On learning a new alphabet and introducing “bra math”...

I was hired as a bra fitter in the month of October and generally people go through 1-3 months of training to become a bra fitter. I think fitting is like any job skill, some pick it up very quickly and for others maybe it takes a bit longer. It definitely takes a little while to get really good at it. My training started at the cash wrap. In between customers I cleaned out the fitting rooms for the experienced fitters. This was a shop that keeps most inventory in the back room and the staff do the selecting for the customers taking some of the headache and guesswork out. Because it was toward the end of the year (busy season!) and because it can be so complicated, it was into January before I even got into a fitting room for some training. Honestly, I was liking just working front of store and was SO nervous about getting into the fitting room but once I got the hang of it I was hooked! The first time I got the fit correct on the first try I wanted to do cartwheels in the back room! It was such a great feeling to get someone out of an ill fitting bra into one that lifted, supported and that my customer felt really good about! I even remember it was an Elomi Cate in probably around a 36H. By the time I left the job this year I could almost always get it right on the first try!.

In surprising ways to me this job was similar to working in a bookstore. Years ago I had worked for Borders Books and Music in various positions. Anyway, one of the ways in which it felt familiar was putting bras in the proper order back on the racks. It was like alphabetizing but it felt to me like learning a new alphabet. A-D were straightforward but then came DD. After that came E and then F and FF. The letters continue like this with G then GG and so on up to JJ. At K the cup sizes go back to a straight alphabet which ends in the letter P. Within the cup sizes there are all the band sizes from 28 to around 56. Confused yet? Next, not every letter has every band size and not every band size has every cup size. To make matters a little more complicated, there was the task of learning the size range of different brands and learning the differences between UK, American and Canadian sizing. Maybe you’re beginning to appreciate why it’s so hard to shop for yourself online! It can take months, even years to become an expert fitter. In the early days of fitting for me, there was a lot of trial and error because even once you have down all the above information, matching the right bra to a customer’s unique shape could be challenging all by itself but on top of that people rightfully have very specific things that they like and don’t like in a bra.you can imagine why it was so exciting that first time I got it right on the first try!

So now you might be wonderI guess if all those sizes exist why aren’t they available at more stores? You might wonder how you get someone in the right size with just one measurement and all those sizes to choose from? The answer is “Bra Math” and a thing called sister sizing but that’s another complicated topic and will be the subject of next weeks blog!

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