Bra Sizes - Measurement Method Origins

Measurement Method Origins

In October 1932, the S.H. Camp and Company correlated breast volume and size to letters of the alphabet, A, B, C, and D. Camp's advertising featured letter-labeled profiles of breasts in the February 1933 issue of Corset and Underwear Review. These procedures were only designed to help women with the then-standard sizes A through D up to a size 38 band size and were not intended to be used for larger-breasted women. In 1937, Warner began to feature cup sizing in its products. Other companies like the Model and Fay-Miss (renamed in 1935 as the Bali Brassiere Company) also began to offer A, B, C and D cups in the late 1930s. Catalog companies continued to use the designations Small, Medium and Large through the 1940s. In the 1930s, Dunlop chemists were able to reliably transform rubber latex into elastic thread. After 1940, “whirlpool,” or concentric stitching was used to shape the cup structure of some designs. The man-made fibres were quickly adopted by the industry because of their easy-care properties. Since a brassiere must be laundered frequently, this was of great importance. In 1937, Warners added cup sizes (A, B, C and D) to their product line, and other manufacturers gradually followed, but Britain did not take up the American standard until the 1950s. The underwire was first added to a strapless bra in 1937 by André, a custom-bra firm. Maidenform introduced brassieres with seamless cups in 1933, but resisted using cup sizes for its products until 1949. The Sears Company finally applied cup sizes to bras in its catalog in the 1950s.

The band measurement system was created by U.S. bra manufacturers just after World War II when the supposed ideal American female hourglass figure measured 36"-24"-36" (91-61-91 cm). Tomima Edmark, founder of a major lingerie company, reported that manufacturers wanted to convince women that their measurements matched this ideal. They conceived of the idea of adding inches to the actual measurement so the woman's resulting measurement would be closer to the artificial ideal.

The band size should be exactly as measured with no adding of artificial inches, except in the case of an odd number which should be rounded up to the next even number. What a woman measures directly under her bust is the size band she should try on, keeping in mind bra manufacturers' sizes vary, and styles may make a difference in fit, as well. The cup volume is the same, but the shape and positioning of the cups is different. Because women's breast cup sizes are increasing, and some companies do not carry the larger cup sizes, there is a tendency of some stores to employ a policy of offering "sister sizes" in order to sell their limited inventory, rather than to fit the customer. Promoting "sister sizes" may be perpetuating the problem of women wearing band sizes too large with correspondingly wrong cup sizes.

The use of the cup sizing and band measurement systems has evolved over time and continues to change. Experts recommend that women get fitted by an experienced professional at a place where they offer the widest possible selection of bra sizes from a retailer.