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Should bigger bras be more expensive?

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  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Of course they shouldn't!
    Having big boobs is a luxury? Coulda fooled me :(
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I can kind of see where they are coming from, not so much the extra fabric, but that combined with the more specialised design.

    When you make bigger clothes you just scale up all the dimensions, when you make larger cup size bras, if you make decent ones then you have to make extra design considerations to provide adequate support.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    It's discriminatory.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Agree with you and it makes me laugh that they talk about their larger bras being a "specialist" product, as if because they have a bit of extra material they provide some miraculous extra that you wouldn't get from a smaller sized bra. Personally I think big M&S bras are crap when compared with other makes that specialise in making bras for bigger busts, it doesn't strike me that they are making a particularly high quality product.

    Also, bet they don't charge extra for small cup sizes and massive back sizes, even though this would also require extra material.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    FireFly85 wrote: »
    Agree with you and it makes me laugh that they talk about their larger bras being a "specialist" product, as if because they have a bit of extra material they provide some miraculous extra that you wouldn't get from a smaller sized bra. Personally I think big M&S bras are crap when compared with other makes that specialise in making bras for bigger busts, it doesn't strike me that they are making a particularly high quality product.

    Also, bet they don't charge extra for small cup sizes and massive back sizes, even though this would also require extra material.

    As Scary Monster said, it's not just the extra material, but the extra design to provide adequate support for the larger cans that isn't necessary for smaller ones.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    TBH bigger cup bras do cost more really. Yes within a style/make they don't, but smaller cup bras you can find everywhere and generally pick up for next to nothing. It's rare I spend less than £25 on a bra and more often than not a hell of a lot more.

    But if they're going down that line, larger sized clothing and shoes should also be charged more for.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    It's complete bullshit that bigger bras need more "design" (whatever the hell that means) and the difference in fabric is negligible. What it is about is forcing a certain clientele away from the shop because they don't fit the style that M&S is after.

    No wonder the fuckers are going bust. Such a shame.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Tee hee, going bust!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    g_angel wrote: »
    As Scary Monster said, it's not just the extra material, but the extra design to provide adequate support for the larger cans that isn't necessary for smaller ones.

    But all bras have to be designed once, that is a one off thing which does not then justify charging an extra £2 every time one is purchased. And smaller bras may pose equally time consuming design challenges, like maximising the appearance of cleavage through design and padding, removable chicken fillet gel pads, etc. It isn't like they're designing each bra individually every time you buy one and I would be more inclined to believe a company like M&S has several generic bra designs they use every time, only varying the material/pattern etc. on the bra rather than completely designing something new from scratch every time.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    In reality they can charge whatever the hell they like, personally I think its a stupid commercial decision and will mean them loosing business.

    Unlike Kermit however I dont see them going bust, they will loose sales and probably sell off some stores, but they do have a good financial position.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I think it's a deliberate commercial decision to drive bigger-busted women away from the stores. No sales means they can justify ending the sale of larger bras, all the better to fit the style of clientele they want: skinny, posh and rich.

    I'm reliably told that M&S bras are shit anyway.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Kermit wrote: »
    I think it's a deliberate commercial decision to drive bigger-busted women away from the stores. No sales means they can justify ending the sale of larger bras, all the better to fit the style of clientele they want: skinny, posh and rich.

    Seems unwise, there isnt enough skinny, posh and rich people to go around, and anyway they wouldnt shop in M&S.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    FireFly85 wrote: »
    But all bras have to be designed once, that is a one off thing which does not then justify charging an extra £2 every time one is purchased. And smaller bras may pose equally time consuming design challenges, like maximising the appearance of cleavage through design and padding, removable chicken fillet gel pads, etc. It isn't like they're designing each bra individually every time you buy one and I would be more inclined to believe a company like M&S has several generic bra designs they use every time, only varying the material/pattern etc. on the bra rather than completely designing something new from scratch every time.

    No, they wouldn't over-engineer a small/cheap bra just for the sake of it. Why put a more expensive design into something with no requirement for such? Doesn't tend to work like that.

    I am certainly thinking that larger sizes of clothes should cost more anyway, to cover the cost of more materials. Indeed, there should possibly be discounts for smaller sizes.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Surely it's quite simple, if you think it's outrageous, don't shop there.

    If you don't shop there, does it really matter?

    I personally find that M&S do some very well fitting bras, and unlike most high street chains do very the details between the sizes to give a better fit.

    If you want something that's a standard generic style you can by their essentials range, or one in a common size. If you want one that has better cut and shape to fit you, then you pay for that premium.

    At least M&S routinely stock a large range of bras in a very large range of sizes. You'll find a lot of shops don't have this problem because they simply stock very very little in a cup size greater than DD.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Kermit wrote: »
    I think it's a deliberate commercial decision to drive bigger-busted women away from the stores. No sales means they can justify ending the sale of larger bras, all the better to fit the style of clientele they want: skinny, posh and rich.

    Well as a bit of a skinny (not posh or rich though) I can confirm that M&S cater really badly for smaller sizes too. And there sizes come up so big anyway that a size eight which is their smallest size is still quite big compared to other shops. I do have a couple of items from M&S but well usually their stuff is badly fitting and the quality is less than the price might suggest (i.e. there are many cheaper clothes stores with similar quality of items).

    M&S food on the other hand :yum:
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I thought MandS were supposed to appeal to the average, middle aged woman, who is around a size 16. I don't think they only want skinny people to shop there, they would go out of business.

    I don't think it would be a good idea to price clothes according to size. I'm short, so would I get a discount on trousers seeing as they have less material? Wouldn't all tall or larger built people lose out?

    Also, where would it end? Would airlines then charge people by weight?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    katchika wrote: »
    I don't think it would be a good idea to price clothes according to size. I'm short, so would I get a discount on trousers seeing as they have less material? Wouldn't all tall or larger built people lose out?

    Also, where would it end? Would airlines then charge people by weight?

    The actual fabric in clothes is a tiny percentage of the cost, so its not worth charging different prices, it would cost more than the extra would bring in.

    Airlines charging by weight is definitely a good idea though, as a skinny little runt I want cheap flights.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I'm not crying any tears over this, M&S make lousy bras, and their sales assistants can't measure bra sizes for toffee either.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Not really, no. Don't stock them by all means (plenty of clothes shops have medium as their smallest size, for example), but I don't think they should be charging more for them. If it's a bra made of diamonds, then you might be able to justify the "extra materials" argument, but otherwise, it's a load of crap.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Its a scale of production issue.

    This site claims statistics on american bra sizes but doesn't say where they are from. Assuming its true and bra demographcs in the UK are comparable if M&S are catering to a market that is less than 1% of customers no wonder they are putting the price up, more materials at that scale of production matters a lot more than if they are catering to the average customer.

    Oh and discrmination :lol:
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Well it is discrimination! It's charging women who have large breasts more money! It's not a choice to have big boobs, and excluding the small number of people who have had surgical enhancement they do just grow that way and it's not something you can change.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I don't really care either way - its £2. Most kids clothes are prices by size and no-one complains about that (and I don't mean the difference between age 2 and age 16, there's a price difference between ages 7-8 and 11-12 which won't be that much difference material wise, not compared to the difference between adult size 8 and 18)

    However I do think its a ridiculous sales technique by M&S, are they trying to piss off their customers? Why not increase the price of that style bra by 50p for all sizes and then everyone is happy
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Companies charging extra for goods that cost them extra to provide isn't discrimination, it's economics.

    Much like cheap bulk stores only carry a limited range of sizes. High volume sales lead to lower prices, and the inverse.

    Designing and machining and shipping and stocking and fabricating the larger sizes costs more, therefore they charge more.

    They still offer the bulk market same price options in the large cup sizes, but they also offer the more specialised styled bras in larger cup sizes, which are a premium product and thus demand a premium price.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I think it was Olive who mentioned in a thread a while ago that it's less economical to make smaller clothes as there is more waste from a piece of material than if you're making larger items as the offcuts are generally unuseable. I don't know if that's very relevant here or not but just to throw that comment in before people start saying there should be higher prices for larger items. I can barely afford clothes right now as it is - start charging me more and I will have to come and kick you or something! :(
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Well it is discrimination! It's charging women who have large breasts more money!

    For a bigger bra! Its not like they're just charging you just for having bigger boobs (imagine actual boob tax)

    Life is unfair. People with food intolerances have to pay more for their food. People with dodgy joints spend a fortune on supports. People with poor eyesight have to pay for glasses. People with heavier periods have to pay for bigger tampons (now there's an example of paying extra for more materials used) and buy more of them. None of these people chose to be like that but there they are paying more for it. C'est la vie
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I know I just hate things that make me pay more.
    It seems silly that they're charging more for a larger cup size when the difference in materials used seems so small. Also are you sure they don't just scale up the measurements?
    DD cup isn't that big either - I could see the case for F+ but DD and E are very common sizes.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    ^^:yes:

    Also, it's not new, they've been doing it for ages.

    Not to mention if you have a problem with this, I hate to think what your opinion of Bravissimo is..... Their sole business aim is to make money out of people with larger breasts.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Of course it is discrimination but why is discrimination always considered negative?. Discrimination is "recognition of the difference between one thing and another" so whats wrong with that?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    DD cup isn't that big either - I could see the case for F+ but DD and E are very common sizes.

    M&S have more traditional sizes, what fits a La Senza DD often fits an M&S C so they are probably bigger sizes than one might think.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    ^^:yes:

    Also, it's not new, they've been doing it for ages.

    Not to mention if you have a problem with this, I hate to think what your opinion of Bravissimo is..... Their sole business aim is to make money out of people with larger breasts.
    :chin:
    Interesting one. I do buy my bras from there, they cost me £23 and that's the same price as that model (right word?) costs on Figleaves as well. I find it hard to get on with any other one apart from that one really.
    I think Bravissimo markets itself as a luxury product though and when it started there was a gap in the market for big nice bras and they've exploited it. Places like Figleaves do stock them now too so there is a bit more competition.
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