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Anyone else ever come to regret getting the last bra in a clearance sale?
Well, I was reminded why I don't shop during Brastop clearance sales, especially if it's the ONE bra left in that size...
I purchased two beautiful Fantasie bras from Brastop on the "up to 80% off clearance!!" sale. (Side rant: are any of them actually that much off? I only find like 50-60% off, and even the one I got as the last bra was like 70% off... hmmmm) One side-support in 30D, and one balcony in 30DD. They are comically flawed. (Laughably ridiculous fit!! I have always known where the term "quad-boob" came from, but I have never actually looked literally like four boobs... until now. Hence the comical flaw. Pictures coming soon.)
Looking at every bra on here in those styles and sizes, usually there's about a half inch difference in cup depths between sizes. These two though... and inch and a quarter difference!! Either these were both mislabeled, or by the other mishaps I've discovered, just incorrectly put together.
Across the 30D side support bras I viewed, they average at about a 4.8" cup width and a 7.7" cup depth. Mine is a 4.5" cup width and 7.5" cup depth! Wire length is also an entire inch shorter (7.5" compared to 8.7" average). Gore height is about three-quarters of an inch shorter (2.0" compared to 2.8"). Band length, stretched band, and gore width is fine. So it appears the cradle was constructed correctly, but not the cups! How did this one end up with small cups AND a wire that's so tiny in comparison to the other 30Ds??? They don't do 30C, so I cannot fathom where that wire came from!
As for the 30DD balcony bras, the average cup width is about 4.9" and cup width 8.6". Mine: an astounding 5.5" width, and 8.75" depth. Now the depth seems a bit on the large side, but WHAT HAPPENED with the wire portion of assembly?! Especially since it matches the wire length (mine is 9.5", average is between 9.5" and 9.8"). ... ??????????????????????? ... (Most of the 30F bras have a width around 5.5", so maybe there's a 30F bra that has its wire swapped out there and is ridiculously narrow??) Gore height is fine, actually a tiny bit shorter than average, but then the wing height is much higher at 3.75" compared to average 3.25". Cup separation is larger at a whole 1", with average around 0.8". Band is longer and stretchier too, with relaxed at 25.25" and stretched at 33", compared to average 24.8" relaxed and 30.5" stretched. Overall, weirdly larger than other Fantasie balcony 30DD bras.
From a quality control standpoint, if you have less than a second to check on it, they both looks beautiful, so I can see how they passed inspection. (Honestly, fabrics are achingly beautiful, tear-worthy that neither work.) Nothing was stitched incorrectly, and no backwards straps, weirdly stretched elastics, or snags in the fabrics. But how could one end up with such a tiny wire, and one with with wires intended for a two sizes up??
I know this post has a lot of numbers, but in summary: 30D is smaller than average, 30DD is larger than average. With most sizes being about half an inch apart, the 1.25" difference puts them at 2-3 cup sizes apart, despite what the letters on the tag says. :/ It renders them both unwearable, one being painfully small, and the other unusually wide and shallow and yet still possessing too much cup volume for me. It sucks.
I don't want to pay international return shipping. Even in case of faulty item, Brastop still requires you to pay the shipping so it gets to them in time. Not sure I could convince them to refund it as it doesn't mention in case of faulty item exceptions.But even if they did do full refunds for faulty items, I'm not sure if even with this data, I could convince the Brastop customer service that both items are flawed, without looking flawed, based on user-gathered data of measurements. It's so frustrating because I researched for DAYS and picked these based on the measurements provided here! How was I supposed to know that I'd receive duds??
Anyone else receive a bra before that was widely outside of average measurements, and then has anyone attempted to return them as a flawed item, and then successfully have everything refunded? Thoughts on the whole thing are appreciated.
Filed under Bras ups and downs
7 comments
Btw, photos, measurements, and reviews are up. So is a comparison https://www.bratabase.com/compare/dlvyi/
Yep, been there, never pleased with the results. Super sale pricing is hard to resist but often brings disappointments.
If these were previous sale/ returns, it is always possible the prior purchaser distorted the wires, though the smaller wire on the side support is completely odd. Sounds like you got a couple of bra seconds (those that didn't pass quality control and are shipped to lower quality discount stores.)
When getting in their bulk wire supply, it is always possible that Fantasie received a rouge set of wires within the mix, but the likelihood that the seamstress would pull out two matching rouges is strange.
Maybe sending this rant to BraStop and/or Fantasie customer service would get some resolution?
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