Do you get Title Nine’s Bounce catalog, and if so, do you still open it? When they first came out, the Bounce catalogs charmed me with their fun photos, bantering copy, and–best of all–barbell system for rating sports bras. Their description of The Last Resort Bra (which is the same as the Enell) made me feel so understood that I ultimately purchased it from their site. Because of my good experience with the bra*, I continued to browse their catalog for other great options.
Sadly, those options haven’t appeared. I still look longingly at the Bounce covers when they arrive in the mail, but now I toss them unopened into the recycling bin (unless I’m blogging about them as I am today). That’s because even though the Bounce Manifesto at the front of their latest catalog says that “BIG is beautiful,” they really only seem to mean, “BIG UP TO AN F CUP is beautiful.”
If their vendors only manufactured bras up to an F cup, I could understand the limited offering. That’s the excuse I used to give them. Then I discovered that they only carry the Claudette Cool Cotton Bra (or “Hot ‘n Cotton Bra”) up to a D cup, but we know that Claudette goes up to a G. When I browsed through the website for this post, I found many offerings from Freya and Fantasie, and we know they don’t stop at F either.
Can you think of any other excuses for Bounce to exclude G+ cups from its offerings? Here’s what I came up with:
- “Women who wear a G+ cup are better-served by in-person fittings from professional fitters.” ALL women are better-served by in-person fittings from professionals.
- “The market for G+ cups is too small.” This may be the case, but I’m willing to bet their sales would increase if they began to offer G+ cups. Women like me who throw their catalog away would be happy to return to an online seller who distinguishes itself by thoroughly testing and reporting on each bra. They already offer tips on the fit of the bras (for example, advising when to go up in the band or cup for a certain style), and women who wear G+ cups need this kind of help as much or more than anyone else.
- “Most American women don’t know their true size and already refuse to purchase anything above a D cup.” This could be a valid point, but I get excited at the thought of a company with such a great marketing reach really educating women about true fit. Besides, if their customers care more about numbers and letters than fit, why should Bounce currently bother to be so meticulous in their fitting advice? I get the impression that Bounce markets to women who are very particular about bra comfort, support and fit. With the right encouragement, enough of them will purchase the G+ cups to make it worth Bounce’s while.
What have I missed?
Ultimately, it’s a business decision on their part, and it’s not a life or death matter for G+ women. After all, none of us depend on Bounce for our sports bras. We can find them on other websites and through great specialty stores. But I’m annoyed because I want to identify with the happy, healthy Every Woman that Bounce pushes in their marketing materials. I want Bounce to have G+ women on their staff who review bras in a way that Hourglassy readers can relate to.
There are a lot of athletic G+ women out there bouncing painfully around the track or clutching their chests in Zumba classes, and there are a lot of less-than-athletic G+ women out there who would work out if they had a bra to support them. Bounce’s manifesto on its About page states that “We believe that it is time for women to own the language of beauty and breasts.” I agree, and it’s time for Bounce to expand its vocabulary.
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*You can read about how I chose my Enell size here (three years ago when I still thought I was a 36DD(!)), and my experience wearing the Enell Sports bra here and here). Even though I now realize I’m a 34H/36G, I still fit my Enell size 3 today, and it and my Anita Active Momentum are my go-to sports bras.
P.S. If you decide to purchase a sports bra from Bare Necessities after today’s post, would you click through their ad on this website so that Hourglassy receives a commission? The Enell, Anita and Claudette Cool Cotton are each available from Bare Necessities–but that’s not why I wrote this post today!
Darlene, not sure if you saw this article I posted awhile back on my blog: http://www.uow.edu.au/health/brl/research/UOW064685.html
“In fact, ~50% of females, regardless of bra size, age or health status, report suffering exercise-induced breast discomfort during exercises involving running and jumping, and this leads to many females reducing their physical activity participation.”
It’s a serious a problem, especially in a country which is so obsessed with the “obesity epidemic”, that you’d think that they’d be doing everything possible to help women to exercise.
Current sport bra ranges are horrific and even the good brands normally stop at H cups. Bravissimo is the only place I know of that carries 28J’s in sports bras, for instance. 😐 Granted, Freya Active fits me in a 30 band but I know there are definitely women with smaller backs out there than me!
Oh, and if anybody needs a fit model for a 28J for a sports bra from an active woman. I’m right here in Brazil waiting! 😉
Thanks for linking to this article, June. I think I may have read it, but the significance didn’t register with me until today.
I went to the Title 9 store (there are a few in the Bay Area, not sure if they have more) because of a lovely sports bra ad in the window. I asked “do you have my size?” (36H at that moment) and they said, well you could get a 40F and that might work but we don’t go that high……
Maybe we need retailers to redefine “large chest.” Because I am really sick of add ans stuff promoting that they fit well endowed women and they stop at DD or F.
Wow! I think your experience answered the ultimate question of the commenter after you–“whether fitters were trained to not try to stuff someone in the wrong size”.
I’m an F-cup-ish (depends on the bra band and style, as always) and I don’t even bother with Title 9 these days, because honestly it’s about the same as any other ‘active women’ clothing catalog in the sense that so many of the women pictured in the bra section and in other marketing photos are of the quite-slim-athletic-small-boobs body type and the whole thing makes me so frustrated I just throw the catalogs on the floor. (Where my dog gleefully rips them up, so at least someone has fun with the whole thing.)
I mean, I get that they’re selling an image, and that means you want your models to look like they can live the lifestyle you’re marketing but you know what? You can have BOOBS and be active and healthy and into rock climbing/surfing/running/whatever-ing. If you’re trying to sell me a healthy lifestyle, how about allowing for the fact that you don’t have to have one specific body type to be healthy?
(My guess is something to do with people assuming the models have ‘unhealthy’ breast implants, because everyone knows that when you get really slim when you get fit, your boobs magically fall off No Matter What. Also, women never have bulky muscle ever.)
I emailed them about this the other day (and also asked for advice for a pseudo-Frog Bra bra to go over my insufficient Freya Sport). This is what they said:
Thank you for your email and your interest in our products. I would like you to know that Title Nine would love to be able to carry so much more as far as sizes and styles of clothing. We definitely do not mean to exclude anyone, and encourage women of all shapes and sizes to stay active and fit.
While we would love to carry a wider range of sizes, unfortunately we currently do not have the warehouse space to stock as much inventory as we would like. We are hopeful that as we continue to grow as a company we will be able to offer a wider range of sizes to accommodate the needs of more active women of all shapes and ages. One of the best resources I know of for women with larger cup sizes is http://www.herroom.com. They carry a lot of similar styles to our products but in larger cup sizes and smaller/larger band sizes.
Feedback like this from our customers is one of the best ways we have to improve upon our services and the products we carry and manufacture. We truly appreciate recommendations, praise, and critiques from people who use Title Nine products every day.
/letter
They didn’t answer my ultimate question, which was whether fitters were trained to not try to stuff someone in the wrong size. I’m okay with companies acknowledging their limitations, as long as they know how to handle those outside of their base. Plus, here in Portland we have three pretty good specialty bra stores that T9 can send their customers to for sports bras!
The CS rep also suggested that I alleviate my upper shoulder pain by loosening the band on my sports bra. What? How will less support help?
THANK you for sharing this!! I knew that to research this correctly, I should send an email to Title Nine, but I wanted to post this today and wasn’t sure how long it’d take to get a response. Interesting that it’s a space issue. Since they’re selling other brands, it seems like there should be a drop shipping solution. How do Zappos and Endless handle this?
I respect that they referred you to another online retailer.
It may be obvious, but what does “CS” stand for (the rep who suggested you loosen you band)? Crazy suggestion. Undermines all confidence to receive advice like that.
Funnily enough, my next post will be on sports bra for H+ cup! I’m just waiting for my new sports bra to get delivered (and tested) so that I can publish it.
Can’t wait to read it! Hurry up, delivery!
How marvelous to find this post as I am searching the interwebs for even a half-decent sports bra in size 32g. Though I’ve been horrified at my bra size for years, I’m more horrified at how there are zero options for small ribcage, large tatas. I was so excited when Title 9 appeared on the scene and ordered a ‘frog bra’ myself. It was such a disappointment that it launched me on a dual trip of self hatred and the Massive Sports Bra Quest. I’ve had bra fitters send me to Lane Bryant and maternity sections too many times over the years. I’m not skinny, but I have a freakish small rib cage. And the Bounce catalog makes me cry. So glad they keep coming up with the precious, clever options in nice colors for a cups. I’m bookmarking your site for advice. Thanks for posting.