A couple of days ago, I decided I could no longer be bothered to write straight up lingerie reviews for bras made by companies not bothered to give responsible fitting advice. Instead, I reviewed Gossard on their own terms: in the size their very handy bra calculator helpfully appointed me. Gossard had me as an out-of-the-ballpark 34D. The resulting fit wasn’t a surprise, and it certainly wasn’t pretty.
More encouraging was on Monday, when a message from Gossard landed on my desktop assuring me that the advice was ‘developed with our customers in mind’ and ‘providing better service to our customers is paramount’ – with an invitation to visit them in Nottingham to discuss how they can do better. Curses geography.
But today I had this from Gossard HQ:
“One of our key concerns is giving women the information to allow them to make the most informed purchase decision possible via our website.
“We want every ‘Gossard Girl’ to find the best fitting bra for them – this is as much in our interest as it is in the interest of our customers. We want women to experience the ‘wow’ factor when trying on one of our bras whether for the first or the tenth time and wish to build both a happy and loyal customer base. Even from a purely business point of view, improved fitting and sizing guidance helps us to reduce the number of internet returns and exchanges.
“We would love to hear any ideas you may have about improving the online fitting process. We have already reviewed the information on your blog and are looking to develop better fitting advice in the interim.”
They also asked me to send my suggestions by e-mail, which I will do in due course – but I’d love for you my fellow fit fanatics to contribute too if you so wish. If you have any bright sparks or angry complaints, please comment below or e-mail me at busts4justice@gmail.com – I’ll make sure you’re heard. Let’s see if Gossard are more genuine in their sentiments than the still wriggly (and still in trouble) Playtex USA.
Busts 4 Justice 
Good for you lady! It’s the lingerie giants like this who need to change their messaging for bra fitting to take an evolutionary leap forward. I like that they acknowledge that even from a business point of view, better fit advice is in their interest.
This calculator puts me in a 36DD (I wear a 32GG) and that sums up their fitting for me. Why is it so difficult for these brands to say ‘our bras are amazing for 20% of women’ but if you fall outside of 32-38 A-DD you need to look elsewhere’. Consumers want honesty and integrity – no wonder so many women hate their bras, they know they’re being duped.
Fingers crossed Gossard can actually make a change and understand their mistakes. Everyone deserves a second chance to get it right. It just boggles my mind that these enormous bra manufacturers know so little about fit. It’s like they’re completely out of touch with women.
I haven’t tried Gossard because they don’t carry my size but definitely ask to have them due away with the stupid plus-four non-sense. Why not send some of the studies their way about how the plus-four method overestimates the band size? Additionally, did you see this study about how when teens were given pamphlets on what a proper fitting bra looked like they found better supporting bras? http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20500133
You could also point out that there are stores like Butterfly Collection and A Sophisticated Pair that are working and making better calculators but that both strongly emphasize that it’s a starting point and also encourage signs of proper fit.
Maybe it would be helpful if women took a picture of themselves in their correct fitting bra and in a bra with the size their bra calculator states. Send these photos to Gossard with explanations of how the correct fitted bras do fit and how the bras with the sizes their calculator suggested do not fit. Point of specifics of how and why the good ones fit and how and why the bad ones don’t fit.
I found a new target: Pattern Companies! Who knew?
http://butterick.mccall.com//pages/how_to_choose_your_correct_size/458.php
Wow, that’s great 🙂
I am kind of new to Brafitting and I would love for it to just be easy. That’s it. I have learned a bit about sizing (I thought I was a 75C while indeed I am a 70E).
And by the way: I would love for more bra companies to ship to Europe especially to Germany. Do you know how hard it is to find a good looking bra if you have a bigger bust? It is unbelievable.
Way to go, Becky! At least Gossard seems somewhat willing to change, but I imagine it would be costly to admit that many women are outside their size range. From a purely (unethical) business perspective, why make or carry 100+ sizes when you can use less than half and just “fit” people into them. Hopefully, the industry will start to change, and blogs like this keep the momentum moving forward.
Thanks for the support! Will keep fighting until we get somewhere! x
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