WEBVTT

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Boobs.

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(Laughter)

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The girls.

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Breasts.

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Sometimes they're a friend;
sometimes they're a frenemy.

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But even when they frustrate you,
you give them unconditional support.

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(Laughter)

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And you do this every day of your life

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by strapping yourself
into a garment called "the bra."

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The bra as we know it is 100 years old,

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and we believe a lot of things about it:

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it needs to be pretty;
it needs to be supportive.

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Well, it needs to be a lot like us.

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What we expect from our bras

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is a metaphor for what
the world expects of us.

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And since our ideas about ourselves
have changed a lot in the past 100 years,

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maybe our bras should change too.

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As the only person in North America
with a master's degree in lingerie design,

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I've spent a lot of time studying bras,

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and I believe they're broken.

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The stat that 80% of women
are wearing the wrong bra size

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came from a study conducted
by Marks & Spencer,

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a British retailer
well-known for bra-fitting.

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Another study found that 59% of women

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said their bra caused
back, shoulder, or neck pain.

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Think athletic apparel is the cure-all?

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Mm. Not quite.

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75% of female marathon runners

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have at least one fit issue
with their sports bra

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that causes discomfort.

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So when we consider
the astonishing breadth of innovation

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over the past 100 years,

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why are we still fastening ourselves
in the same contraption every day

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and calling it support?

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Is the bra really so great

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that it justifies a design
which has hardly changed in 100 years?

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No.

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Manufacturers of most types
of clothing, including bras,

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know it's easier and cheaper
to maintain the status quo

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by making the same thing
they've always made,

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just changing the color or print.

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They've trained consumers not to expect
modernization in these types of goods,

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leading consumers to believe

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that true innovation
in what we wear isn't possible,

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which is ironic because
with most other things we buy,

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things not even
directly related to our comfort,

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we expect the manufacturers
to constantly up their game.

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I'm not going to buy a new phone because
this season's trendy color is rose gold,

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but because the technology in it
is significantly better

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than the phone I'm currently using.

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The tech sector convinces us
we need the latest innovation;

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the apparel industry conditions us
that the status quo is as good as it gets.

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They count on our complacency.

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Sure, there have been
some advances with bras:

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microfiber and stretch
have been added to fabrics,

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padded straps, molded cups,
various types of underwires.

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So, wow!

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Look how far bras have come.

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But here's what a bra in 1930 looked like,

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[c. 1930]

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and here's what it looks like today.

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(Laughter)

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[2018]

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If that 90-year-old bra
was hanging in a store today,

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you would think it was
this season's latest design.

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You only need to be on Facebook one second
to see ads for "revolutionized bras."

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But those bras are essentially
just the same old thing.

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And I have a concern:

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not only that bras haven't evolved
and they aren't doing for us what we need,

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but that we've been taught
by this very industry

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what we think we need,

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and we've been misled.

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So let's take a look at the design
of the bra and the limits it imposes.

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And for those of you who don't wear bras,

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I'm assuming you've encountered
a few along the way

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and are familiar with the technology.

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(Laughter)

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So why do we wear bras?

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We're told that's what
you're supposed to do.

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Social and cultural norms have taught us
to feel shame if our breasts are uncovered

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or feel unattractive if they are drooping.

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If you have larger breasts,

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it can feel uncomfortable
to have them moving around.

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Maybe you wear a bra because you believe
it will keep your breasts from sagging.

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Well, I have news for you:

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(Laughter)

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There is no scientific evidence whatsoever

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that wearing a bra
will keep your breasts from sagging.

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Not.

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That's right.

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The technical term for sagging is ptosis,

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and it happens due to factors

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like breast size, pregnancy,
smoking, aging, and gravity.

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In fact, there are two studies

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which show that wearing a bra
actually contributes to breast sagging.

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And while the jury is still out on these,

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it may be that keeping them
artificially lifted

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weakens the breast-supporting tissues.

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Bra manufacturers are well aware of this.

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In 2000, the then-CEO 
of bra-maker Playtex, John Dixey,

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was quoted in a British
documentary, saying,

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"We have no medical evidence
that wearing a bra could prevent sagging,

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because the breast itself is not a muscle

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so keeping it toned up
is an impossibility."

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Sometimes I'm asked,

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"What about the breasts
of tribal women who don't wear clothes?"

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I'm not going to show you
a slide of those women,

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but a quick Google search will reveal

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the variety of breast shapes
in those tribes

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matches the variety
in the rest of the world:

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some are perky,
and some are less than perky.

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The only difference is that ptosis
in bra-wearing cultures

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is covered up by bras,

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so you can't see just how prevalent
pendulous breasts shapes are

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in those cultures.

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So if you're wearing a bra today

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because you believe it will keep
your breasts from sagging,

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you are wearing it for the wrong reasons.

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I know -

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I felt betrayed too.

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But based on the evidence we have,

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wearing a bra to stay lifted
may make about as much sense

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as wearing high heels,

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thinking they'll actually make you taller
when you take them off.

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(Laughter)

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OK, so if bras can't prevent sagging,
surely we need them for support, right?

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And what better way than with underwires?

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Two pieces of metal
wedged under the breast.

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(Laughter)

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We've come to believe

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that underwires alone
provide support, right?

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Wrong.

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Underwires were not designed for support;
they were designed for shape.

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Underwires act like ponytail holders:

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They got a larger mass
into a compact, rounded shape.

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(Laughter)

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Here are two bras on the same woman:

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one with underwires, and one without.

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As you can see,

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the one without underwires

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does a much better job
supporting the breast.

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Although there are lots
of supportive underwire bras,

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the underwire alone
does not provide the support.

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Most of the support actually comes

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from the stability
of the underband, cups, and straps.

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Let's take a look at photos of women
from the 1950s in bullet bras.

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(Laughter)

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Those bras didn't have underwires.

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(Laughter)

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And those bras were so supported,
they could poke an eye out!

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(Laughter)

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I'm guessing this isn't
the first time you've discovered

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that something that you thought
would be supportive

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turned out not to be.

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(Laughter)

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Except at that point, you probably
ended that relationship.

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(Laughter)

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Maybe you like
the feeling of an underwire:

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you're used to it,
and you like the shape it gives you.

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Great!

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But if you hate underwires

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and you're only wearing them
because you think you need to:

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stop.

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There are plenty of supportive bras
without underwires.

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How do you find a non-underwire bra
that's supportive?

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Look for a bra with cups
made from non-stretch fabric

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rather than foam.

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Why?

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Think about how differently you sit
in a big slouchy sofa versus a church pew.

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Pretty different, right?

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You'll sink into the foam
of a cushion chair

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but sit upright in a wooden chair.

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A non-stretch fabric
is like a wooden chair

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and does a much better job of supporting.

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Also, look for no stretch in the front
of the bra and the front straps.

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If you're thinking,

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"That doesn't sound very comfortable,"

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I assure you that fabric-based support
is in fact very comfortable -

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far better than wire

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or a church pew.

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So let's talk sizing for a sec.

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As women, we've been raised
to identify with a certain size,

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and by the way,

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when you're not that size anymore,

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it's upsetting.

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If you were always a size 6
and now you're a 10,

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you have feelings about that,

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just as you do when you go
from a 12 to an 8.

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Chances are, you've also
labeled yourself with a bra size,

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especially a cup size:

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"I'm just an A."

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"I'm a solid B."

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"I'm a D."

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You probably have feelings about that too.

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You might even feel inadequacy or shame.

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But here's the thing:

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bras don't fit the way jeans fit.

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If you're a size 8 jean,

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you know that a 6 will be too small
and a 10 will be too large.

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There's only one size
in that style that will fit you.

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But bras aren't sized
like any other type of clothing:

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there isn't just one size that fits you.

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And the reason I'm telling you this

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is that you may have mistakenly
settled on a size,

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thinking that's just what you are,

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when you could be wrong

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and missing out on a world of comfort
and far superior support as a result.

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Let's take four bra sizes:

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38A, 36B, 34C, and 32D.

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Completely different sizes, right?

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[38 A, 36 B, 34 C, 32 D]

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Nope.

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They're all the same size.

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These sizes all accommodate
the same size breast;

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they just do it with a shorter
or longer underband.

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Now, you might think you're a D cup,

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and then you just need to figure out
the girth of your ribcage, correct?

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Wrong again.

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A 38D, 36D, 34D, and 32D

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have absolutely nothing in common.

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They don't fit the same size
breast or ribcage.

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So everything you've been told
your whole life -

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that A cups are always small
and D cups are always large -

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isn't true.

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Would you believe it
if I told you that you could be an A

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and have bigger breasts
than someone with a D cup?

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Sounds flatly wrong, but it's true.

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And some As - get this -
are the exact same size as Ds.

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You think it can't be true,

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but that's just
how messed up bra sizing is

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and why we so often get it wrong.

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And much like the other ways
we have been labeled, as women,

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these cup sizes are labels that are lies.

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When was the last time
you questioned your size?

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When was the last time

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you questioned something else
about yourself you thought was true

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but might not be?

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Why are sizes so crazy?

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Like, who designed it this way and why?

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The numbers 32, 34, etc.
are based on Victorian shirt sizes.

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[OUR PATTERN DEPARTMENT]

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Initially, the bra size
was only the shirt size.

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The assumption was that the clothing size
matched the breast size:

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small clothing size, small breast size.

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When it became apparent
that wasn't always the case,

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cup sizes were added by determining
how many inches bigger the bust was

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than the Victorian shirt size.

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But here's the problem with that:

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Two inches bigger
than a 32 shirt size was a B cup,

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and two inches bigger
than a 38 shirt size was also a B cup.

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That created a lot
of different size B cups

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and led to something
called "sister sizing,"

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which is how bras are currently sized.

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So all of these cups,
which sound totally different,

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are exactly the same.

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In fact, the manufacturers
make the same fronts

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over and over and over again,

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change the length of the underband,
and label it as a different size.

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The cups are identical.

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And all of these cups,
which sound totally the same,

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are completely different.

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As the decades went on,

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and women no longer
knew their Victorian shirt size

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off the top of their head,

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(Laughter)

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a system of measuring around the rib cage
and adding four or five inches

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was used to identify
a woman's Victorian size.

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Why are 80% of women
wearing the wrong bra size?

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Because most women have no idea
this is how bras are sized.

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Currently, the global bra market
is around $25 billion annually.

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Since 80% of those purchases
are for the wrong size,

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that means approximately
$20 billion of that $25 billion

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is spent purchasing the wrong product.

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I can't think of any other industry

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where 80% of consumers buy the wrong thing
and it's considered perfectly normal.

00:15:14.839 --> 00:15:16.516
How is that OK?

00:15:17.356 --> 00:15:20.596
And the reason so many women
are experiencing pain from their bras

00:15:20.596 --> 00:15:23.501
is because they're wearing the wrong size.

00:15:23.501 --> 00:15:25.664
That's outrageous.

00:15:26.304 --> 00:15:29.772
Designing a system that would enable
most women to wear the right bra size

00:15:29.772 --> 00:15:31.751
would be very easy to do.

00:15:32.211 --> 00:15:35.258
Just label all of the cup sizes
which are the same,

00:15:36.028 --> 00:15:37.515
the same!

00:15:37.515 --> 00:15:38.520
(Laughter)

00:15:38.520 --> 00:15:41.743
That's how most women
assume bras are sized anyway.

00:15:42.323 --> 00:15:45.519
And make the band size
a simple rib cage measurement.

00:15:45.519 --> 00:15:47.745
Because let's be honest:

00:15:47.745 --> 00:15:49.934
Unless you're living in Downton Abbey,

00:15:49.934 --> 00:15:52.704
who cares what
your Victorian shirt size is?

00:15:52.704 --> 00:15:53.707
(Laughter)

00:15:54.507 --> 00:15:55.504
How do you know

00:15:55.504 --> 00:15:57.081
if you're wearing the wrong size?

00:15:57.271 --> 00:16:01.339
Because that system of adding four
or five inches doesn't work very well,

00:16:01.339 --> 00:16:05.439
many women are wearing a band size
too big and a cup size too small.

00:16:06.251 --> 00:16:09.529
Reach around and pull the band
away from your back.

00:16:09.529 --> 00:16:15.736
If it easily stretches more than the width
of your hand, it's too big or too old.

00:16:16.076 --> 00:16:17.991
(Laughter)

00:16:17.991 --> 00:16:22.356
And I just lost half the audience because
they have their hands up their shirts.

00:16:22.356 --> 00:16:24.252
(Laughter)

00:16:26.834 --> 00:16:29.649
Why is having a large
underband problematic?

00:16:29.648 --> 00:16:30.646
Because -

00:16:30.646 --> 00:16:32.104
here's another bra doozy -

00:16:32.104 --> 00:16:36.097
the majority of support comes
from the underband, not the straps.

00:16:36.097 --> 00:16:37.234
In fact,

00:16:37.234 --> 00:16:39.444
if your shoulder straps are digging in,

00:16:39.444 --> 00:16:44.020
it could mean that your underband
is too big and isn't doing its job.

00:16:44.430 --> 00:16:48.092
By the way, you don't have
to adjust the straps equally.

00:16:48.092 --> 00:16:50.963
Most people have one shoulder
higher than another,

00:16:50.963 --> 00:16:53.680
so it's OK if one needs
to be tighter than another.

00:16:54.240 --> 00:16:55.369
When you buy a new bra,

00:16:55.369 --> 00:16:58.790
be sure to also try on
your sister sizes to find the best fit.

00:16:59.170 --> 00:17:01.989
And be sure to find a bra
that fits on the loosest hook.

00:17:02.399 --> 00:17:04.876
You're supposed to hook
a new bra on the loosest hook

00:17:04.876 --> 00:17:07.072
so that as it gets older
and stretches out,

00:17:07.072 --> 00:17:08.431
you can tighten it.

00:17:08.951 --> 00:17:11.633
And if your bra has had a birthday,

00:17:12.363 --> 00:17:14.175
it has outstayed its welcome.

00:17:14.175 --> 00:17:15.807
(Laughter)

00:17:15.807 --> 00:17:19.114
You should be replacing
your bras every year.

00:17:19.734 --> 00:17:21.059
(Explosive sound)

00:17:21.059 --> 00:17:23.782
(Laughter)

00:17:23.782 --> 00:17:26.784
(Applause)

00:17:27.767 --> 00:17:29.573
I know -

00:17:29.573 --> 00:17:31.929
this is mind-blowing stuff, truly.

00:17:31.929 --> 00:17:33.487
(Laughter)

00:17:35.647 --> 00:17:38.704
No matter when you bought the bra
you're wearing today,

00:17:38.704 --> 00:17:42.738
bottom line is it's 100 years
older than you think.

00:17:42.738 --> 00:17:43.876
(Laughter)

00:17:43.876 --> 00:17:46.619
Hey, some things do get better with age,

00:17:46.619 --> 00:17:48.271
like fine wine

00:17:48.731 --> 00:17:50.263
or Helen Mirren.

00:17:50.263 --> 00:17:51.727
(Laughter)

00:17:51.727 --> 00:17:53.307
But not the bra.

00:17:53.687 --> 00:17:58.514
And it leaves us to question:
What other outdated ideas are we stuck on?

00:17:59.604 --> 00:18:01.007
Here's the thing:

00:18:01.617 --> 00:18:03.998
All bras are training bras.

00:18:04.658 --> 00:18:06.569
They train us from a young age

00:18:06.569 --> 00:18:11.987
that this is how things are,
how things feel, how you come up short,

00:18:11.987 --> 00:18:14.261
and there's nothing you can do about it.

00:18:15.133 --> 00:18:18.403
Bras have become
an icon for the status quo.

00:18:19.403 --> 00:18:22.401
I'm not saying we should all
be burning our bras,

00:18:22.401 --> 00:18:24.464
but we can do better than this.

00:18:25.014 --> 00:18:26.556
If we don't question something

00:18:26.556 --> 00:18:31.241
as small and persistent
as the first thing we put on every day,

00:18:31.241 --> 00:18:33.362
how can we question the bigger things?

00:18:34.492 --> 00:18:37.543
The time is now for us
to challenge the status quo,

00:18:38.023 --> 00:18:40.245
and it starts at chest level.

00:18:41.314 --> 00:18:43.492
Because for far too long,

00:18:43.492 --> 00:18:46.574
the very thing
that's supposed to lift us up

00:18:46.574 --> 00:18:47.736
has let us down.

00:18:47.736 --> 00:18:48.736
(Laughter)

00:18:48.736 --> 00:18:49.644
Thank you.

00:18:49.644 --> 00:18:52.648
(Applause)