Luxury Lingerie Label Wacoal Offers Advice On Bra Fittings

American lingerie brand, Wacoal is a leader in its field, known for beautifully designed lingerie that ticks all the boxes—pieces that are technically advanced and more importantly, offer a superior fit, giving women confidence daily.

Simply put, the company’s core mission has always been to make women feel their best, and in turn radiate confidence and happiness.

With that in mind, Miryha Fantegrossi—vice president of merchandising and design at Wacoal America—shares her advice when it comes to bra fitting at home.

Check to make sure you are getting lift: As a rule of thumb, if you look at yourself with a bra on sideways in the mirror—the most projected part of your breast should be positioned right at the midpoint between your shoulder and elbow.

Raise your arms: If the bra stays in place then you are wearing the correct size band. If it moves, you should go down a size (or two) in the band.

Make sure to check the band: The band on a properly fitting bra should be an even level all around your ribcage. If your band is riding up in the back it’s too loose. Roughly 70% of the lift and support in your bras come from the band, so a properly fitting band is essential.

Check the cup: Check to see if your breast tissue is sitting inside the wire shape and there is no spillage in the front or sides. If you are getting a double-bubble at the neckline or underarm the cup is too small for your breast. You need to go up in your cup size.

Check the straps: Straps sliding or digging in is a very common fit issue. It’s always a good idea to adjust the straps on your bra to customize the fit to your body. We make our bras to fit a wide range of customers heights, so it’s important that you adjust them to fit you. If that still doesn’t resolve the issue then your bra is showing signs of wear, which leads me to my next tip.

Know the expiration date on your bra: While a quality bra that fits well will make you look and feel your best, there will come a time where you need to retire it. How do you know when that is? Stretched out bands and straps, frayed or missing parts are all signals that it’s time to replace your bra. When any of this happens, the bra becomes uncomfortable because it no longer fits the same as the day you purchased it. Properly fitting bras typically tend to be the most comfortable and look best. 

When in doubt, get a professional bra fitting: At Wacoal, we’re meticulous about fit and offer many ways to support women. We provide one-on-one bra fittings and consultations with our dedicated fit experts in department stores across the country, online, by phone, and email. These experienced and compassionate women understand the challenges involved in finding a bra that fits and looks good too. Fitting goes beyond the numbers on a tape measure—a professional fitter will educate you about what works best for your body and the clothing you like to wear. For example, if you like to wear t-shirts I would, of course, recommend a t-shirt bra, but not every t-shirt bra is going to work for every shape. So, you start to understand that the fitting is more than getting your band and cup size correct.

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