what is your website? today someone was talking about measuring bra sizes and i know you have a sort of explanation in there but i couldn't remember the URL.

www.doublerainbow.co.uk

We hope to finish this almighty upgrade eventually, and upload it to the web; we're concerned to get it exactly right rather than rush.

We'll let the Fforum know when the upgrade goes through; the existing stuff is out of date and 'parked' where search engines cannot find it until we complete the upgrade; the advice there is good, but will get better.

BTW outside of the UK different advice would be needed in some cases ---

The biggest single issue is that you cannot be measured correctly for cupsize unless you are already wearing the right size -- see the site. The most important thing is to know when your bra fits, and if not, how to work out the best size to try next. All included.

Sadly most women in the UK are probably in the wrong size, trade surveys show. We blame the trade; inconsistent sizing, different measuring systems, untrained staff, nose in the air boutiques, and sheer rudeness. These are the reasons for bad sizing; the trade thinks women are stupid, and acts like it.

Case one. Customer is 34AA. She goes to a chain store and asks 'Have you anything pretty in 34AA?'. Response, laughter, and the sage advice, '34AA? You've got nothing to put in a bra, why do you want a pretty one?'

Case two. 34G customer admires my (now sold) shop's range. I ask if she has seen better elsewhere. Reply - 'The last shop I went to said they didn't stock things for fat people'.

'Equal treatment for all women in all sizes?' Latin, anyone?

i think i'm 38C but some bras in that size are perfect others not really...
might give it a try myself later. thanks

Why is it that every time we're around DaveR, we start telling him our bra sizes?

Nicky, it's a gift he has. Must be wonderful in pubs.

heehee
because he is a specialist?

Wish I were in a pub right now...

In that size most bras are pretty reliable. Do they tend to only just meet or overlap too much? Never buy one that fits on the innermost hook, it will stretch, and then it won't give proper support.

Old bra not large enough round the back? Use back extenders.

Almost every woman who is in the wrong size is in too small a cup size and too large a back size. No one knows why, but in the UK cup sizes are rapidly increasing. Or it could be that the number of ladies who have been correctly fitted is increasing. Try a 36D just in case.

Size is one thing, shape is another. Once you know your size, differentiate between full cup, balconette and plunge bras. If you like something fashionable with a range of bright colours, we're working on a range called 'Jealousy' - buy and your friends really will be Jealous. Fair prices, too.

Never buy from a bra shop that won't let you try on, or refuses to exchange goods if they had to be ordered. Fit is just too personal to be that sure about ordering an item at your risk. They should be closed - with a bulldozer.

Sarah has done a good advice section on the site_to_be about shape as opposed to size, we sent her on a course at Silhouette to get her clued up. She even advises on girdles for those few now using them.

If you like cotton bras, try the Ballet 440 - it's a big repeat seller. Also in black. Hundreds of happy customers can't be wrong.

bah just posted a message and this died on me...

as i was saying might try something new after my holiday...

Hey girls, you got three posts in while I was writing my sincere and professional advice!

After mother died and I had nowhere else to live but above a bra shop as the house went with the divorce, first of all everyone knew me or knew mother and knew where I was coming from, which made it easy. After that I just used to love it when customers came in and asked me if I might possibly know what a strapless bra was. I'd just politely answer their questions until they were amazed and told all their friends to come. It was the none talkers I couldn't get through too, because if a lady is shy, you must let her start the subject.

And I don't see any none talkers out there ---

And the main thing is I must never tell.

I used to think it a great ice breaker. If you can talk with a lady about her bra, she will talk about anything, and women are such interesting conversationalists. It was worth doing the job just for that. And the stories they had to tell about other shops --- like the one in Nottingham run by a lesbian who did a very personal fitting service - that didn't last long ---

Mind you I can't remember Tracy being forthcoming.

BTW - when Dave R suggested using a back extender - he meant a strip of fabric with hooks and loops to extend the back of the bra. Please don't start thinking of peculiar devices for improving one's back muscles.

As these will 'improve' your back size and make you larger - I had occasional customers who had broadened their backs through exercise at the gym and had problems getting a size to fit them - 38A is hard, but if you can't get one - buy a 36B and use a bra extender. For theory see the site. I even helped a 40A that way, 38B + back extender. There's an answer to everything M&S said was impossible while they laughed at you.

Something to think about that isn't cats!

meow
;-)

the only problem with those back extenders is that it pushes the straps farther out on your back and makes them more susceptible to slipping off the shoulder...which, in turn, tends to make the breasts fall. That sucks.

I know there are strap minders that are basically a hook around strap that holds the straps together across your back like a big rubberband. But they show through your clothing and create an awkward line.

Any hints on that one Dave? Other than buying racerback styles, which I would, if they made them in my size. Oh and finding convertible straps in larger sizes is nigh on impossible, so changing over to criss-cross straps won't work either. Oh and no underwires! (obviously created by a man who doesn't have to have them digging into his armpits!)

i love underwires, they are so comfortable!

I think the usual reason ladies argue with underwires is that they are wearing the wrong size, usually due to bad advice in a shop or the fear of asking for advice due to insulting or haughty staff. I must say that of all the clothes ever made, the underwired bra, if not fitted correctly, is the most likely to cause agony. It is also possible, but here I am guessing due to my lack of the two required qualifications, that ladies who do not wear underwires become increasingly different in shape to the kind of shape an underwire enforces. Having said all that, the sight of a woman newly fitted with the proper size underwired bra is an awe inspiring transformation - certainly to see, and, I'm told in comfort terms as well.

If they are digging into your armpits, it is almost certain that you have got a bra in too small a cup size.

Choice in soft cup (no underwire) bras is dramatically reduced; simply because underwires outsell then many times over. Other than for sports or maternity, I reckon I must have sold 20 times as many underwired bras as non underwired. So generally they must do a good job; 95% of women aren't crazy. Of course it may just be your particular shape is that little bit different from most people - every woman seems to have some minor difference from the 'norm', which is why a variety to try on is essential.

I can do strapless bras to size huge, and they work, too - I've got customers to prove it; smaller sizes, as Sarah says, are harder to make work, as they try to slip round and round.

The most radical solution is to scrap the bra and go for outerwear corsetry. Yes, I can do that up to massive - and stylish too. That's a part of the site I'm working on right now. Cups work from A/B (horizontal neckline) to C--F in scooped neckline. We have tried these with ladies in FF, and the ones we can get give up - but only at FF. Looks glamourous, is cool in summer, detachable suspenders - husbands can be fooled into buying them as 'leisure wear'. Up to a 50 back from memory!

Best shot is to get fitted by Sarah when you are over here. If you can advise her by e-mail what size you are wearing right now, that would help us prepare, for stocks are kept low - we specialise in knowing where and when you can get exactly what a lady wants, rather than deciding for her and imposing a narrow choice.

Can I just say that underwire bras are very, very, very painful when the wires snap and stab you?

This is from experience....



PSD

==========

This is the work of an Italian narco-anarchic collective. Don't bother insulting them, they can't read English anyway.

That's a market I refuse to serve. I wouldn't have lasted a month if I had.

I just wish there was someone who paid this much attention to boxer shorts.

No, I'm being serious for once - I'm not vaguely trying to cross reference one thread with another in a vain attempt to be witty, I'm genuinely tremendously impressed with the professionalism and dedication to customer service shown by Dave in the last few messages, and sincerely wish there were more people like that out there who actually make customers feel special and wanted without ripping them off at the same time. It's an all too rare commodity these days. Take a bow, guys - and for once don't sew it to the front of a bra but consider it well earned.

Phil.

Dave R, it could be that I'm "oddly shaped" and it wouldn't surprise me in the least. I'm very full on the outside/underarm area, which is probably why underwires just don't work for me. And even when the cup size has been "too large" the wires still poke. It just seems that if I were to make sure everything was pushed forward that'd I'd never be able to see my shoes again! I stick out far enough in front as it is!! Wagnerian Soprano as Sarah puts it LOL!

all I can say is that after I'm done having children, I'm getting breast reduction surgery! (most men -except for Dave R- just don't understand the compulsion to reduce!)