Expert Advice on the Proper Cup Size
Bras for the most part are highly engineered and thoughtfully designed. It's not unusual for a bra design to be composed of as many as 40 pieces and findings. Though many bras are beautiful, bras are more about playing a supporting role than they are about fashion. We women need to understand what we are looking at when we try on a bra. Knowing what design features work best for our figure type will help us more easily identify the style of bra that suits our needs best.
Choose the Proper Cup Size
HerRoom has made this easier for you. We've compiled a chart comparing all plus size manufacturers' cup sizing conventions. Simply refer to our chart to determine your correct cup size in that brand.
It is also a good idea to know how many sizes larger than a D cup you are. That way if you come across a bra with unusual sizing, you can tell your salesperson you are 2, 5 or whatever cup sizes larger than a D cup. She will then be able to ascertain your correct cup size in that style.
There are 2 important things to know about cup size.
Well, cup size is a measurement of how far your breasts project from your chest wall. Each cup size denotes a 1" increase in your body's circumference around your bust line. Knowing this fact can help you zero in on your correct bra size. For example, you try on a bra and the band feels comfortable, but your breasts are spilling out. Keep going up in cup sizes on the same band size until you find the bra that fits. Alternately, the cups fit great, but the band is too big. When you go down a band size, you now know that you need to go up a cup size to maintain the same underwire diameter and similar cup volume (Example: Go from a 40C to a 38D).
The second important point about cup size pertains to women with cup sizes larger than a D cup. Trying to find cup equivalents among brands can be very difficult. In one brand you are a DDDD, but this same cup size can be a G, F, or FF in other brands. The first thing you should know is that all manufacturers size their cups up by 1" circumference increases. They may call their sizing by different letters, but the increases between sizes are uniform. So, as mentioned above, find out how many cup sizes above a D you are. On our site, when you look at the sizes available in a particular bra, we display the cup sizes in order from smallest to largest. If you are 4 cup sizes larger than a D cup, you can count 4 sizes from D to find your correct size in that particular brand.