Either people have bought out the non-34B's, so that only the 34B remains; or non-34B people have gone elsewhere, which caused the store to think that every customer is 34B.
Which is it???
It's the first one, hence the survivorship bias.
Both are survivorship bias, the difference is in who's experiencing it
That's fair, but I'd also posit that it simply isn't logical that a store would pivot that hard towards a single size.
Bra sizing is whack. I got a bra, and asked my husband "what size does this look like?". He answered 34B. I agree that's what it looks like, but it's a 34DD. I have small boobs, the sizing doesn't work the way it used to and honestly I'm glad because before I was a negative size, nothing fit. Small boobs stay close but small bra sizes are small in the wrong dimension - if small boobs are champagne glasses, small bras are made for half-lemons.
So now they say - under bust is band size, cup is bust minus band so if I have 37" bust and 33" under, they look small, are small, but do usually fit 34D. It's like the opposite of vanity sizing, but much more inclusive at the small end of sizes.
It must be awful across the spectrum. I'm at the other end - most stores don't carry anything near my size. Even the specialty boutiques (which I hate shopping at) might have something for me... in like, one, two, or if I'm lucky, three colors.
I've completely given up on US sizing and buying in stores. I measure myself to get my UK or European size, and order online.
... Which sucks in its own way, because who wants to have to return things through the mail? I'm pretty much stuck with whatever I can get, and I keep using it until the fabric wears and the underwire starts scratching me to the point of drawing blood. Because each bra costs like $60, and I don't have the kind of money to casually drop just for one piece of underwear. Yay, womanhood.
34” ribcage, 36” bust, for true-to-fit (adding 4 inches to the band size is VS bullshit).
I do miss the abrathatfits community from Reddit because there’s still so much misconception about sizing and it’s frustrating to see 😭
Yes! And there were a few who really know their shit when it comes to bras.
Alas, Pandramodo never did a B-26 Marauder, but they DID do a B-52 Stratofortress!
A US 34B is a euro 75C. That's one strapsize below the median here.
I would have guessed that 36B was also the median size in the US. Apparently it used to be 34B and is now 34DD because people are shockingly unhealthy.
34B to 34DD has more to do with breast augmentation than fat, as the distance around the torso remains the same. Or possibly there's more estrogen floating around, or maybe it's just that women aren't squashing their breasts into too-small cups anymore.
The articles I found specifically called out the obesity epidemic as being the issue. I strongly doubt that enough of the ~150 million bra wearers in this country are augmenting their breasts enough to adjust the median that far in just 20 years.
How the fuck are they fitting into a size 34 band?
This doesn't make sense.
Obesity should change the 34 to a 38
Or maybe it's because only about 1 in 4 Americans has a healthy weight.
A fat person isn't fitting into a 34 of any cup size.
If you were a 34B and gain 50 pounds you're now a 40B or possibly a 40C depending for comfort.
34B is thin and flat, 34DD is thin with honkin heckers.
This person bras.
Maybe but the difference between small boobs and big is fat so probably both would increase, depends on the distribution of where they put on fat.
And see above - I literally had to buy a 34DD in the last bra I got and nobody would call me stacked, nobody. On the smaller band sizes the cup sizes are smaller. When I was underweight and flat, 30C, because 30a is for ping pong ball width boobs. It was frustrating. Bras need 3 measurements not 2. Volume should be separate from diameter.
That's how it's supposed to be. About five years ago I switched off cup bras and just do sports bra styles because it's such a pain in the ass. I've been thin and fat, can't say I relate to it making my boobs 3 cup sizes larger.
I'd imagine they way they manufacturer bras comes some issues. You can have two pairs of jeans, same brand, even same lot, and they fit different because they cut the fabfric all at once. If you over stack the fabric, the top piece is not the same measurement as the bottom.
I've never before in my life wished we could go back to tailored clothes and owning less like humans used to. Mass production messes with people like this. You have both a 36C and a 34D fitting, and they should not fit the same. And they probably don't, but manufacturing has totally warped how sizes were created.
I feel like there is a lot of confusion in this thread because we seem to all use different scales? A 30 C would be a noodle with grapefruits to me and a size I do not encounter in retail. The smallest would be 34 A, and that would be really skinny.
Like @Broadfern@lemmy.world I miss the subreddit abrathatfits.
You are correct you don't see 30C on the ground much, but it's the right size for someone with 30" ribcage and 33" bust.
And you are further correct that it would just look to you, when undressed, like what I and most of the non bra buying world think of as an "A cup".
Now I have about 33" under bust and 37" or 38" or so bust, really don't have to wear a bra at all, this still is small boobs, but the size that fits when I do wear a bra (like for work) is 34D.
If I was making up the bra sizing though - I would use:
Band size in inches (or cm, of course)
Wire width (A-K where A is tennis ball curve and K is basketball curve)
Cup volume (maybe measure like they do with implants, in cc? From say 100 to 1500, or wherever bra scaffolding fails)
So I would be something like a 34 D 300, and you are thinking of a 34D 600, who would be oozing out of my bras, and I would be swimming in hers. Right now in the bra world neither of us are really well served.
You can look at bratabase if you are interested in what the sizes really look like on different people, different boobs.
Not really. There are band sizes as small as 24. True they are not as common, but they still exist. 30C is still small because the simplified formula is measure the underbust in inches and that is your band size, then measure the largest area of the breasts and subtract the number from the under bust. For every inch you add a letter. So the case in 30C her bust should measure at 33". This is simplified and differs between brands and country of origin (for me the the UK is the most consistent), as well as shapes and sizes.
The reason why the majority of people think that 30C is big is because lots of women wear the wrong size, and freak out when they learn their actual size.
If you look up what actual bra sizes look like, you'd be surprised as well.
Like I said, we have different sizes apparently. 30C is not a thing here at all (CH/IT). It starts at 34 and it is too small to be carried regularly in retail.
I answered above but besides the increase in obesity (if it was fat causing the increase the band size would increase too) the sizing scheme has changed so a 34D is like an old 34B.
The real average is probably more like a 38 something, as the average waist is up to 38 and ribcage unlikely to be smaller.
I don't think it changed. I think people are more aware of their correct size now.
My wife is a UK 34(she probably doesn't want me telling the internet) and the number is the same as her US size but the letter is different.
Yes, the UK doubles the letters while the US only doubles and triples the D and then continue with regular letters.
*survivorship bras
do you know about the cup sizes?
I just watched that scene for the first time because of this comment.
Now I know that D is the biggest.
They're made of Lycra-spandex.
I'm a 38A, ideally a 40 A. I'm not fat, I do have small boobs but not enough that I don't need a bra sometimes. I don't feel like a misshapen (fun word to pronounce) people, but bra vendors say I do. Whoop Dee Doo.
I will now say misshapen as mis·sha·pen instead of mis·shap·en. Thank you.
It sounded miss-hapen in my head for before I heard it pronounced.
Bra size is width and depth, in that order, right?
The number is the distance around your ribcage, and the letter represents the ratio between your underbust and overbust measurements.
Weirdly similar to how car tires are sized lol.
Make sure you rotate your bras so you don't develop uneven wearing. Always carry a spare, incase you have a blowout
Strap length and proportionate volume.
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