It’s not uncommon for women to wear several completely different bra sizes, depending on the store, style, and fit of the bra — and we’re still getting it wrong. An estimated 64% of women in the US wear the wrong-sized bra; I personally have five different band and cup combinations in my lingerie drawer. And that’s bullshit. Bra sizing is supposed to be based on a series of standard measurements, but as we all know, every C-cup is totally different. But exactly how different? Jess and I decided to find out, and demonstrate exactly how nonsensical bra sizing has truly become. We were measured for our “true” bra size — the size that, based on the measurements of our bodies, we SHOULD wear across brands, styles, and colors. We then bought different bras in those sizes only; not sizing up or down according to the whims of the companies. And yes, insanity did ensue. All the bra experts who helped us said that because sizing varies so much, the concept of an actual bra size is a bit of a lie. But we persisted. At the end of the day, the results were in: My “true” bra size is 30D, and Jess is a 46C. Our goal was to demonstrate how insane the variation in size can be from bra to bra, and how these basic products — which should be based on simple measurements — are anything but. But even we weren’t prepared for the nonsense we discovered. And we were about to find out exactly HOW wrong we were. STOP. WHY. HOW DARE YOU. And weirdly, even Calvin Klein knows this sizing is complete bullshit — while looking up details for this story, I found this same bra listed at Nordstrom. The sizing information (presumably provided by the brand) says, “Runs small; order one cup size up.” OR YOU COULD JUST MAKE THE BRA THE RIGHT SIZE, FFS. Just for shits and giggles, I measured the band of this bra once I’d taken it off — and discovered the problem. Whereas most 30-band bras I wear measure 23" from end to end, this Calvin Klein strapless only measured 20.5". Why even have sizes on your bras if they’re going to vary so much? It’s ridiculous. And it was about to get even more so. It’s no wonder the majority of women in the US don’t wear the right size bra. How could they, when bra companies are literally lying to them about size and fit? And that’s exactly it. By having such a bizarre range of sizes and fits, but only one universal sizing system, underwear companies are totally fucking us over. Jess and I are both women working in fashion. We are able to — hell, we can afford — to go and get professional bra fittings. Many women don’t have this, so they’ll just accept the crappy fits because what other alternative do they have? Seriously. Companies can do so much better. We learned that band sizes are nonsense. In the four bras I tried, the bands varied in length by three full inches; for Jess, the size variance was five inches. This is nonsense; you need a correctly-fitting band for support. We learned that cups — which we’re constantly told are standard — are anything but. If Jess is drowning in one C-cup and spilling over another, that tells us that this gold standard of measurement ISN’T working.

We shopped for our true bra size and saw why it s a lie - 52We shopped for our true bra size and saw why it s a lie - 79We shopped for our true bra size and saw why it s a lie - 95We shopped for our true bra size and saw why it s a lie - 43We shopped for our true bra size and saw why it s a lie - 74We shopped for our true bra size and saw why it s a lie - 63We shopped for our true bra size and saw why it s a lie - 96We shopped for our true bra size and saw why it s a lie - 21We shopped for our true bra size and saw why it s a lie - 53We shopped for our true bra size and saw why it s a lie - 33We shopped for our true bra size and saw why it s a lie - 65We shopped for our true bra size and saw why it s a lie - 46We shopped for our true bra size and saw why it s a lie - 39We shopped for our true bra size and saw why it s a lie - 60We shopped for our true bra size and saw why it s a lie - 7We shopped for our true bra size and saw why it s a lie - 32We shopped for our true bra size and saw why it s a lie - 32We shopped for our true bra size and saw why it s a lie - 15We shopped for our true bra size and saw why it s a lie - 72We shopped for our true bra size and saw why it s a lie - 12We shopped for our true bra size and saw why it s a lie - 73We shopped for our true bra size and saw why it s a lie - 97We shopped for our true bra size and saw why it s a lie - 79We shopped for our true bra size and saw why it s a lie - 85We shopped for our true bra size and saw why it s a lie - 93We shopped for our true bra size and saw why it s a lie - 14We shopped for our true bra size and saw why it s a lie - 12We shopped for our true bra size and saw why it s a lie - 84We shopped for our true bra size and saw why it s a lie - 43We shopped for our true bra size and saw why it s a lie - 41We shopped for our true bra size and saw why it s a lie - 93We shopped for our true bra size and saw why it s a lie - 54We shopped for our true bra size and saw why it s a lie - 8We shopped for our true bra size and saw why it s a lie - 91We shopped for our true bra size and saw why it s a lie - 29We shopped for our true bra size and saw why it s a lie - 22We shopped for our true bra size and saw why it s a lie - 32

title: “We Shopped For Our True Bra Size And Saw Why It S A Lie” ShowToc: true date: “2024-10-08” author: “Steve Reich”

It’s not uncommon for women to wear several completely different bra sizes, depending on the store, style, and fit of the bra — and we’re still getting it wrong. An estimated 64% of women in the US wear the wrong-sized bra; I personally have five different band and cup combinations in my lingerie drawer. And that’s bullshit. Bra sizing is supposed to be based on a series of standard measurements, but as we all know, every C-cup is totally different. But exactly how different? Jess and I decided to find out, and demonstrate exactly how nonsensical bra sizing has truly become. We were measured for our “true” bra size — the size that, based on the measurements of our bodies, we SHOULD wear across brands, styles, and colors. We then bought different bras in those sizes only; not sizing up or down according to the whims of the companies. And yes, insanity did ensue. All the bra experts who helped us said that because sizing varies so much, the concept of an actual bra size is a bit of a lie. But we persisted. At the end of the day, the results were in: My “true” bra size is 30D, and Jess is a 46C. Our goal was to demonstrate how insane the variation in size can be from bra to bra, and how these basic products — which should be based on simple measurements — are anything but. But even we weren’t prepared for the nonsense we discovered. And we were about to find out exactly HOW wrong we were. STOP. WHY. HOW DARE YOU. And weirdly, even Calvin Klein knows this sizing is complete bullshit — while looking up details for this story, I found this same bra listed at Nordstrom. The sizing information (presumably provided by the brand) says, “Runs small; order one cup size up.” OR YOU COULD JUST MAKE THE BRA THE RIGHT SIZE, FFS. Just for shits and giggles, I measured the band of this bra once I’d taken it off — and discovered the problem. Whereas most 30-band bras I wear measure 23" from end to end, this Calvin Klein strapless only measured 20.5". Why even have sizes on your bras if they’re going to vary so much? It’s ridiculous. And it was about to get even more so. It’s no wonder the majority of women in the US don’t wear the right size bra. How could they, when bra companies are literally lying to them about size and fit? And that’s exactly it. By having such a bizarre range of sizes and fits, but only one universal sizing system, underwear companies are totally fucking us over. Jess and I are both women working in fashion. We are able to — hell, we can afford — to go and get professional bra fittings. Many women don’t have this, so they’ll just accept the crappy fits because what other alternative do they have? Seriously. Companies can do so much better. We learned that band sizes are nonsense. In the four bras I tried, the bands varied in length by three full inches; for Jess, the size variance was five inches. This is nonsense; you need a correctly-fitting band for support. We learned that cups — which we’re constantly told are standard — are anything but. If Jess is drowning in one C-cup and spilling over another, that tells us that this gold standard of measurement ISN’T working.

We shopped for our true bra size and saw why it s a lie - 8We shopped for our true bra size and saw why it s a lie - 68We shopped for our true bra size and saw why it s a lie - 43We shopped for our true bra size and saw why it s a lie - 41We shopped for our true bra size and saw why it s a lie - 85We shopped for our true bra size and saw why it s a lie - 23We shopped for our true bra size and saw why it s a lie - 96We shopped for our true bra size and saw why it s a lie - 40We shopped for our true bra size and saw why it s a lie - 27We shopped for our true bra size and saw why it s a lie - 46We shopped for our true bra size and saw why it s a lie - 19We shopped for our true bra size and saw why it s a lie - 27We shopped for our true bra size and saw why it s a lie - 46We shopped for our true bra size and saw why it s a lie - 51We shopped for our true bra size and saw why it s a lie - 25We shopped for our true bra size and saw why it s a lie - 54We shopped for our true bra size and saw why it s a lie - 72We shopped for our true bra size and saw why it s a lie - 3We shopped for our true bra size and saw why it s a lie - 69We shopped for our true bra size and saw why it s a lie - 18We shopped for our true bra size and saw why it s a lie - 36We shopped for our true bra size and saw why it s a lie - 73We shopped for our true bra size and saw why it s a lie - 45We shopped for our true bra size and saw why it s a lie - 30We shopped for our true bra size and saw why it s a lie - 10We shopped for our true bra size and saw why it s a lie - 61We shopped for our true bra size and saw why it s a lie - 42We shopped for our true bra size and saw why it s a lie - 58We shopped for our true bra size and saw why it s a lie - 65We shopped for our true bra size and saw why it s a lie - 43We shopped for our true bra size and saw why it s a lie - 79We shopped for our true bra size and saw why it s a lie - 95We shopped for our true bra size and saw why it s a lie - 30We shopped for our true bra size and saw why it s a lie - 60We shopped for our true bra size and saw why it s a lie - 61We shopped for our true bra size and saw why it s a lie - 1We shopped for our true bra size and saw why it s a lie - 70