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Should bigger bras be more expensive?

24

Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    kangoo wrote: »
    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.
    I don't think bigger tampons are any more expensive, but I know that when you're using three or four super plus (the reeeeeeeeally fat ones) a day it fucking adds up.

    Especially when you're having a no-signs-of-stopping-yet 2-and-a-half week period :(
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    [QUOTE=Scary Monster;2169098Not 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.[/QUOTE]

    Bravissimo don't charge on a sliding scale depending on how big your tits are. Do they?

    They're also no more expensive than Debenhams or La Senza.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Surely to balance this out, smaller bra's should be cheaper and "in the middle" sized bra's should be priced inbetween the smaller and bigger ones!?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    My understanding is that women's breasts in the UK have been getting bigger over the years. Apparently, the average size is now 36C. So frankly, in this climate, it's not only ridiculous to claim that women who've got bigger boobs should pay more for their bras, it's commercial suicide. M&S are already in enough difficulties as it is - they would do well not to alienate some of their most valued customers in this way.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Kermit wrote: »
    Bravissimo don't charge on a sliding scale depending on how big your tits are. Do they?

    They're also no more expensive than Debenhams or La Senza.

    You seem to be very knowledgable about this topic Kermit. ;)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    stargalaxy wrote: »
    My understanding is that women's breasts in the UK have been getting bigger over the years. Apparently, the average size is now 36C.

    It's generally because people are getting fatter. Hence the average size is 16 or whatever it is now.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I understand what you're saying, but women being fatter doesn't necessarily equate to larger cup sizes. More likely larger back sizes (which are not being charged more).
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Franki wrote: »
    I don't think bigger tampons are any more expensive, but I know that when you're using three or four super plus (the reeeeeeeeally fat ones) a day it fucking adds up.

    They are lol, only by a few pence mind :p
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    katchika wrote: »
    I understand what you're saying, but women being fatter doesn't necessarily equate to larger cup sizes. More likely larger back sizes (which are not being charged more).

    Not all the time, but to be fair, almost all the time my female friends that have put on or lost a chunk of weight have all gained or lost plenty of cup sizes between them, as well as back, er, 'girth'.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    kangoo wrote: »
    They are lol, only by a few pence mind :p
    Really? Tbh I don't really bother looking at the prices of the other ones anymore :/
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    g_angel wrote: »
    It's generally because people are getting fatter. Hence the average size is 16 or whatever it is now.

    Not everyone with larger than average breasts is fat. I'm a D-cup but wear a size 12, so I do think if they're going to discriminate against women for having a large cup size, they should only be fair and do the same to back size. The problem with that would be that yes, some larger ladies have a large cup and back size, and would get screwed over twice.

    I don't know anything about business, but could they not just sell all bras for the same price but do it so that they make their profit percentage on the big ones and thus make a greater profit on the smaller ones as less materials were used in the first place? Or would that not work?

    xXx
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    But then people with smaller cup would be paying an artifically high price.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    It's discriminatory.

    Boobist, knockerism, breastophobe ? :)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Not everyone with larger than average breasts is fat.

    I didn't say that.


    My lass is 32DD, and is far from fat, nice and lean, in fact - but you can't deny the state of the nation and the effects it has (this is not aimed soley at women, but could easily been seen as such when thought of in the context of this thread).
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    RubberSkin wrote: »
    Boobist, knockerism, breastophobe ? :)

    :lol:
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    It just seemed to be implied that that was what you were saying.

    As for people paying artificially high prices when they have smaller boobs, could they not go to somewhere such as Primark if they object to the prices? Afterall, Primark are much cheaper than M&S and small sizes are readily available, unlike the larger ones which are not so easy to find. However, if they want the same quality of bra a someone with larger breasts, then everyone should pay the same amount for said quality.

    xXx
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    It just seemed to be implied that that was what you were saying.

    Nope.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    My mistake.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Just thought I would add that I've been into M and S today, there's a sale on and I bought several DD bras, all of which were the same (reduced) price as the smaller cup sizes.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    you aren't paying for the materials though because it's probably been knocked up for less than 3p an item by a 10 year old in india, you are paying for the the transportation, profit and wages of UK staff especially the CEO


    ergo same price for all bra sizes
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Franki wrote: »
    Really? Tbh I don't really bother looking at the prices of the other ones anymore :/

    Often the packs cost the same price but you get fewer per pack with the higher absorbancies so the price per unit is more :yes:

    Same with towels too.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Children's clothes cost more for larger sizes don't they?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    * there is a big difference in the amount of material used for a age 7-8 and 11-12 kids clothes! and i do understand why they charge more for them.

    But like someone has said before, to difference between a D and DD is little more than half an inch.

    M&S will really shoot themselves in the foot with this one, as people will boycott on a mass scale. I normally pay around £15-25 for a bra, and i can be anything from a 36D to a 32E (normally averaging around a 34 DD). La senza have apawling fit, and are very painful, bravisimo are (like someone else said) making money out of women with large boobs, but then you could say that people that make control pants make money out of women that have wobbley bits.

    Personally, i find it very hard to find good fitting bras at all. But if i had to pay an extra £2, and was guarenteed better fit, and higher quality, then i would. but otherwise i wouldn't
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    M&S are retailers not manufacturers.

    They sell alot more small to medium sized bras than they do the large sizes so their orders for the smaller sizes will be larger quantities. Larger production runs = smaller cost per order. Manufacturers usually have their machines set and tooled for the more popular sizes and have to re-set them for custom sizes. Then there's the cost of transporting the orders, the less you transport the more it costs per item.

    Bras are also more complex than t-shirts/jeans/boxers etc. too, those are simply scaled up, bras require a little more 'engineering'. There's no much leeway in bras sizes as there is in other clothing either, I've got pairs of jeans with loads of different waist/leg sizes and they all 'fit'. T-shirts for example only have about 4-5 sizes S-XXL or XL, so the orders are bigger there too but there's a considerably larger amount of size combinations for bras.

    In short, it's not really economical to order small amounts of specialist items that don't sell well (if at all) when you could order an extra 10000 bras that will definately sell, cutting down manufacturing and transport costs for the rest of the order. By stocking the larger sizes and selling them at the same price as the other sizes they could effectively be losing money, that is why a premium is charged.

    No-one is forcing anyone to buy bras from M&S, if they can get the larger sizes cheaper elsewhere, then there is no reason to complain. From what I've seen though, prices from specialist retailers are considerably higher.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I could perhaps see the point in them charging extra for considerably bigger bras, like G, H, J etc because those would be more of a custom item. DD, E and F aren't uncommon though and so I can't see the point in them charging more.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    M&S says 1/4 of the bras it sells are a D cup or above, so it'll be less than 1/4 for DD+. That's pretty significant from a business perspective I would think.

    From what I've seen M&S' bra prices are quite cheap to begin with when compared to alot of places. Maybe their higher prices on larger bras subsidise prices on smaller bras. If they were to charge a flat rate for all sizes likely prices on larger ones would decrease, but smaller sizes increase.

    At the end of the day though, bras aren't exactly M&S' core business so I doubt they give a shit, nor should they.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I could perhaps see the point in them charging extra for considerably bigger bras, like G, H, J etc because those would be more of a custom item. DD, E and F aren't uncommon though and so I can't see the point in them charging more.

    :( Still is sizeist though. m&s stock 2 bras that are a J cup and about 5 that are bigger than a G cup at all. But really if you're saying don't charge more for an F cup why is it significantly bigger to get to a G cup that deserves charging more for.

    Those of us who suffer and have to have those larger sizes require bra's more than those with smaller breasts...is it right that something that is required for health reasons in many cases should be charged more for? Personally I believe for smaller breasted women bras are a luxury item to some extent and if anyone should suffer with increased prices it is those who don't require the same support.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    ^^

    So the commercial market should subsidise your needs?

    Doesn't this boil down to should a shop pass on differences in costs between different items to customers or not?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I should imagine that the mark up they give the bras is huge and so any of this extra "designing cost" is covered by the markup.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    ^^

    So the commercial market should subsidise your needs?

    We live in a society where things that are required for health reasons are subsidised. Be that various medicines, contraceptives, mobility aids, transportation, is it really that much of a leap? But no I'm not actually saying subsidise it, the extra production costs will easily be covered by their profit margins...maybe they'll not make quite so much money on them but seriously it won't injure their profits that much. Let's think about it - a country full of women with bad backs who'll end up not being able to work and being a drain on the NHS or allow them to buy bras at a standard price that it costs everyone else and keep them healthy. Seems an obvious choice to me.
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