The BRABAR Story From a Fit Expert
Five years ago in the Summer of 2019, the physical location of BRABAR opened in Menlo Park Mall. At the time I worked at the store next to where BRABAR opened. I had known nothing about BRABAR, but what caught my eye was the giant mission statement on the front wall of the store. You couldn’t miss it.
The mission statement that I read was:
“BRABAR was born of a desire to educate teenage girls about fit and the importance of wearing the right size bra because comfort is the foundation of confidence.
Every girl should know how to find her bra size. Women today do not know how to measure themselves. 8 of 10 need to wear a different size bra. Our EZFit Method teaches young women to find the correct band measurement: essential to a proper fit.
We aim to help girls feel comfortable and confident in their skin while giving them the tools to be their best selves. We promote self-love and strive to cultivate strong, confident young women who recognize a simple, empowering truth: you are so much more than your body.”
The powerful message of the mission of BRABAR was something that stuck with me. So when I wanted a change of pace in my life, I got myself a job as a Fit Consultant at BRABAR in October 2019.
Though I have worn bras since I was 12 years old, I had no idea how to find my own bra size. It was a mystery to me, so how in the world would I be able to help the young tweens and teens who came into the store? I was in for an eye-opening experience as I trained to become a Fit Expert under the Founder/Owner Wendy Herman’s guidance.
But let us start with my own perfect-fitting bra journey via working at BRABAR and what I thought about boobs, and bra sizes before working at BRABAR.
As mentioned, I had been wearing bras since I was 12. I developed quicker than most girls my age which was a horrifyingly embarrassing experience.
My mother is a very petite woman who could buy bras off the rack at any store, so when I, her oldest daughter, suddenly was gifted with macro girlies, she didn’t know what to do. There was no place like BRABAR when I was 12 back in 2002, so I had limited options of where I could go to get good, supportive, and age-appropriate teen bras.
So we went to the only available place in the mall to find me something more suitable for my needs. My first experience in a bra store at the tender age of 12 was mortifying and horrible. My mother walked me in and sought assistance from the staff. The person in question was an older woman, probably around my mom’s age, who looked at little middle-school me and said “They had nothing for me.” The staff member didn’t even bother to measure me or offer any kind of service.
After that, I refused to step foot into a bra store, so I wore wireless bralettes with no support built in (which are so unlike the BRABAR brand) that were not what I needed to be comfortable in my own body. The bralette stretched out within a few weeks, I was always uncomfortable, my back always hurt, and I always felt like people were looking at me. Or rather my breasts. For seven years, I wasn’t wearing the correct size, or style of bra for me and my needs.
The experience stuck with me. No matter how much my mother tried, I wouldn’t budge and go to another bra store. I wasn’t going to be humiliated like that again.
It wasn’t until I was nineteen years old that I finally stepped foot into another bra store when I visited a great-aunt who insisted on taking me to her specialized bra store where she got her mastectomy bras. I relented and here was the first time I was fitted for a bra. I was told I was a 38G, which was a bra size my mother had never heard of in her life. This is important, remember this part. The woman who measured me was efficient and professional but explained nothing, so I had no idea how she came to that conclusion. I took her word for it.
I left with two bras, two expensive wire bras (a total of $180 if you believe it) that needed special care (hand wash, air dry), but they fit me well and I was more comfortable than I had been in a long time. However, I did notice the one thing about the bras that I didn’t like over time. The straps dug into my shoulders as I wore the bras. If I loosened the straps, they fell off my shoulders. And when the wires broke, they poked me in the side causing injury and irritation.
But I found a style of bra that worked the best, though it was not perfect, but better than anything I had worn when I was in middle school and high school. So the style was the one I bought for ten years.
Until BRABAR.
Now fast forward and I’m in a new job doing something I have never done before, ready to learn about something that truly I should have known since I hit puberty and grew breasts.
The memory of my first experience in a bra store at the age of 12 wasn’t something that I thought about much in my twenties until I started to work at BRABAR and trained to become a Fit Expert.
The experience we at BRABAR wanted to provide for the tweens, teens, and young adults who came in with their mothers, aunts, sisters, or on their own was a positive one. The most important thing is to leave them all with the knowledge and key to finding their bra size and the bras that work for them and their needs.
And I knew that for these girls 10-18, and so on, walking into a bra store is one of the biggest and pivotal moments of their lives. The majority of the tweens and teens now in the present day felt the way I felt when my mother brought me into a bra store years ago for the first time–embarrassed, insecure, sometimes upset, conflicted, and wanting nothing more than to run away. Nothing is worse than being hyperaware of your own body during the most vulnerable part of your life.
I hadn’t known it before but my horrible first experience laid the foundation for me to ensure that every girl who came through the doors of BRABAR had a great experience, leaving with knowledge and confidence. It was all about exceptional service and making the guests feel at ease.
After all, it’s awkward to have a stranger measure your bra size, especially for a young girl who is in the most awkward stage of her life.
Within the first few months, I had to learn different tactics to make all the girls and women feel comfortable so that I could measure them. It helped that I had years of retail experience and knew how to read people’s body language. Some girls needed time to look around and acclimate to even being there. Some girls wanted to get in and out of the store as quickly as possible. Sometimes, I measured the moms to show the simplicity of measuring, so that the girls would be comfortable too. If mom did, then they would too!
But the one thing that I learned was that instead of just measuring people and handing them bras, you try to truly transform the experience into something great you explained to the person you were measuring how you got their size and make recommendations based on their size and the shape of their breasts.
Now that we have all this backstory of how I joined BRABAR, what was BRABAR all about?
The Origin Story of BRABAR, as told to me by the Owner/Founder Wendy Herman, began similarly to mine with her only daughter and the struggle to find a bra for her. The founder’s daughter had the opposite problem to me.
Where I was busty with a larger band size and struggled to find a bra that worked for me, her daughter was petite in the ribcage with a full bust. She was a 28DDD/F. Now like my mom had never heard of a G-Cup before, and most people have never heard of a 28 Band. The struggle was true no matter what your bra size was!
What I learned at the start of becoming a fit expert was how to find your bra size. This was the key to performing my job duties. Not only did I need to learn how to find your bra size, but also how to explain it to demystify bra sizes to anyone willing to listen.
How to find your bra size is simply a matter of subtraction of two measurements to get your cup size.
YOUR OVERBUST MEASUREMENT - YOUR BAND SIZE = YOUR CUP SIZE
Your Bra Size is your band size and your cup, aka the number and the letter. One of the biggest misconceptions is that you shop by your cup size but you shouldn’t do this for one simple reason–everyone’s cup size is different based on the difference between band and overbust measurements. The Band Size is the key to a good-fitting bra. Everything is relative to the Band Size, so if the Band Size changes, so does your Cup Size.
The first step is to get your band size by measuring your ribcage/underbust. This measurement is taken where the band of your band lands on you and is parallel to the ground. You should always round up to the nearest whole number. So if you measure 29, your band size is 30, and so on. There are 28 Bands, 30 Bands, 32 Bands, 34 Bands, 36 Bands, 38 Bands, 40 Bands, etc.
The second step is to get your overbust measurement by measuring the fullest part of your breasts over the areola. The measuring tape should be parallel to the floor as well and you round to the nearest whole number.
Once you have your Band Size and overbust measurement, subtract them to get your cup size. The difference between the measurements determines Cup Size. Each inch is a cup size.
Less Than a one-inch difference is an AA-Cup.
A one-inch (1) difference is an A-Cup.
A two-inch (2) difference is a B-Cup.
A three-inch (3) difference is a C-Cup.
A four-inch (4) difference is a D-Cup.
A five-inch (5) difference is a DD-Cup or an E-Cup. A DD-Cup and an E-Cup are the same but ways to say it differently.
A six-inch (6) difference is a DDD-Cup or a F-Cup. A DDD-Cup and an F-Cup are the same but ways to say it differently.
A seven-inch (7) difference is a DDDD-Cup or a G-Cup. A DDDD-Cup and a G-Cup are the same but ways to say it differently.
Of course, you can go to H-Cup and beyond as well.
With your cup size in hand, you have your bra size, which is just your band size and cup size.
I first practiced measuring myself and discovered something very interesting. The place where I had been buying bras for the last decade told me 38G, but I was not a 38G. I was a 38I!
Simply put, I had been wearing a UK-brand bra and had not known the difference between UK and US bra sizing. UK Sizing uses the Overbust Measurement - Band Size = Cup Size, but they do not use the same labels for cup size! A G-Cup in UK Size is an I-Cup in US Size.
Confusing, yes, I know!
Cue my shock and surprise.
So this added another level of confusion to people coming in, because brands may use different sizes especially since some come from Europe and the UK.
But that wasn’t the only kerfuffle in learning about bra sizing. The Plus Four and the armpit method were alternate options, but neither provided the correct size. The Plus Four method added four to the band size. Other bra places still use these ways which confuses people when I tell them their correct bra size and they have a hard time believing. It was why explaining how you got the bra size is so key to good service.
Since the Cup Size is dependent on the difference between the Band Size and the Overbust Measurement, when you change the Band Size, the difference between the Band and Bust sizes changes, thus changing your cup size.
If I had used the Plus Four Method on my Bra Size which had been 38I, it would have been a 42DD, which would have made the band too big on me! The armpit method means that you measure your bust, but then just move the measuring tape up to the top of your breasts to get your band, which makes no sense.
BRABAR’s core mission is to standardize how to measure your bra size to the Overbust - Band = Cup aka the BRABAR’s EZFit Method! There is now a handy Bra Size calculator that you can use to measure yourself for your bra size. Learning how and why it is confusing to people and explaining why it is not was key to success in aiding people on their bra-buying journey.
The second part of my lesson was how to bust the Underwire Myth. The majority of people grew up wearing wire bras. I had worn wire bras for ten years myself. But here’s the thing–you do not need wire to get good support because the wire is NOT the support of the bra, the wire is the SHAPE.
Explaining this fact is so hard because a common complaint about wireless bras is “I don’t like to have a uni-boob.” And that is a totally fine complaint! If you like the structured shape of a wire bra, there is nothing wrong with wearing it, but the wire does not support you the way you think. There is a time and a place for a wire bra and that is when you want a specific look.
The support comes from the straps holding up your breasts, which is why another complaint about bras “digging into my shoulders” or “they don’t stay in place.” The straps pulling up your breasts put pressure on your upper back, which is yet another complaint–“my back hurts.” And believe me, my upper back hurt for years even when I wore the wire bras.
Your band should support you from the bottom up. In other words, your bra should support you by the band. That is why the Band Size is so crucial to your bra size. The bra should hug your ribcage snugly like a hug.
You can check out other ways you know it’s time to find a new bra at our Fit Guide.
Now, the pushback against the whole wireless comfort and support is about bigger breasts not working in wireless bras. Wireless bras tend to equate to a sports bra or teen bralette in the minds of many people and thus no support for well-endowed women. But that is not the case.
After I began working at BRABAR, I decided to go on a wireless bra journey myself. As I was outside the BRABAR size range, I looked elsewhere and found suitable wireless bras. I switched from wire to wireless because I finally had my correct size and understood what I wanted in bras. There is something out there for everyone.
Those with macro breasts can wear a wireless bra as long as that is what you want in your bras. Most wireless bras tend to have a more natural look. It’s not a push-up wire bra after all.
Wireless bras are about comfort every day.
There is a time and place for everything.
A question I often got from guests was “Do you wear these bras?” I’m bustier so it was a valid question. BRABAR has bras from Band Size 28-38 and Cup Size AA-DDD/F, so my size falls outside of the size range. More specifically, the bra sizes that BRABAR covers are 28AA, 28A,28B, 28C, 28D, 28DD/E, 28DDD/F, 30AA, 30A, 30B, 30C, 30D, 30DD/E, 30DDD/F, 32AA, 32A, 32B, 32C, 32D, 32DD/E, 32DDD/F, 34AA, 34A, 34B, 34C, 34D, 34DD/E, 34DDD/F, 36AA, 36A, 36B, 36C, 36D, 36DD/E, 36DDD/F, 38AA, 38A, 38B, 38C, 38D, 38DD/E, and 38DDD/F.
But the short answer is yes, I do wear BRABAR bras.
After all, BRABAR carries great styles and options. There are everyday bras, racerback bras,sports bras, cami bra tops, crop tops, lace bralettes, lace halters, backless halters, convertible bras, cotton bras, teen bras, tween bras, teen bralettes, tween bralettes, crop bras, bras with adjustable straps, bras with removable pads, unlined bras, and so much more.
So, the longer answer is yes, I do wear BRABAR bras in the 36-38 Size for my at-home wardrobe. My favorites are the Everyday Longline Cami Bra with the pads removed, and the Soft V Reversible Laceback Bralette also with the pads removed. I find them the most comfortable. I also like the Soft Day Bra with the Back Closure with no pads and the Soft V Crop Bra. I wear these at home or even out on short errands. Though I am outside the cup sizerange, the stretch of the bras without the pads is undeniable. So depending on the shape and weight of your breasts, they can work for more people than you think!
The follow-up question is if I wear wire bras as that was the traditional type of bra. I do not anymore since starting to work at BRABAR! I found a wireless everyday bra that works for me as well as a high-impact sports bra! This was part of my journey to realize why the bras I had worn for ten years weren’t quite the perfect bras for me. I like no wire. I like being comfortable.
So now I have bras for home, bras for work, and bras for the gym that all work for me and my needs.
Everyone is different, of course. So you should do what makes you feel the best!
BRABAR strives to standardize bra measurements to the Overbust Measurement - Band Size = Cup Size. This method teaches girls and women alike to find the correct band measurement: essential to a proper fit.
Comfort is the foundation of success and confidence.
And from my journey to knowing nothing about bra sizing to now, I can say for certain that this is the case.
