase if it didn't have to worry about branding and shelving the stuff.
As for what's economic... if you went by what's available, you wouldn't think it's economic to have air to breathe or water to drink, given what the market is telling us. There's a lot of untapped potential once the financial giants have fallen.
Reply
Plus, if you're used to buying (relatively) cheap piece of crap bras and replacing them every 6 months when they fall apart, you probably have a lot of sticker shock looking at even a well-constructed mass-market bra, even though THAT bra, cared for appropriately, will probably happily last you years.
Reply
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