Why most women wear wrong size bra?

Most women wear wrong size bra.

The bra size varies from woman to woman as the shape, size, spacing, position, symmetry and firmness vary from woman to woman. The bra manufacturers have their own standards of measurement for band size and cup size. There is no International Standard for the bra size hence the bra size varies from country to country. All these variation makes finding the perfect fitting bra nearly impossible. Hence, most of the women end up wearing the wrong size bra.

It has been almost 7 decades since the bras were first introduced, yet the band sizes and cup sizes are not standardized. The sizes vary significantly from one manufacturer to another providing just the fairly accurate fit. This complicates finding the correctly fitting bra and women cannot rely on the labeled bra sizes. The labeled size often doesn’t match the exact measurement.

Though the bra manufacturers are producing bras of all sizes, from smaller to larger sizes, the larger cup sizes are difficult to get in retail outlets. Hence, larger size breasted women are compelled to settle for wrong size, boring and less stylish bras or go for custom made bras.

Most of the women do not know their actual size and when they are buying a bra, they try to adjust themselves in a bra they like. The problem increases with the larger size breasts. Oprah Winfrey dedicated a show to bras and bra sizes in 2005, during which it was found that 80% women wear the wrong size bra.

Larger size breasts and fitting bra

As the size increases the variation in the bra size manufacturers increases significantly leaving larger breasted women in more confusion than the smaller breasted women. Hence, it is more likely for larger breasted women to wear the wrong size bra than the smaller breasted women.

The major reason why women choose the wrong size bra is that they don’t know how to measure the bra size and how the bra size works. The bra size depends upon the band size and cup size. The same band size can fit different cup sizes. And the cup size depends on band size and bust size as it is the difference between band size and bust size.

Studies have shown the most common mistake made by women while buying bra is choosing the larger band for larger breasts instead of larger cup sizes. They actually don’t care about the cup sizes and try to fit in their breasts in whatever cup size the band fitted to them has.

The larger breasts are more complicated to take the correct measurement as the shape and tissue distribution within them also changes. And it is difficult to get the accurate measurement if the person has a heavy build as the measuring tape sinks the flesh more easily

Researchers have found the strong relation between obesity and inaccurate back measurement. In a study conducted in UK among 103 women seeking mammoplasty, the conclusion was that obesity, breast hypertrophy, fashion and bra fitting practices combine to decrease the chances of getting perfectly fitted bras for those women who most need the supportive bras.

As mentioned earlier, the band size and cup size are not standardized and hence, bra sizes vary significantly from manufacturer to manufacturer and country to country. This complicates the hunt for correctly fitting bras as this provides only an approximate fit. On top of that the labeled sizes are not reliable to find a bra that fits perfectly.

Some manufacturers measure in inches and some in centimeters, thus creating the difference. And the manufacturers are not coming together to agree on a single standard.

The cup size increases from A to D, from smallest to the largest. These days manufacturers produce bra of bigger sizes such as G, H, and so on for the larger breasted women. British manufacturers produce bra from A to LL cup size while in America bras from A-G cup sizes are found. The largest cup size found is N (Goddess, Elila) which is roughly equal to British JJ cup. Poland produces up to R cup size.

The thing is larger cup sizes are difficult to get in retail outlets. And with the increasing cup size the labeled cup sizes tend to vary from manufacturer to manufacturer more widely.

Style and comfort

Bra is small piece of clothing yet very complex and it comes in various shapes and colors and styles. It is natural that women choose stylish and their favorite colors. While doing so most women tend to neglect the real function of bra and comfort.  Even the manufacturer’s marketing and advertising appeals to fashion and style more than fit comfort and function. But from late 90s, they have been focusing on support and foundation rather than fashion.

The larger breasted women also tend to choose the stylish bras rather than the fitting one. If they like the style they try to adjust themselves in that particular one. There are not many stylish range of larger size bras hence such women settle for wrong size bras.

Stores and Sales person

Women with larger breasts (larger than D cup) have usually hard time to find correctly fit bras. The reason being that many stores do not offer a sufficient range of larger sized bras. Also the sales persons in the stores are not specifically trained on how to measure the bra size correctly. When the customers are in confusion, such sales persons are not of much help. Some sales persons measure customers over their top and bra, messing the measurement.

Also Read: Bra Size Calculator

Because of all the above mentioned reasons most women wear the wrong size bra. Wearing a wrong size bra can really affect your health. So it’s best that you know your bra size and try harder to get the correctly fitting bra.

You can know more about bra sizes here.

You can learn the methods of taking measurement of your bra size here.

Are you wearing the right size bra??  Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

Good day.