![]() boast inclusive sizing and encourage people to shop via their respective online Fit Finder and Fit Quiz tools, which recommend bras based on one’s unique breast shape, with names like “teardrop” or “bottom happy.” It’s a new approach for the lingerie industry, with gender and size inclusivity outpacing hyper-sexualized marketing. promise that shoppers can find the perfect fit from their bedroom instead of a fitting room. Online bra-selling direct-order companies such as ThirdLove and True&Co. If fit is relative, why are retailers still fixating on the idea that the right size exists? “I might have three or four different bra sizes that I currently am based on what bra I’m wearing and what manufacturer that comes from.” The lack of standardization can be frustrating, but it also offers more chances for people to find styles and shapes that work for them. “Women are going to be different sizes in different bras,” Burbage also pointed out. Like Gergely, Burbage said the issue was not that people were simply wearing an incorrect size, but that they often didn’t know how to check for the best fit. Anecdotally, she sees “hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of women” who come through her lab struggling with fit issues. “There aren’t many scientific papers available which have effectively looked at issues with bra fit and the number of women who may be wearing the wrong size bra,” Burbage said in an interview. In one of her studies, “ Evaluation of professional bra fitting criteria for bra selection and fitting in the UK,” Burbage notes that “it has been suggested that 70-100% of women are wearing the wrong size bra,” citing Pechter’s work along with few other small studies to reach that range. Jenny Burbage, PhD, a sports biomechanist at the University of Portsmouth, has made studying breasts (and how to support them) her life’s work. Today, you can find bras in sizes up to an O cup.) ![]() ![]() (He also studied only people who reported wearing cup sizes AA through DDD/F. Instead he used anecdotal evidence from publications such as Good Housekeeping, Ladies’ Home Journal, and the Playtex Fit Guide. But Pechter didn’t reach his estimate through surveying a large and diverse sample size. He first published the statistic in a small 1998 study, writing that 70 percent of women or more were wearing the incorrect bra size in an article in Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery that outlined a new method for measuring breasts, hoping to standardize sizing for augmentation and reduction surgeries. Regardless, the “wrong size” became a mantra. “They just had no concept of how they were supposed to wear the bra.” “They didn’t know how the cups were supposed to fit, they didn’t know where the chest plate between the boobs was supposed to lay, they didnt know how the straps were supposed to rest, or where it should hit on their back,” she said. ![]() Gergely recognized that the size on the tag wasn’t the real issue at stake-knowing how to look for the right fit was. “We were actually encouraged to talk about that statistic,” said Carrie Gergely, who worked as a Victoria’s Secret bra fitter and store manager from 2003 to 2008. Researchers and retailers acknowledge that the 80 percent number isn’t foolproof, but they often use it to illustrate a widespread problem: ill-fitting bras. Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get recommendations and real-world advice on upgrading your life. Wirecutter spends hundreds of hours researching and testing gear so you don’t have to. That number-the idea that 80 percent of bra wearers are wearing the wrong bra size-has been ingrained in the minds of shoppers for decades, becoming a puzzle that no one can seem to solve. The staff at Victoria’s Secret, along with many scientists and even, famously, Oprah, say that you have a 20 percent chance of choosing right. But before you grab a few bras to try on, you need to hedge your bets on what size you wear. Walk into a Victoria’s Secret, and the hundreds of colorful, lacy options lining the walls and piled upon tables-bralette, demi-cup, wireless, T-shirt, racerback, sport, strapless-will swallow you. Sign up for our Wirecutter Weekly Newsletter to get our latest recommendations delivered straight to your inbox.
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