How To Do A Bra Audit

Lots of women have a collection of bras in all sorts of different shapes and sizes by lots of different brands. You may buy different sizes and styles in a hope that you'll find something that fits and before you know it you have a pile of half worn bras and still nothing that fits right.

I do bra audit sessions for some of my clients to help them sort through which of their bras fit them, and more importantly, why they fit them. I go through a series of fit points for each bra and assess the fit of each brand and style to narrow down which styles and brands work best for each client.

I've put together a simple version of this checklist so you can do your own bra audit and narrow down which sizes, styles and brands work best for you.

Step 1
Put your bras into 5 piles (1 = terrible, 2 = irritating, 3 = manageable, 4 = good, 5 = excellent. Immediately place lightly or unworn 1s and 2s into a bag for donation. You can hold on to your 3s for the time being until you have better bras to replace them.

Step 2
Take the good and excellent piles and write down which size and brand are the most common. For example, most of your bras are 32DDDs (also known as a 32F) and the majority of these bras are from Wacoal. If you don't have anything in the Good or Excellent piles then it's definitely time to start from the beginning and get a Free Bra Size Consultation.

Step 3
Try on your best fitting bras and make a note of how the band and cups fit.

Band Too Big Raise your arms straight into the air; if the band moves up your body then you need a smaller band size (bear in mind that old bras have loose bands and stretched out cups so they're not a reliable gauge of fit).

• If the cups fit you on this bra then you'll need to go up one cup letter on a bra that is one band size smaller to keep the same cup volume. (e.g. a 34F becomes a 32FF)
• If the cups feel small then go up two cup letters on a band size smaller to increase your volume by one cup. (e.g. a 34F becomes a 32G)
• If the cups feel too big choose the same cup letter on a band size smaller as this will be one cup volume smaller. (e.g. a 34F becomes a 32F)

Band Fits If your band stays in place then stick with that band size.

• If the cups fit you on this bra then stick with this size, it's working for you.
• If the cups feel small then go up one cup letter on the same band size to increase your volume by one cup. (e.g. 34F becomes a 34FF)
• If the cups feel too big choose the same band size with one cup letter smaller. (e.g. a 34F becomes a 34E)

Band Too Tight If the band feels too tight consider going up one cup size.

• If the cups fit you on this bra then you'll need to go down one cup letter on a bra that is one band size bigger to keep the same cup volume. (e.g. a 34F becomes a 36E)
• If the cups feel small then keep the same cup letter on a band one size larger as this will be one cup volume larger too (e.g. a 34F becomes a 36F)
• If the cups feel too big then you'll need to go down two cup letters on a band size larger as this will be one cup volume smaller. (e.g. a 34F becomes a 36D)

If your cups and/or band feels totally wrong for you it's a good idea to start again from scratch with a Free Bra Size Consultation.

Step 4
Look for similarities in cup material and cup construction (e.g. lace, cotton, stretch material, foam, 3-part bras, 4-part bras, molded cups in a plunge style, half cups, tear drop cup shape). Write down the most common similarities in your best fitting bras.

Step 5
You should now have a short list of size, style, shape, material and brand from which you can start building your bra drawer so that everything fits you. Your Bra Audit is complete xx