So, you’ve tried everywhere. And not just Vicky’s, Freddie’s, or even Nordie’s – you’ve even gone to the “specialty shops.” Yet, those perfectly-fitting bras remain elusive. What’s a girl to do?
Well, lovies, you have three options, depending on your funds:
1. Beg free bras off of friends
2. Scour the internet for cheap bras
3. Buy new bras from fancy European websites
No option is perfect. Option 1 only works if you have friends that are about the same size as you (and are willing to part with their probably hard-won lingerie).
Option 3 is the ideal option for getting nice bras, but only works if you have sufficient funds (at least a few hundred $$) and patience.
For example, say I found two bras I liked online that I decided I would try. The first is $54.44 (weird amounts happen when you convert from British currency), and the second is $51.14.
Now, if I just got one of each that would be $105.58, plus around $14 shipping, giving a grand total of about $119.88. But wait! I have no idea exactly how these bras fit. They might run large or small – the Cleo brand (the $51.14 one) is known to run small, but you never know. So I would need to order a few different sizes to be sure I got one that would fit. Otherwise I would have to gamble on one size, and then pay for shipping both ways to exchange it if it didn’t fit.ย $14+ shipping adds up fast.
Since the Cleo bra doesn’t have a wide variety close to my size range, I would only have to order, say, 3 different sizes to see if one worked for me; same with the Freya bra. So now we’re up to:
(51.14)3 + (54.44)3 + 14(at least) = 153.42 + 163.32 + 14 = $330.74.
Thus, if I wanted to get these two bras, I would have to have about $350 free to do so. I would get refunds for all the bras I returned (so, if one of each kind fit, I would get a refund of $211.16, but I would have to pay for shipping to send back the bras).
To top it all off, if none of the bras ended up working, I would get a refund for the cost of the bras themselves after I sent them all back, but I would have to have paid probably $30+ for just shipping, plus there’s the wasted time and effort and having over $300 in limbo.
On the other hand, if you find a new bra online that you know fits you, then you only have to pay for the cost of the bra plus shipping, so you’ll only be paying in the $50-$90 range without having to worry about refunds, exchanges, and all that.
*phew* On to Option 2! Well, if you don’t have friends with excess bras in your size and you don’t have hundreds just waiting to be spent, then you get to work with this option, or what I like to call Bra Roulette. This involves scouring sites like ebay and/or secret underground online communities. Often you’ll be able to find bras on ebay for $30 or much less, and if you’re part of a small online community, you may even score free bras (making this very similar to Option 1, except you don’t really know the people and you pay shipping). This option allows you to get a whole bunch of bras for the same cost (or less) as one brand spankin’ new bra. Thus, even if you bought 10 bras from various places online and only one works, you’ve only paid $40 total and thus you still got a deal. Plus, you have a much better chance of getting at least one bra that works.
My recent and much-put-off Bra Roulette gained me 6 bras for the total cost of $36 (shipping included) – so $6 a bra (plus I have one more in the mail that I’ll just pay shipping for, adding about $2 to the total cost and driving the price down to $5.40 a bra).
Of the so-far 5 that I’ve gotten:
-2 are the wrong size (I can pass them off to a friend – yay option number 1!)
-2 are the wrong shape (Not sure what I will do with these yet, besides not wear them)
-1 works after a little modification (repairing a tear and taking in the band)
-1 fits perfectly
Thus, I’ve gained 2 bras for $18 each, plus several bras to give away or exchange, plus more knowledge of different brands and how they fit. $36 for 2 bras is a heck of a lot better than $120 for 2 bras.
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| I want to say this has never happened… |
Now I’m curious, where and how do you get your bras? Maybe there are still better ways.