Because they’re worth it: caring for your swimwear

Posted on April 12, 2011 by busts4justice

When you’ve spent £40, £50, £60+ on swimwear, you don’t want it to fall apart after a couple of months. To get the most out of your costume, follow our easy guide to caring for your delicious new purchase…

1: Make sure it’s in the right size.

It sounds like a no-brainer, but do make sure your swimwear fits as perfectly as your underwear. Badly fitting bras deteriorate faster because they end up taking weight and strain in the wrong places. It’s important to get fitted regularly anyway: why not use swimwear shopping as an excuse to squeeze in a proper fit?

2: Always rinse your costume

After swimming, even if you’re not planning a full wash or even to take it off, try to rinse your costume as soon as possible. Chlorine especially, and salt water, degrade the fabric and can ruin the shape and elasticity of your costume: rinsing will help minimise that damage while you’re out. It won’t remove all of the chlorine and salt though, so do remember to wash with gentle soap when you get home.

3: Hand wash only…

Mechanical washing is tough enough on clothes, but on something as structural as a bra it’s brutal.  Hand washing is the best way to protect your bikinis – and your bras – from damage.  No time to hand wash? B4J’s top tip is to take them in the bath and wash them with gentle shampoo while you soak, or take them in the shower and gently lather them while your conditioner is setting. If you absolutely have to machine wash them, make sure you protect them in a laundry bag or – better – in something like this Bra Ball. If an underwire goes rogue mid-cycle it could be more than a balconette you’re replacing…

4: Let it dry

To help protect the fabric from degrading and to keep its shape, remember to let your costume air dry naturally. The heat of tumble drying will damage the fabric, and just like a washing machine of the drum can destroy the shape and structure of the cups.

5: Love it!

The best way to get value from your swimwear is to truly love it, and truly love being in it. Seize every opportunity for fun and play, and enjoy the confidence truly supportive activewear can give you. We’ll see you in the sea…

Happy summer! x

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M&S: if it’s broke, don’t fix it…

Posted on April 10, 2011 by busts4justice


Marks & Spencer have dramatically proved what many of us have known for so long – that fit is definitely not their strong point – with the launch of their new, 50’s and Mad Men inspired ‘Flatter Me’ bra.

A Daily Mail article said “In focus groups, women commonly complained they hated the bra ‘muffin top’, or the bulge that appears around the back and sides of some traditional underwear.

“So the Flatter Me bra, which will cost £25 when it goes on sale next month, uses traditional boning and deep wings to remove the overspill – and boost cleavage.”

It is baffling. Surely everyone in lingerie – especially the high street’s biggest lingerie retailer – should know that boobs bulging out of bras are a clear signpost that the bra is not properly fitted, not that all modern bras uniformly cause lumps and bulges.  If Marks & Spencer’s customers – if their models – are bulging out of their bras at the top, it is a clear sign that the people responsible for putting them in to those bras are ill-equipped to fit properly.

But instead of addressing the problem at its root cause, M&S have simply taken women’s too small bras and added new bits, giving them an equally poor fit (so perfectly demonstrated by the model pictured) and charging them £25 for the pleasure.  In a time where our wallets are increasingly stretched, that’s hardly representative of the ‘value for money’ M&S claimed steadied their sales last quarter.

Yes, there is certainly a trend for 50s inspired lingerie and a Mad Men silhouette, and no doubt M&S will make a killing cashing in on it with these bras.  But if M&S truly cared about their customers, they would invest less in headline-grabbing fads and more in addressing the fit problem endemic throughout their company. Charging £25 to solve a problem you probably had a hand in creating shows an appalling lack of respect for your customers. In this climate, is that something M&S can really afford to do?

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Pool Party Perfection

Posted on April 8, 2011 by busts4justice

How could we let such a beautiful day go by and resist a cheeky swimwear shop? Lovely Lembrassa popped up on the blog to let us know that the Panache Loren, above left, is in stock in lots of sizes and is the exact same shape, cut and fit as the divine Monroe from last year.  The bold print is gorgeous – it’s like the spandex equivalent of a summer tea dress – and perfect for a beach barbecue, pool party or a freezing cold April toe dip in the English Channel.

Though perhaps if you are going to a pool party and have a streak of the Sam “Sex and the City” in you, how amazing would it be to be able to confidently pull off this new cutaway Freya Siren Silver Swimsuit?  And full points to Freya for bringing asymmetrical swimwear to the full chested.  It might be more Brazil than Brighton, but it looks like the lucky wearer would have a whole lot of fun. And some interesting tan lines too…

 

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M&S results boosted (by bangers, not bras)

Posted on April 6, 2011 by busts4justice

Today our old rivals M&S posted a low but much better than expected 0.1% growth in spite of expected losses. Though like-for-like sales had dropped by about 4% this was lower than predicted, and counterbalanced by a similar increase in food sales. Percy Pigs save the day again.

In recognition of the 5% jump to my solitary share value (I still hold on to it, just in case…) I decided to see if their new season lingerie was as uplifting as their figures.  I approached the size finder with trepidation.  I need a 28 back in M&S, but at my last visit even their 30 backs had been sized out most of G cup ranges: I was not optimistic.

To my great surprise 28 backs now have seven options at M&S.  And they’re not the chastity bras of my M&S teenagedom either: there are a couple of cute vintage style balconettes, a few plunge options, and a non-padded white lacy number.  All from £14 to £18.  That’s a massive improvement.

It’s not a wide selection and I can’t say what I found had me rushing to the the checkout, but it was encouraging: the very fact that 28 backed bras are in the most mainstream of mainstream shops is a massive step in the right direction for small-backed-big-cup bras.  And with their announcement that they’re going to be branching out in to France and beyond, it could be a step in the right direction for our much neglected European bosoms too. If they could just get the fitting right…

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Freya search for Blog Star

Posted on April 6, 2011 by busts4justice

Bra heroes Freya are offering one lucky fan the opportunity to join their blogging team with their new Blog Star competition.

Loretta lovers and Arabella aficionados and can enter by visiting their Facebook page and sharing how they fell in love with Freya.  The top four entries will face a public vote, and one lucky winner will win a mountain of goodies and the opportunity to write for one of the most exciting lingerie brands around.

And for those who don’t go on to be Blog Stars, you can still win a year’s supply of lingerie (*swoon*) by entering this Facebook competition instead. Freya, with your Facebook apps you are really spoiling us!

The first stage closes on 22nd April.  Go go go!

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