M&S bra fittings will be ‘by eye’ instead of tape measure

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Retailer denies that new hands-off approach is connected to row over transgender sales assistant

M&S said the decision brought it into line with others in the market, such as specialist bra firms Rigby and Peller, and Bravissimo. A spokesman said: “The feedback so far has been overwhelmingly positive.”

The company is adopting the policy after a successful trial in 23 stores. M&S launched its first bra 100 years ago and, in 1947, offered its first bra fittings to customers. Sales assistants were trained in measuring customers’ girdles, bras and corsets under customers’ coats.

Full story https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/05/04/marks-and-spencer-bra-fitters-told-to-use-eyes-not-tape/

and at https://archive.is/klXRO

Not at all. Determining proper fit requires training, experience, and knowledge of the product range. It's a skilled job even without the tape measure.

Measuring by eye is fine, but I would think the key issue here is that for fitters in RP and Bravissimo that’s their entire job. They are hired to fit and sell bras. And that means they are not only required to have full understanding on how to fit a bra but will experience a range of customers day-in-day-out and hone those skills.

For colleagues in M&S, surely you don’t interview for a dedicated bra fitter but just as a sales/customer advisor. I’d assume that you work in departments - so could spend 3 months working menswear and get shifted over to lingerie.

So that means no focused experience or expertise to eyeball customer’s boobs and get it right. And let’s be honest, the one universal experience women share is the very poor fitting M&S provide (+4?). It doesn’t instil confidence in all honesty.

The 2 independent bra shops that I have used both told me that measuring is pointless. When you think about it, it makes sense - beasts are 3D and vary a lot in shape and yet we take just 2 measurements. Also bras vary a lot in cut and stretchiness.

Fitting by eye is abandoning fitting.

Victoria Secret don't do my bra size. I went in once with a friend and they tried to advise me my size. It was hilarious what they suggested. There wasn't a cat in hell's chance it'd fitted.

Again, you are wrong that fitting by eye is somehow sub-standard. It isn't. The testimony of many women on this thread is that it isn't.

The problem with VS and Anne Summers is that they don't carry a wide range of sizes. The fitter should just tell you that instead of bullshitting you.

I sympathise because my first ever bra as a child was too big in the back because the shop (Etam?) didn't have anything in 32". The fitter suggested to my gran (my parents had both dropped the ball on properly parenting their daughters because too distracted by divorce, she saw my boobs bouncing around one holiday at hers and stepped in) that I would grow into it. Reader, I am still a 32" back in most models by most manufacturers.

That’s just bad fitting, by eye or otherwise. Good fitting checks the fit of each bra and adjusts sizing accordingly.

I have an unusual size and use a specialty bra shop. They do not use tape measures. They do touch you and test fit in many ways. The fitting sessions are very detailed and involved. They make sure you don’t just get a bra that technically fits, but that supports you well and will stay comfortable.

its a very different job than when I worked in a department store and would get assigned to the lingerie department. The bra fitting training using a tape measure was pretty minimal.

I’m guessing m&s aren't going to be switching to a new, more in depth method of fitting by dedicated specialists. But maybe?

I don't get how some PP think that fitting by eye is LESS skilled than taking measurements.

The best fittings I have had have been by eye, in small shops that sold a small but varied range of brands.

If a fitter is less skilled then they will have to resort to using a tape measure and then, being less skilled, they will also be less likely to recommend a bra that is the right shape and fits well.

Unless M&S are going to employ dedicated bra-fitters who are able to gain enough experience to acquire the necessary skills to fit by eye, their bra fittings are unlikely to improve.

However, if women have had bad experiences with M&S bra fittings it is probably at least partly due to the fact that M&S does not have a wide range of brands to choose from in store, ie. rather than a wide range of M&S-designed own lines.

I learned a very long time ago which brands built bras for my shape and which ones did not, irrespective of bra design. When I have been tempted now and then to try a bra from a brand that has proved unsuitable in the past, I have quickly discovered that it was not worth the time and effort.

Women who are very happy with M&S bra fittings are likely lucky to be the shape that M&S own-line bras are designed to fit, irrespective of style. Unfortunately, I have found that I am not that shape, so even the best M&S bra-fitter is unlikely to offer me a bra that fits me well and that I like the look of. C'est la vie 🤷‍♀️

Fitting ‘by eye’ just seems like ‘try the bra on, and see how it fits’, which I can do myself rather better than a fitter. And measuring with tape measure without using the 'boob or bust' method (either solely, or in addition to other measurements) seems utterly pointless, but that seems too undignified to allow someone else to do!

Honestly, with online resources like ‘boob or bust’ to help with measuring up your band size (much smaller than you think, probably), and cup size (bigger than you’d think, given your band size is smaller), and the information available online about what types of cup shapes are best for what kinds of breast shapes and densities, etc…is a fitter actually any use these days?

That's fine if you know about those resources and are willing and able to become your own expert. Which is a good thing but hardly the norm. Most women would not have the time even if they had the inclination and the knowledge of the information available.

Fitting ‘by eye’ just seems like ‘try the bra on, and see how it fits’,

Except that makes it sound like a good "by eye" fitter operates just by wild guesswork and would be as likely as not to offer a bra that doesn't fit. So far, no one on this thread has described that being their experience of a good "by eye" fitting.

Sadly, the remaining Dept Stores with lingerie depts in my town have dispensed with their teams of experienced bra fitters and the new staff are so clueless that they do not even recognise the names of different items. When I asked in one store if they had any "waist slips" the young woman I spoke to looked blank and just stared at me. I tried, "Petticoat? But just from the the waist, not a full petticoat. A waist slip."

She took me to a stand and held up a thermal vest!

That was once a store where you could rely on a good, reliable fitting and recommendations.

Some years ago I went to a famous bra store in NYC (I live in the US). An older woman came over to me, put her hands around my ribcage, and then grabbed me by the breasts. She then announced my size and went to fetch me a bra. No tape measure at any point. she was absolutely bang on, and it was not a common size. I cannot imagine that flying in any chain store, but it was quite the experience.

Yes, I do admit it sounds like properly trained ‘by eye’ fitters with years of experience might be able to do a great job – but I feel like those fitters wouldn’t be the norm these days, sadly.

It does make me curious how well they’d fit me by eye, though. Being tall, I look broader around the band than I actually am (I’ve not had a fitting, but every bra shop worker I’ve encountered who’s commented on it, has been shocked that I’m a 28 band), and my breasts are proportionately medium sized but very soft thanks to years of breastfeeding, and a lack of fat. It’s very difficult to find a bra that fits me! Maybe I should try the service next time I get a bra.

With Google at everyone’s fingertips, I think no one really has an excuse to not be informed – but I do understand that some people just find it easier to go to a fitter.

And a thermal vest? Good god, what a poor guess 😂

I saw this and it made me think about the Levi store I was in where they look at you and say the exact size. It's an interesting concept.

Ah yes but are ZeBras Bras?

I hadn't worn a 'proper' bra for years as they all fell apart at the same time during covid and I couldn't remember what size I was. I was wearing one size fits all sports bras for years as so comfortable but then I thought I should get some proper bras again.

Fitting by eye (which is often ‘by eye and fairly invasive hand’) by a properly trainer bra fitter is very accurate - but also extremely intimate, and I suspect there would be only the rarest of purchasers who would not want a same-sex fitter in those circumstances (even if they’d be happy with an opposite-sex fitter with a tape, which I would not personally).

Fitting by tape DONE PROPERLY can also be accurate, but M&S for years used a bizarre “measure and add Xcm” method to find back size, which was wrong for most people, as many of us discovered when we went to specialist fitters and discovered we were a much smaller back size/much larger cup size than we had thought (36C to 32GG here).

If M&S are genuinely investing in highly trained ‘by eye’ fitters, that is potentially a good thing, although as PP commented, the lack of range of bra brands will still limit their ability to fit everyone properly. If they are just ditching the tape measure with no in-depth specialist training, not so much. And nothing in the change would help alleviate the problems most people see with male bra fitters.

I used to be a bra fitter at both M&S and John Lewis.

I always told customers that measuring was always just a basic guide but not accurate, the best thing to do was to try on bras with them and ensure they had the right fit.

I was always aware that bras can fit differently depending on style, material and branding. An example is that sports bras can often come up a size too small. A mesh bra may have a tighter fit than a cotton bra.

It can also depend tbh on what customers in came in wearing and we use the size they had on a starting point.

But it has never been the case that someone should come in, get measured and then sent out again to go shopping and have all bras be that exact size.

I have a local lingerie shop where the owner can tell by looking which makes/styles/sizes are going to fit and advises accordingly. Consequently I buy Felina bras. They’re relatively expensive, but I buy in the sale if I can and handwash. They last for years, very good value.
What I hate are those padded/moulded bras with a layer of what looks like polystyrene. Makes me shudder.

Agreed. John Lewis on Sheffield were excellent at this, and since their demise I have discovered that Bravissimo in Leeds are excellent too (I have eliminated other places on the way). They check the for, the position of the band, adjust the straps etc and look at how the cups lie, and know which different style/brands fit slightly differently to address any fit problems. It really is a 100 times better than M&S who measure you, give you a size nothing like reality, and then give you a bra that clearly doesn’t fit.

M&S have a terrible reputation for fitting. They’ve never done a decent job with me whereas bravissimo and RP have sorted me out without a tape. I’ve varied over the years but typically 28-30 E-G depending on fatness and hormonal changes. If you can’t fit properly and you work in a shop where the sizes don’t seem to align with other manufacturers then tape isn’t going to help you.

It makes sense that different styles, and variations material and padding, can give a different fit/support on the cup. However, if correctly measured with a measuring tape, a band width of 32” should not differ between brands. If a brand states on the label that the bra is 32” on the band, it should measure 32” on the band.

We know a 2 x 4 piece of wood becomes a 1 1/2 thick and 3 1/2 wide when dried and sanded. However, bras are not dried and sanded. Only when stretched from wear should they change in size.

Ive always had much better success measuring myself using guides and a tape measure than I ever have in shops.

If you know any craftsmen (sorry haven’t met any wims that this applies to) they don’t need to measure - they do it by eye. They’re that good

That is not my point, though. If something states a certain measurement, it should be that measurement. A half dozen eggs shouldn’t be five. So, a label which states the garment is 32”, should be 32”.

A bra band size is not the measurement of inches.

A size 32 bra band is not 32inches.

When a bra fitter measures you with a tape, they look at the inches and then do a conversion into a size guide.

Material also plays a factor. Some materials will feel tighter than others.