Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Style and beauty

Looking for style advice? Chat all about it here. For the latest discounts on fashion and beauty, sign up for Mumsnet Moneysaver emails.

Original poster

So, I'm tweeting about bras with M&S. Who wants to tell me which stores have given incorrect measurements?

443 replies

WeAreSix · 18/07/2013 14:31

They have asked which store fitted incorrectly. Apparently they've invested a lot into their Bra fitting and would like to know which stores have incorrectly measured / fitted.

Shall we give them a list?!

OP posts:
auntpetunia · 19/07/2013 07:07

D0ointhmclean ?definitely worth the train ride or see if you have a local independent store nearby

D0oinMeCleanin · 19/07/2013 07:19

Excellent. Thank you. I had been considering it, after reading all the bad reviews on MN on M&S' fitting service. I've never had a bra I felt totally comfortable in. It either lacks support or I'm bulging out of it.

I just blamed the fact that I was overweight and assumed I was too fat for normal bras.

All I want is a couple of strapless bras for my holiday that won't prevent me from breathing normally and and that I won't have to visit the loo every hour in order to stuff my boobs back into my bra.

I did buy a tape measure to measure myself the new 'MN way' after reading about the bra guru but then realised it's all well and good knowing what size I should be, but without someone to help me, how will I know if the bra I pick fits right or not? So was contemplating giving M&S another chance as they're the only place that do bra sizing in our town, rather spend my only day off on a train. But if it will make a big difference I'll happily get the train.

Lonelynessie · 19/07/2013 07:27

Croydon and Bromley both got mine wrong and gave me two different sizes on two different consecutive days.

CelticPromise · 19/07/2013 07:41

D0oin if you prefer to measure yourself you could check out the fitting advice on the Bra Guru blog which is linked from the bra threads.

BarbaraWoodlouse · 19/07/2013 07:48

Cambridge a few years ago admittedly. "We'll your measuring as a 36B but you're clearly not a B".

Iirc I ended up in a 38D.

I am a 32E Confused

wonkylegs · 19/07/2013 08:00

Metrocentre Gateshead measured me as a 34c but couldn't get me one that didn't look daft so relented and put me in a 32dd which " You shouldn't fit in, you must have weird shaped breasts" Hmm
I'm actually a 28G... But according to the lady in there I can't be " because nobody is that size" which translates to we don't make them in that size.

D0oinMeCleanin · 19/07/2013 08:00

Celtic if you can find me a strapless or multiway bra that will not constrict my breathing and won't end up with holes in the top of the cups after two weeks from where I am constantly yanking it back up again, feel free to intervene.

I usually hate being measured. I feel self conscious standing there in just my bra because of my weight, not helped by the up to then very nice lady in M&S telling me that they don't stock "nice" bras in my size because "It is unusual for a young lady to be so big around the back" now admittedly at a size 20/22 I was not tiny, but nor was I monstrously and usually enormous, imo. I'm now an 18 and feel slightly better.

DorisShutt · 19/07/2013 08:02

Get the train to Bravissimo! I (many moons ago hen young and naive!) went to M&S for a strapless bra to go under a wedding outfit. I was wrongly sized and spent a miserable event totally unconfident and panicking about my boobs falling out.

Fast forward to last year, and I went to Bravissimo to get a bra with nice straps for an outfit that would have been better strapless. When the lovely lady enquired as to why I would not get a strapless, I related the story and she was so helpful. I came away with a strapless bra that fitted perfectly - and made the outfit look lovely. (And they told me to wear it a few times under something and if it didn't work, then I could take it back, no questions asked).

I avoid M&S now.

D0oinMeCleanin · 19/07/2013 08:11

Um, out of curiosity I've just measured myself (39 under bust and 48.5 round my boobs) the MN way and according to Bra Guru, I am a 38FF? Shock. M&S put me in a 44D last time I went there, although in their defense I have lost 3st since then, but then surely that would make my cup size go down, not up dramatically? Confused

This cannot be right!?! Bravissimo it is then. I don't think our M&S go up to an F, although I've never looked for one.

Ooh and unless my tape measure has shrunk I've lost an inch from under bust since I last measured myself about a month ago Grin

StatisticallyChallenged · 19/07/2013 08:23

it can be very right-cup size is relative to back size. when I lose weight most comes off my underbust not overbust meaning my cup increases. but you were likely never the size marks said. If they said 44d you were probably s 40ff or there abouts. For strapless try the wonderbra ultimate-sizing a bit funny so try a few

glenthebattleostrich · 19/07/2013 08:35

Meadowhall measured me as a 38 DD, I'm a 36HH.

Fair play to the assistant in the Sheffield branch who took one look at my boobs and said she doubted they had anything that would fit and I should try a specialist bra shop.

CelticPromise · 19/07/2013 08:40

I make you a G/GG on those D0oin.

D0oinMeCleanin · 19/07/2013 08:55

Shock That's even bigger! I have never been convinced that I was as small as M&S told me but I never for one second imagined that I was that big.

Still at least means I don't have to dread no longer having big enough boobs for Bravissimo's lovely swimming costumes, when I get to my goal weight.

DontCallMeBaby · 19/07/2013 09:18

As others have said, there's no way their fitters are going to be getting it right when their website betray that they're using the wrong method. At 31"/41" the website has me as a 36G - I wear 32GG, and wore 36G before I lost 2.5 stone!

Original poster
WeAreSix · 19/07/2013 09:39

M&S have responded with a link to their Contact page and a comment "We want to restore your confidence in our fitting"

and

"We'll share your thoughts with the lingerie team, as we know they'll really appreciate your feedback"

I will reply to the first comment and email the link to this thread. I will also say they will be unable to restore confidence until they are fitting correctly and consistently.

Any thoughts?

OP posts:
Original poster
WeAreSix · 19/07/2013 09:41

I've also 'intervened' a school mum this morning.

M&S size - 38B

Actual size 34F

OP posts:
Amrapaali · 19/07/2013 09:45

There seems to be a pattern here. Wyndo they seem to consistently get the underbust measurement larger and the cup size smaller? Do they do the "add 4 inches if odd number" malarkey?

5 or 6 years ago, Welwyn Garden City did a near perfect measurement as 34G- reckon its a rare one-off. I am actually 32HH now...

OhBuggerandArse · 19/07/2013 09:51

What a meaningless reply.

M&S, if you're reading this, don't try and respond with pointless corporate speak. Look at the stories the women here have told, and try and imagine the lives that go with them.

This is a very real issue that isn't going to be smoothed over by platitudes and 'your feedback is important to us' type drivel.

You'll only rescue the current situation (total PR disaster) by REALLY listening and taking REAL action.

ellangirl · 19/07/2013 10:03

Isle of Man store measured me as a 36f in early pregnancy I think, I was really about 30H at the time and desperately in need of comfortable bras.

They need to stop adding 4/5 inches, and that would mean having to redesign the whole range of bras and sizes they offer!

I hate seeing badly fitting bras, especially on teens when most of them are probably taken to marks and spencer as I was to get bras. I wore 36C as a 13/14 year old, and I clearly never was. I hated school sports as a result, and had v low self confidence because I never had the correct support and it certainly didn't do my boobs any good.

EagleRiderDirk · 19/07/2013 10:06

ella I think needing to redesign is the problem. They don't stock a lot of sizes as they stock a "standard" range. Why would they fit correctly then have to tell you to go to a more specialist store when they could fit badly and you'll buy their products. That's my conspiracy theory anyway Wink

Alibabaandthe40nappies · 19/07/2013 10:09

WeAre ask them to look at the details of what people are saying. Loud and clear the problem is the ridiculous 'add 4/5 inches' thing.

Until they stop doing that (which will mean redesigning and manufacturing almost their whole range) then they cannot possibly restore confidence.

They MUST have seen a loss of market share to Bravissimo and the online sector - have they never paused to think about why that might be? It is everything to do with their product.
What do they think is going to happen when the older generation who still buy M&S clothes and so also go there for bras are no longer around?

It is so utterly blinkered of them to insist that there is no problem, I can't understand it.

ellangirl · 19/07/2013 10:22

Not sure about the conspiracy eagle! But I agree their system is self perpetuating. Their fitting system supports the sizes they sell, so they then say they are stocking standard sizes. Isn't the average size in the uk supposed to be 36c? It's probably actually 32E Grin

ooievaar · 19/07/2013 10:23

Liverpool city centre M&S, which is a big store, not long redesigned as a bit of a go-to destination with a posh café only had 1 single bra in my size when I last looked a few months ago.

I tweeted them about it back then (last time MN went bra-crazy!), and got the reply that there was a bit more choice online 2 more bras if I remember right. I'm a standard dress size 10 (and was looking for a 30F, perfectly reasonable size for a size 10) so it struck me as quite a ridiculous answer - they wouldn't tell me to look online for all my clothes as well, would they? they stock plenty of size 10 clothes, so why bother even having a store if a perfectly common size has to look online?

I haven't been measured there though, had just been guesstimating my size based on what I was measured at age 16 in an independent shop (which was 32B), until I saw the bra guru light. Now realise that even that independent must have been doing +4 method, as twenty years (!) and 1 pregnancy later I can wear 28s and I seriously doubt that my ribcage has shrunk...

Theas18 · 19/07/2013 10:27

solihull were very rude to DD2 ( and unable to fit her but suggested she had a bigger band and a smaller cup as that "would do").

Was several years ago though