4 ms·

I think your boobs can use an algorithm. I am without them myself, but, I have heard complaints about bra sizing forever, and am aware of the (now common?) kno

by eof 14y ago

I think your boobs can use an algorithm. I am without them myself, but, I have heard complaints about bra sizing forever, and am aware of the (now common?) knowledge that most women are wearing non-ideal bras. It doesn't matter if "most women" don't buy bras every month, if 1% of them do, and True & Co captures 10% of that market then that 2M seed funding will be a great investment. Your boobs don't need an algorithm that doesn't work, of course. But if some smart people are able to ask you three minutes worth of questions, and then provide you with support that will make your life significantly better.. who cares? I think the idea is that they are trying to turn a product that 'needs to be felt' into something that doesn't, because "it just works". Anything "that just works" is good, and VC money will chase after it.

mbell 14y ago
Wanted to more or less say the same thing. For whatever reason I've run into the issue of bra sizing numerous times over the last 6 months without doing/reading anything that would promote the discussion. Personally I think part of it is that there is a general increase in the open chatter of women on the web due to sites like Pinterest. I don't know if there is a technological solution to fix it, but if there is it seems like a very real way to improve life for a large amount of the populous. Whomever can make a significant dent in it seems poised to profit in a big way.
- mnicole 14y ago
  A more technical solution would probably do wonders for this problem - both in initial measurement and custom solutions thereafter. Even going in for a fitting won't yield you the right results, and a lot of women are just too self-conscious for one to begin with. Human fitters are trained differently at various locations, and VS in particular doesn't seem to adequately train their employees (or maybe because most locations are in malls, working in intimates isn't exactly her career choice so she's are more lenient/awkward about it). I was grossly misfitted at a VS like many others I've met, and the girl was pretty careless about the whole thing (didn't take her time, was 100% sure she'd done it right despite telling her I wasn't quite sure - ironically citing the fact that most women are wearing the wrong size to begin with). Additionally, well-made bras that last easily run into the $60-100+ range, so a lot of women pick up the cutesy bargain-bin ones that aren't shaped well to begin with. And depending, it can end up being a lot like jeans where sizing will vary with different brands and styles even though it shouldn't.
  - mbell 14y ago
    I can think up ways to approach the problem, but I don't see any of them being adopted. The best technical idea that comes to mind is using a kinetic or similar device as they become more widespread to just scan the person's form and return a result. But, I can only compare the experience to that of a man as that is my gender, I can't see myself posing nude in front of such a device to get the perfectly fitting jock strap (or male bikini, etc). I just can't imagine doing it. I have no clue if the comparison is valid, it's just as close as I can imagine personally and I just can't see myself doing it.
    - icambron 14y ago
      I don't think the pose-topless-for-a-scanner thing is ridiculous at all. You could even imagine the device being video-based, something you run on your laptop (which obviously doesn't actually upload or even record pictures of you). If you can stand topless in front of a fitter, you can stand topless in front of a device. A less intense approach, though, would be doing a better job of statistical modeling women's breast shapes and how well different kinds of bras fit them. If you sell bras for a while and different women return different ones, you can start to build a sense of what customers' ideal fits are and refine what bra shapes and styles get sent to them. Whether that data can be accumulated fast enough to make the service useful is an open question, but it at least doesn't sound crazy.
mamoswined 14y ago
Am I the only one on this thread who was tried it. I used the True & Co. service to try to avoid shopping for bras, a chore that I dread. Unfortunately they were way way off on my sizing. Way way off. The sizing, the construction fitting to my shoulder shape, color (they send you some bras that they chose for you, which were colors that are not versatile to wear under normal clothing)... pretty much everything. I tried another bra quiz service, Herroom's Know Your Breasts Bra Finder, which gave me a lot more insight into my sizing and why certain bras didn't fit right- particularly the way my breasts naturally hang and the way my shoulders are shaped. Unfortunately it gives you around five different characteristics of your ideal bra and no way to find bras that share several of them since they don't have faceted search or anything like that. I ended up going to Nordstroms, where they were really unhelpful despite advertising having a "bra fitter" and I bought a bra that sort of fits and ended up buying a second shoulder strap for it on Amazon to gerryrig it not to slip all the time.
- icambron 14y ago
  But it sounds like you agree that it's a real problem to be solved, right? That True & Co aren't very good at it means that more companies should be jumping in with novel solutions, getting funding, and trying to make it work. In other words, your boobs totally need an algorithm, they just need a way better one.

by eof 14y ago

mbell 14y ago

Wanted to more or less say the same thing. For whatever reason I've run into the issue of bra sizing numerous times over the last 6 months without doing/reading anything that would promote the discussion. Personally I think part of it is that there is a general increase in the open chatter of women on the web due to sites like Pinterest. I don't know if there is a technological solution to fix it, but if there is it seems like a very real way to improve life for a large amount of the populous. Whomever can make a significant dent in it seems poised to profit in a big way.

mnicole 14y ago
A more technical solution would probably do wonders for this problem - both in initial measurement and custom solutions thereafter. Even going in for a fitting won't yield you the right results, and a lot of women are just too self-conscious for one to begin with. Human fitters are trained differently at various locations, and VS in particular doesn't seem to adequately train their employees (or maybe because most locations are in malls, working in intimates isn't exactly her career choice so she's are more lenient/awkward about it). I was grossly misfitted at a VS like many others I've met, and the girl was pretty careless about the whole thing (didn't take her time, was 100% sure she'd done it right despite telling her I wasn't quite sure - ironically citing the fact that most women are wearing the wrong size to begin with). Additionally, well-made bras that last easily run into the $60-100+ range, so a lot of women pick up the cutesy bargain-bin ones that aren't shaped well to begin with. And depending, it can end up being a lot like jeans where sizing will vary with different brands and styles even though it shouldn't.
- mbell 14y ago
  I can think up ways to approach the problem, but I don't see any of them being adopted. The best technical idea that comes to mind is using a kinetic or similar device as they become more widespread to just scan the person's form and return a result. But, I can only compare the experience to that of a man as that is my gender, I can't see myself posing nude in front of such a device to get the perfectly fitting jock strap (or male bikini, etc). I just can't imagine doing it. I have no clue if the comparison is valid, it's just as close as I can imagine personally and I just can't see myself doing it.
  - icambron 14y ago
    I don't think the pose-topless-for-a-scanner thing is ridiculous at all. You could even imagine the device being video-based, something you run on your laptop (which obviously doesn't actually upload or even record pictures of you). If you can stand topless in front of a fitter, you can stand topless in front of a device. A less intense approach, though, would be doing a better job of statistical modeling women's breast shapes and how well different kinds of bras fit them. If you sell bras for a while and different women return different ones, you can start to build a sense of what customers' ideal fits are and refine what bra shapes and styles get sent to them. Whether that data can be accumulated fast enough to make the service useful is an open question, but it at least doesn't sound crazy.

mamoswined 14y ago

Am I the only one on this thread who was tried it. I used the True & Co. service to try to avoid shopping for bras, a chore that I dread. Unfortunately they were way way off on my sizing. Way way off. The sizing, the construction fitting to my shoulder shape, color (they send you some bras that they chose for you, which were colors that are not versatile to wear under normal clothing)... pretty much everything. I tried another bra quiz service, Herroom's Know Your Breasts Bra Finder, which gave me a lot more insight into my sizing and why certain bras didn't fit right- particularly the way my breasts naturally hang and the way my shoulders are shaped. Unfortunately it gives you around five different characteristics of your ideal bra and no way to find bras that share several of them since they don't have faceted search or anything like that. I ended up going to Nordstroms, where they were really unhelpful despite advertising having a "bra fitter" and I bought a bra that sort of fits and ended up buying a second shoulder strap for it on Amazon to gerryrig it not to slip all the time.

icambron 14y ago
But it sounds like you agree that it's a real problem to be solved, right? That True & Co aren't very good at it means that more companies should be jumping in with novel solutions, getting funding, and trying to make it work. In other words, your boobs totally need an algorithm, they just need a way better one.