Click Here to See the Bra Band Project!

Omigosh, it’s here!!! I can barely sit still in my chair writing this as I get to finally say…Today we are ready to debut our Bra Band Project results!

They are SO inspiring, thanks to the participation of all of you amazing readers and other bloggers spreading the word! If you haven’t been following along, a quick recap: back in March myself and 4 other lovely (seriously! add them to your Google Reader!) DD+ bloggers (Boosaurus, BrasIHate, ByBabysRules, and Braless in Brazil) started the Bra Band Project. We wanted to show to the world that there was a real need for bra bands in 30 backs and under, and that we were real women, both young and old, who needed these bras (and sometimes in large cup sizes, too!). Apparently we hit a nerve–the response from you was tremendous.

I have to say, I get goosebumps every time I look at the photos because they show, truly, the variety of women who wear these sizes. We’re not all super skinny, and we can’t be put in an age range of “just juniors,” either: everyone in these photos is 18 and up. Plus, for me, it reminds me that even though no local stores carry my size, I’m not some weird freak of nature — there are so many other women out there who also need a small band and large cup!

When lingerie company Claudette heard about the Bra Band Project, they shared something I found very interesting that also reinforced the need for these sizes:

We know how critical a great fit is, and the correct band size is where
this starts. So, we are delighted that so many women are now becoming
more educated and are demanding a bra that truly fits them – aligning
with Claudette’s vision from day one! Our best-selling sizes are 30 and
32 bands, the popularity of these sizes has created a solid demand for
the addition of 28’s which we plan to add in our size mix for SS13.
-Claudette Lingerie

A few things about the project:

• It can be hard for many of us find the correct size, especially for those of us in the sub 28 band range so not all of us are in the correct bra size because of that.
• Panache plans on coming out with a 26 band bra at some point in the near future.
• We have decided to focus this portion of the project on DD+ cups because that is our expertise, but we know that many of our small cup sisters were anxious to join, too! The fabulous Amanda over at 32aa Bra has taken the reigns on the D cup and under small band market, so please join in!
• The project is ongoing, so if you haven’t yet submitted a photo and want to, you can do that right here.
• You can keep us with on Facebook or Twitter.

Here’s our official statement:

Welcome to The Bra Band Project!

We first started this project after a few big-name, full-busted (DD+ cups) lingerie companies asserted that there was “no market” for 30 and under bands, and that “30 and under bands are for juniors.” We wholeheartedly disagreed! We knew that there were plenty of us out there struggling to find bras in these sizes.

To illustrate our point, we’ve collected photos of women who wear sizes 24-30 band bras in sizes DD-KK, ranging from ages 18-50+. As the photos show, we are women of a wide variety of shapes, sizes, and ages, and we need and deserve bras that fit.

Why is having a wide range of band sizes available in the market so important to us? We believe that a bra cannot do its heavy lifting without a firm, supportive band. The band of the bra — not the straps — does most of the work lifting your breasts! This is just as true for women wearing a 24, 26, 28, and 30 band as it is for band sizes 32 and up. But if we can’t find our best size, how can we get the support we need? And it’s not only large bust sizes that need good support: a band that is too large will cause problems for women and girls with busts of any size.

This project also helps illustrate that for full-busted women, band size is often best determined using your true underbust/ribcage measurement as a starting point and adding or subtracting inches as needed on a case-by-case basis. For many of us, no inches need to be added to this measurement! We hope this project is enlightening to you. We hope it makes people think and re-think their views on bra sizes and what bra sizes mean. We hope you can relate to these women.