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:

  1. “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.
  2. “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.
  3. “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.

—–

*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!