American Bra Size Average Increases From 34B to 34DD In Just 20 Years, Survey Says

[onehandle]

America's cup runneth over. The average bra size has jumped from a 34B 20 years ago to a 34DD in 2013, according to a new survey by lingerie retailer Intimacy.

Weight gain and breast implants have played a role in the increase, Intimacy spokeswoman Kate Terhune explained to The Huffington Post, but the biggest factor is that women are choosing a more appropriate size. "Women are more educated about bra fit," she said.

The chain interviewed more than 60,000 customers at its 16 stores nationwide, and compared the results to a similar study it did in 1992, Terhune said. Far more sizes are available now than in the early '90s, meaning that comfort in a larger cup could push up the mean. The company planned to publish the full results later Wednesday in a press release, Terhune said.

According to other news outlets, additional retailers were experiencing inflation as well. The bestselling bra at online seller Figleaves.com is a 34E (DD) and the size demand for its Just Peachy brand had risen to 38H, Glamour reported. Racked wrote that Italian label Cosabella had added a 38 for C, D and DDs.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/24/bra-size-survey_n_3645267.html

[rug]

1. I never could figure out bra sizes.

Do the letters refer to volume?

[MicaelS]

4. Bra Fitting

http://www.herroom.com/bra-fitting-advice,901,30.html

[politicat]

8. Their system is wrong. They're adding to the band size.

No, no, no, no, no. Band size is the underbust measurement, rounded to the nearest even number. (33 is either 32 or 34, 30 is 30, et cetera.) There's a reason the bands are made of elastic -- they're meant to be snug and stretch.

Adding inches to the band size means that it will ride up in back, sag in the front, and the straps will either slip off the shoulder or dig. The underwires will poke first armpits then out of the fabric.

That site has a gazillion problems (ageist and stigmatizing language, only using models on the pale side) but the bad advice is the worst.

Try this instead.
http://www.reddit.com/r/ABraThatFits/wiki/measuring

[MicaelS]

17. Thanks for correcting me, and

Thanks for a good link. Bookmarked for the future.

[politicat]

5. Short answer: yes.

Long Answer: cup size (the letter part) refers to the conic section or hemispheric section. The design math gets pretty hairy (it's the one section of the industry where advanced math is absolutely required) and isn't helped at all by the fact that American bra manufacturers and retailers have an absolutely borked non-system of "sizing".

Standardized cup sizes are based on volume, but volume varies with chest-wall sizing (thus a 36B, a 34C and a 32D all use the same underwires or molded cups and have the same volume) and chest wall has little or nothing to do with either implants or obesity (there's not a lot of subcutaneous fat on the rib cage.) Further, bra sizing and fitting often still uses a system invented before modern elastics and stretch fabrics, which means a systematic failure. (Band size should be the exact measurement of the chest wall, not that measurement plus 2, 3, 4 inches.)

There's a huge sub-reddit on this. http://www.reddit.com/r/ABraThatFits/

[woodsprite]

6. It's determined by the diff between the band measurement at the ribs,

And the measurement around the widest part of the chest. So yeah, I guess that would be volume. My new sil just had surgery (C to a DD) and needs to go back to have it redone because her doc screwed up. IMO she was fine the way she was. She's going to let the same doc do it again. I can't imagine that. Plus another 3 mo healing time.

My hubby always says "if they're more than a handful, it's wasted".

[BootinUp]

2. Damn, I was hoping it was evolution, lol.

[NewJeffCT]

19. A friend of mine made that comment 20 years go

when the average cup size went from a B to a C - he said it was natural selection.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

3. DD is the AVERAGE?

Seems like I should be happier...

[NewJeffCT]

18. I don't think the actual size has changed that much

it's just that there is more knowledge about sizes and how bras work than in the past. Like those Lara Croft video games that use "real physics" to accurately show her boobs jiggling. In that past, video games didn't have that accuracy. (I remember commenting at the time that I think I went into the wrong field if physicists are being used to make sure boobs are jiggling properly...)

[Bombero1956]

7. that's the good news

the bad news is that it's the bra size on men.

[mythology]

9. As somebody who suffers from a significant amount of back pain

I don't envy women for this.

I had a neighbor who had a back that was too bad for her to work and yet she went and got implants. I was rather confused by that.

[2theleft]

10. At 40 I finally went for a "proper" fitting...

I'm wondering if the size increase is in part due to tons of people realizing they have been wearing the wrong size for eons? I was STUNNED at what my "real" size is, but I can tell you that a bra that fits right is amazing. No longer so torturous to wear it all day.

I'm sure this doesn't account for all of the increase...I'm convinced all the hormones in our foods play a part, but I went from C/D to DDD overnight and nothing changed - still a size 4/6, still thin. Just the right size bra.

[Iggo]

11. It's the McNuggets, man.

[Arctic Dave]

12. OK! Geez. I'll say it.

This post is useless without pictures.

[Taverner]

13. I don't know much about sizes, but I always love what goes in them

And this that gives me reason to live

[Le Taz Hot]

14. Once again . . .

so far ahead of my time.

[pokerfan]

15. Two cups in the front, two loops in the back... how do they do it?

FARKUS: Have you ever sold a woman's line before?

GEORGE: No, but um I have very good rapport with women, very good, comfortable. And from the first time I laid eyes on a brassieres, I was enthralled.

FARKUS: Hum. tell me about it.

GEORGE: Well, I was 14 years old. I was in my friends bathroom. His mother's brassieres were hanging on the shower rod and I picked it up, studied it. I thought, I like this. I didn't know what way or what level, but I knew: I wanted to be around brassieres.

FARKUS: That's an incredible story. You have a remarkable passion for brassieres.

GEORGE: Well, they're more than an underwear to me Mr. Farkus. Two cups in the front, two loops in the back. How do they do it?

FARKUS: Well, I think I can say, barring some unforeseen incident, that you will have a very bright future here at E.D. Granmont.

[In_The_Wind]

16. ...

[Pretzel_Warrior]

20. I'm a professional bra sizing consultant. Have a breast/bra question? Ask me.

just kidding