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Scaling and Wires
Does anyone else find it a bit mind-boggling that while some manufacturers try to consider scaling, apparently NONE have thought to change the type or gauge of wire depending on size? It gets wider or narrower curved, and longer or shorter, but not heavier gauge or lighter, nor do any of them (to my knowledge) use the soft plastic wires on one end of the scale and Panache-level stuff at the other end of the scale.
Among the most common stuff I see about wires are complaints from those in sub-30 bands that wires are too hard, or dig too much. In 30 to roughly 36, people up to about FF/G sometimes have the same issue, while those in larger sizes often seem to lament that no one but Panache puts out the wires they need.
It seems to me that wire strength should be a consideration in scaling, yet not even the more designer type brands do it.
Why?
Filed under Bra sizing and fit
6 comments
Hmm very interesting observations. I am a 28F/28FF in most bras, and I actually like more stiff wires as opposed to soft ones. :P My breasts are now between wide and medium width, and projection between shallow and medium as well (used to be straight up wide and shallow). But I still like my breasts to LOOK as projected as possible, and I find stiffer wires have a better capability of pulling my tissue front and center. The cups could be super narrow and projected, but if they have soft wires, they tend to stretch out so the cups give me a more wide and flattened look.
Here is my very long and detailed answer, get ready:
Mostly it has to do with suppliers and the minimum number of items you can order from a supplier/manufacturer. In the world of wholesale, you usually have to buy thousands of wires/yards of fabrics/other materials/etc. at one time or it's not worth it to the manufacturers to start up their machines and pay their workers. Of course there are smaller suppliers, but they wouldn't be able to handle the number of wires needed for mass-producing bra companies.
Suppliers usually specialize in only one or a few items. If a bra company wanted, say, 5 different wire thicknesses/softnesses, they would probably have to find 5 different suppliers, which just gets really difficult in lining up schedules and shipments and everything else in the production of the bra. Each supplier also probably has their own wire-making specifications, meaning that they scale it up and down across sizes a certain way. Different types of wires across different suppliers would be scaled differently, so then you have an inconsistency issue.
And then there's the problem of deciding which size will the cut-off be between one type of wire and another. Considering that there are many body types, there could be a very soft person wearing a 34 band, so the wires could be more stiff, but then a muscular person could also be wearing a 34 band, so they would need softer wires. Since there is a variety of body types from very squishy to very bony/muscular across all bra sizes, if a bra company wanted to survey women about their wire preferences, they'd probably be back to square one with a similar number of women saying they want soft wires or hard wires and not knowing which type to put in which size. (I am one of those squishy 28 band wearers btw :P )
It takes money and time to survey thousands of women on their wire preferences, so it wouldn't be very efficient for a bra company anyway. How could you efficiently go about surveying women on their wire preference? The company would have to physically go up to women with several different wire types and ask them to flex them and choose which one they preferred, because if it was just online or on paper, someone's super stiff could be another person's medium stiffness. It would be a mismatched, mangled bit of information!
I studied Apparel Design in college and took many classes on the buying-supplying-manufacturing-promoting-selling process, and it's really complicated. :P But mostly it comes down to what can you get from suppliers in the amounts you need, and having enough variety of body types that you would need many different types of wires for each individual size to cater to everyone, which would be impossible.
*Whew!* I hope that wasn't too long, haha!
I love the depth of your reply, Slava-Zone ! Thank you for the perspective, from a designer's viewpoint! It makes sense.
I think what is strangest to me is that Comexim and Anna Pardal, who do alterations, don't offer that option. Although from the supply, cost, and size consistency standpoint, I can see how it could be pretty difficult to incorporate that change.
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