this post was submitted on 15 Nov 2024
51 points (91.8% liked)

Ask Lemmy

26875 readers
2113 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions

Please don't post about US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world


Rules: (interactive)


1) Be nice and; have funDoxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them


2) All posts must end with a '?'This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?


3) No spamPlease do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.


4) NSFW is okay, within reasonJust remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].


5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.


Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.

Partnered Communities:

Tech Support

No Stupid Questions

You Should Know

Reddit

Jokes

Ask Ouija


Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu


founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

It's so bad that my fiancée has some bras that say she's a B cup and others that says she's a D cup. In order to go bra shopping, you have to actually try them on to find out if they fit.

If I had to try on underwear to see if they fit, I might not bother with underwear at all!

top 37 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] Coreidan@lemmy.world 9 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

This is the case with all clothing.

[–] sunzu2@thebrainbin.org 2 points 47 minutes ago

All is a strecht... But yeah once marketing took over that function, it got turned into whatever the fuck we got now in the US🤡

[–] RandomStickman@fedia.io 58 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

Clothing sizing in general is just arcane at this point.

[–] Sonor@lemmy.world 11 points 2 hours ago (2 children)

This. I mostly buy size S t-shirts, sometimes M, occassionally XS. I dont even care anymore.

[–] Tolookah@discuss.tchncs.de 14 points 2 hours ago (2 children)

If the shirt isn't xl, I can't raise my hands without showing my belly.

Also if the shirt is bigger than L, I'm swimming in it.

[–] spankmonkey@lemmy.world 4 points 2 hours ago

I have a long torso and broad shoulders, so I have to get xl tall shirts in some brands because most make their standard xl shirts wider but not taller than med and small.

Banana Republic is the shortest length. Hurley is the best length.

[–] phoneymouse@lemmy.world 2 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

I’m between a medium and a large. More often then not though, I need the shoulder width and arm length of a large, but the cut in the torso of a medium. Clothing manufacturers assume Americans scale horizontally as they scale vertically. This maybe true given our obesity crisis.

[–] MisterNeon@lemmy.world 53 points 2 hours ago

Today years old.

[–] LainTrain@lemmy.dbzer0.com 24 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

It's also the fact that cup size is not necessarily independent from band size, that's where the trick is. I used to think I'm an A with a high band size as I'm huge with no booba, like a 39A or something but those never fit that well.

According to ABraThatFits methodology I'm actually 36C, which somehow does fit and super well, though by common and dudebro methodology I'm most certainly more of an "A cup" if that makes sense.

[–] clay_pidgin@sh.itjust.works 14 points 2 hours ago

It's because whatever maniac invented the sizing scheme decided that every letter represents 2 inches more around your body at the weirdest boobage point than just below it. What a bonkers system! A woman with 38B bras is 38 inches around at the band, and 40 inches around at the girls. Nonsense. The way dudes THINK it works makes so much more sense.

[–] TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world 2 points 44 minutes ago
[–] Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world 7 points 1 hour ago

The cup size SHOULD be the difference in inches between the circumference below the breast and circumference around the breast.

3" difference would be a C cup

5" would be DD.

Why they double up some letters and not others, I couldn't tell you. 🤷🏻‍♂️

My ex used to sell underwear.

[–] NeoNachtwaechter@lemmy.world 2 points 54 minutes ago

It is well standardized around here.

[–] TomMasz@lemmy.world 9 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

It was a long time ago that I realized that women’s clothing sizing was largely fiction. Trying to buy clothing for a girlfriend or (later) my wife based on the tag of something they already owned was an exercise in futility.

[–] dariusj18@lemmy.world 29 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

Have her go and get fitted. Many women don't know what their band/cup size really is.

Also, IMO, women's pant sizes are where the real absurdity in sizes is.

[–] ThisIsAManWhoKnowsHowToGling@lemmy.dbzer0.com 14 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

Not much help to know what cup size you are if the bra companies are only pretending to be standardized

[–] ValiantDust@feddit.org 20 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 1 hour ago) (1 children)

Only knowing your cup size is not enough. You need to know the underbust size as well. A 32D and a 34C have cups with the same volume. Sure, there is still some variance but not as much as I thought before I learned that.

Edit: This calculator and the community of the same name on the-site-that-shall-not-be-named helped me a lot in finding my actual bra size. Now my only problem is that almost no company here has more than two or three bras in that size...

[–] dingus@lemmy.world 1 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

Interesting website! I'll have to remember to try this when I can find where I put my tape measure.

Personally, once I found bralettes I've never gone back. My boobs are small enough that they work just fine. The comfort level has gone up by like ten billion. Bras without underwire come in second but still not the greatest. I just can't really understand bras with underwire.

Tbh, I'm able to go braless under loose fitting sweaters, but for any other shirt, I just don't have the right boob shape for it.

[–] palordrolap@fedia.io 3 points 1 hour ago

I think this is filed in my head under "no two manufacturers' sizes are the same (even if they're supposed to be to a standard)", and "this is especially true of women's wear", so while I may have known about bra cup sizes specifically at some point in the past, I'm not sure I did at the time I arrived at this post, and yet am thoroughly unsurprised to (re)discover it.

[–] Ephera@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 hour ago

Probably around 14 or something. For whatever reason, people will often name DD as a large bra size around here. It also doesn't exist in our bra size system. Some girl pointed out that non-sense at school.

[–] _bcron_@lemmy.world 10 points 2 hours ago

I just learned today since I've never been compelled to look up any sort of conversion chart, but I had a hunch because dress/pants sizes are all over the place. One brand's mostly-honest 12 is another brand's flattering 4, shit like that

[–] Makeitstop@lemmy.world 4 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

I really want a law that requires clothing sizes to include actual measurements. And it's insane that I would have to specify that these measurements must be accurate, but the clothing industry has made lying about sizes the norm.

There shouldn't be anything preventing me from figuring out women's bra sizes with a tape measure aside from the fact that I don't know them and they probably don't want a stranger obsessively measuring their boobs.

[–] spankmonkey@lemmy.world 2 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

I really want a law that requires clothing sizes to include actual measurements.

Men's pants are sized based on the number of inches around the waist and the inseam. The inseam is stupid because it ignores the height from the waist to the crotch so relaxed fitting jeans will have a shorter inseam than a regular fit. I'm sure it is because it was standardized when higher waisted jeans and overalls and that kind of stuff was popular.

But it doesn't matter any more because the waist sizes can be off by a few inches anyway. It was literal, then became kind of close. Not as bad as women's clothing, but it is brand specific depending on how hard they lean into vanity sizing.

[–] Makeitstop@lemmy.world 2 points 34 minutes ago

Yet another reason why I don't wear pants.

[–] rtxn@lemmy.world 8 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)

I'm both fat and tall. None of my fucking clothes have consistent sizes that fit. I'm not the least bit surprised that the clothing industry's greatest minds were defeated by breasts.

[–] TheRealKuni@lemmy.world 16 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

There are plenty of brands that follow mostly standard sizing, as I understand it. But popular brands in the US (like Victoria Secret) generally don’t.

I fell down the r/abrathatfits rabbit hole one day, years ago. It’s fascinating.

[–] BruceTwarzen@lemm.ee 10 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

I once talked to my girlfriend about bra sizes and how much i don't understand them. Then we both googled bra sizes and how often women wear the wrong size and fit and all. It's a whole science behind it and it's quite interesting. Now, 10 years later i still often think: oh no, she wears a bra that doesn't fit right and probably doesn't even know it.

[–] TheRealKuni@lemmy.world 3 points 1 hour ago

Yup! “Oh, she should probably go down a band size and up a cup size” popped into my head one day and I laughed at the absurdity.

I introduced my wife to the world of proper bra fit, because she’d never known any of it. No one taught her. Made me feel vaguely guilty of mansplaining, but it helped!

[–] lukhan@fedia.io 3 points 1 hour ago

Europe, my beloved...

[–] sgibson5150@slrpnk.net 3 points 1 hour ago

This might go some ways to explaining why I've never known a woman who liked buying or wearing bras. I'm comfortable blaming the patriarchy, which can absolutely get fucked.

[–] Jayb151@lemmy.world 4 points 2 hours ago

My understanding is that some European countries have laws standardizing bra size.

[–] NatakuNox@lemmy.world 3 points 2 hours ago

The same time I learned it was like that for all women's clothing. So about 18

[–] Stern@lemmy.world 3 points 2 hours ago

I always figured it was like pants where a 34 waist from company A wouldn't fit like one from B.

[–] Zorsith@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 2 hours ago

However old i was when I first heard my mom complain about bra's

[–] MrPoopyButthole@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

Well I don't wear underwear at all already 😀

[–] Sonor@lemmy.world 6 points 2 hours ago

Username checks out