The Bra Fitter Diaries: How to Make Your Bras Last

If you shop at Broad, I’ve no doubt that your bra wardrobe is a thing of beauty. But how can you make your bras last? In a perfect world, I would wake up covered in puppies every morning and you would gently hand wash your bras. (I guess only that last part is really relevant here.) Ideally after every 1-3 wears your bra should be hand washed in cool water with a gentle detergent, rinsed without wringing it out, and hung to dry from the centre gore.

The centre gore is the part where the cups meet. That pink bow marks the spot!

But the journey to the perfect world is long and sometimes can’t be made. In that case, machines may become involved in your bra care routine. That’s totally okay! It does add a little extra risk and wear and tear, but we understand that it happens. If  your bra goes in the washing machine, just make sure you do up the hooks first and put it in a delicates bag – one of those mesh things with a zip closure. The other rules still apply: cool water, gentle detergent, hang to dry from the centre gore.

But Why?

You’ve probably heard a lot of this already, and you might have wondered why all these rules exist. Are bra fitters sadists who want you to be trapped in a never-ending cycle of bra-related drudgery? No! We love you and we want you and your bras to be happy. And your bras will actually tell you when they’re not happy. If you’re finding that you often have trouble with underwire popping out or straps stretching – sad bras! Those little bits of elastic that start to stick out, like tiny white hairs on your straps and band? Cries for help from the saddest bras!

So here’s our logic: heat breaks down elastic, leading to those strange hair-like protuberances I mentioned above, as well as a stretched out band and straps. (This means hot water and the dryer are no-no’s.) Sweat and body oils are hard on your bra, too, which is why we recommend washing every 1-3 wears. And hanging a wet bra by its straps puts a lot of weight on them, particularly if it’s a t-shirt bra – molded cups hold a lot of water. Hanging from the gore prevents stretched-out straps.

A few more tips:

1. Let your bras rest! This is where the bra wardrobe is helpful. Having at least 2-3 in rotation makes it easy to switch up what you wear each day without having to do laundry constantly.
2. Don’t flip your bra. You might not even realize that you do this – it’s most common to folks who do their bra up at the front and then spin it around to put it on. Basically, make sure the cups of your bra stay facing up (not inside out and upside down) as you put on your bra. Flipping the cups damages the wires over time, changing the shape and even popping them out.
3. Consider the way you store your bras. This is especially important for t-shirt bras. It’s tempting to invert the cups, folding them in on one another to fit into a drawer. Over time, this leads to wrinkles and bumps on the outside of the cups, which means your once smooth bra becomes visible under your tee. Instead, store your bras “sunny side up” or hang from the gore or (when dry) straps.

It all comes down to this: your bra is working really hard for you all day, and it needs some love in return. No bra will last forever, but with proper care you and your faves can be happy together for a very long time.