Q&A about bra fitting with expert from Bravissimo - ANSWERS BACK

[RachelMumsnet]

This week we're running a Q&A with Lisa Gardner, Customer Service Operations Manager at Bravissimo about bra fitting. Post your questions to Lisa before midday 20th August and we'll upload Lisa's answers on 27th August.

More about Bravissimo
Bravissimo provides a service to women with bigger boobs to inspire them to feel good about themselves, turning what may have been a negative experience of buying lingerie, swimwear and nightwear into a fun, pleasurable one where women with bigger boobs are offered a wide choice of styles and colours. They provide lots of fitting advice in stores, over the phone (01926 459 859) and online //www.bravissimo.com

[CelticPromise]

I like that idea Spirael. Comfy crop tops for sleeping would be great too. I know there are pj tops already.

[Ginformation]

kitten there is absolutely no evidence to support the rumour that underwired nursing bras cause mastitis. An ill fitting nursing bra of any kind can cause mastitis (of course not all mastitis is caused by bras).

A well fitted wired nursing bra offers much better support and fewer fungal skin infections for those of us with big breasts. I was a 34j last time I breast fed.

[nextphase]

1944 - Eldon Gardens.

I use sleep bras like these not brill sizing, but good enough for gentle support.

[Jux]

Please please please could you open a shop on Exeter?

At the moment we seem to have M&S, JL, Debenhams and one-I-can't-remember-the-name-of-right-now, which sounds like we've got choice, but they are all awful. I cannot find a bra which fits but which is nice! Lurid colours or old lady styles are there, but nice? Nothing.

On the fantastic bra threads here I am 30GG (or thereabouts) but I don't even bother trying things on, they're so horrid.

[SorrelForbes]

Jux The other one is House of Fraser. They don't even stock 30 bands! The last time I visited, the JL only had about two 30GGs in stock and no 28s at all.

Bravissimo, we are a whole area of the country just waiting for you!

[KittenCaboodle]

Believe that if you like gin. I have had repeated mastitis and blocked ducts caused by all manner of things from slings where a bay's hand has pressed, seatbelts on long journeys, seams across the middle of very well fitted nursing bras, and yes underwire in a bra -one that fitted beautifully at some times of day. Funnily enough breasts full of milk go up and down in size over the course of a day, yes even when you have been nursing for years (for me at least).

Just because you do not have personal experience of something does not mean it does not exist.

[EauRouge]

Did you also have oversupply Kitten ? I had terrible oversupply with DD2 and got blocked ducts if the wind changed direction. I wore underwired bras with DD1 with no problems, but I didn't have oversupply then.

[Kaliwhite]

Do you have any plans to extend your bra size range? As a 34/36 k/kk my bra supply is becoming very limited and your Alana bra is the wrong shape on top for me. A half cup up to a k would be very much appreciated! Also any plans for more pepperberry clothes in super duper curvy sizes? I know there is a demand for them and would love some more tops and shirts!

[teabagpleb]

Any chance of a larger store in London? Since you started selling clothes (which on the whole is great), there's much less choice of bras in stock in your main store off Regent St - 30,000 bras sounds a lot but if you divide by 100 sizes, assume over half are multiples in the same size, discount the swimming ones, nursing, strapless or whatever I'm not looking for, there's often very little in stock in my size, and the clothes even more so (I wanted to buy at least 3 tops last time I was in, found 6 I wanted to try on, only 1 in a size worth trying). I would travel across London to a store that was likely to have more clothes that would fit me.

Having a loo and a reliable lift would also help - like many postnatal women I need the loo frequently and have twice had to leave your store and walk 10 min to John Lewis's upstairs and back. And one of those I then got stuck in your lift... which made lack of stock even more annoying!

Being able to book a fitting online would be wonderful, or assistance in general as I can't get a bra on myself in under 10 min, but while your staff are great they are usually busy seeing people being fitted and it's a wait for help.

[fossil971]

Could some of the nightwear/soft cup bras be front-fastening? I really like the PJ soft-cup tops but they are a bit of a pig to manage when you are half asleep. (Never mind any hope of DH attempting an incursion)

All my bras have been from Bravissimo for years now - I'm a big (32G) fan. Please don't run down the Freya stock though!

[WhereBeThatBlackbirdTo]

Another request for a store in the South West please, even Bath or Bristol would help.

I had to drive for two hours to Cardiff last week to be fitted.

[Lilymaid]

Perhaps I got off onto the wrong tack with Bravissimo, but I have tried and failed to purchase bras several times from their Cambridge branch (last tried a couple of years ago). I have been fitted with poorly fitting bras and told that I could not purchase a bra by cash unless I provided a lot of information about myself.
I went back to John Lewis, where I have always received good service and am not forbidden from purchasing using cash!

[5SpeckledFrogs]

Please please more pretty sexy nursing bras with underwires! I am more than a milk machine and I still want to wear nice underwear. (28HH)

[shatteredmob]

Another request for underwired nursing bras please. Sick and tired of my dowdy old Royce bras.....Longing for some feminine lingerie again after months of mono-boobage.

[Ilovegeorgeclooney]

This thread seems really critical of a company that helps a lot of women. I rely on them for work shirts/dresses and my daughters both buy loads from them. If women think they are smaller isn't the responsibility on them to be properly measured.

[InMySpareTime]

I don't think it's that critical, just letting them know that their customer base is a lot bigger than they think, if Bravissimo teach women to measure properly, a lot of them will find they are not catered for in traditional shops. It could be quite an opportunity for Bravissimo if they play it right.

[Wonderstuff]

I was a bravissimo convert, was travelling a long way to be fitted in your store. You are one of very few stores to stock a 28" back size. But now my boobs have shrunk and I'm a 28C, which nobody seems to stock, I can't be the only one with this problem, please could you start stocking a 28C?

[StarlightMcKenzie]

Bravissimo woukd be excellent for me but I have a shorter shoulder to nipple length than their bras seem to allow for (and actually all their clothes seem to assume a taller than average woman), so though the cup fits well my boobs still flop down.

Having said that, the two times I have tried the fitting service I have found it excellent though the sales people admit they don't stock bras that would fit me or clothes that acknowledge curvy bums as well.

[ILoveAFullFridge]

Another request re Bravissimo stocks: longer length swimsuits for women with longer bodies.

I would also love to have a swimsuit - longer bodied, of course - with a bit more shaping in the bust but without underwires. I wear underwired bras but could not swim or spend a day wet and sandy in underwires.

[Uszka]

I measure 25.5" under my bust but wear a 28H, and the bands almost always ride up. I have to wear them on the tightest hooks but they soon stretch out and start riding up my back. It causes back pain and red marks on my shoulders. But as there are no 26s I don't know what I can do?

[DesperateHousewife21]

Uszka I have that problem too, except Im a B (I think!) I find it hard enough to find 30s let alone 28s, where do you find those?

[CelticPromise]

Uszka google Rixie clip, you can buy them on eBay and use them to take in a bra. There are online tutorials for altering bras too, there must be a link on one of the many bra fitting threads.

[InMySpareTime]

"Juliet's Kiss" have a range of 26" bras in production, should be ready to buy soon.