The HerRoom Fit Lab

We Don’t Just Tell You About a Product.
We Get to Know It First.

Shopping for intimate apparel online shouldn’t mean knowing less about a product.

A manufacturer’s description can tell you what a product is designed to do and the features it includes. But it can’t always answer the questions that matter when you’re deciding whether that product will work for you.

How does it actually fit?

How much coverage does it provide?

Where will the straps sit?

How thick is the padding?

Will the bra show under your neckline?

How high does it come under your arm?

How does a high-impact sports bra control movement?

What size should you order in this particular style?

What did other customers experience—and what does a lingerie fitter add?

Those are the kinds of questions the HerRoom Fit Lab helps answer.

For more than 26 years, HerRoom has developed its own fit standards, product-evaluation practices and proprietary tools to understand the products we sell firsthand.

Every product sold at HerRoom is physically evaluated by our Content Team and worn by a professional human fit model. We observe its fit on a real body and photograph the model wearing it. We also examine, measure and analyze the actual garment and create product-specific information based on what we learn.

Manufacturer information is part of the story. HerRoom adds firsthand information about the actual product.

And our proprietary tools help answer product-specific questions you often can’t answer from a manufacturer’s description or ordinary product photography.

We get to know the product first, so you can know more before you buy it.

How HerRoom Evaluates Every Product

It Starts With the Actual Garment

HerRoom doesn’t build a product page from manufacturer information alone.

Our Content Team physically handles and examines every product we sell. We review information supplied by the manufacturer, check it against the actual garment, add information from our own evaluation and organize it in HerRoom’s consistent product-information format.

Then we go further.

Every Product Is Worn by a Professional Human Fit Model

Every product is put on a professional human fit model so our Content Team can observe how it fits on a real body.

We look for the same signs of good fit HerRoom teaches in the Fit Checklist in Section 5 and the fit problems we identify and solve in Section 4.

Most products pass the fit test. When something about a product’s fit, sizing or construction is important for shoppers to know, we document it.

Our photography team also photographs every product on the fit model, giving shoppers original HerRoom imagery of the actual style on a human body.

Check Your Fit → Section 5

Solve a Fit Problem → Section 4

Then We Examine, Measure and Analyze It

Seeing the garment on a body is one part of understanding it.

HerRoom also examines the physical product—its dimensions, proportions, materials, construction and other characteristics relevant to that product category.

We take product-specific measurements and record the information in a consistent category-specific order. Those measurements can include details manufacturers do not provide.

For example, HerRoom measures the thickness of any bra padding, including the thickness of contour cups or the modesty padding found in many T-shirt bras. Padding thickness is one of the many product-specific measurements that can appear in HerRoom Fit Lab Findings.

It’s one more piece of information about the actual bra you’re considering—not simply the description attached to it.

The evaluation begins before publication, but the learning does not stop there. After products are sold, HerRoom also collects customer reviews with fit context, and qualified lingerie fitters add a HerRoom Response to every review.

HerRoom Fit Lab Findings

What Did HerRoom Find?

Every product at HerRoom has HerRoom Fit Lab Findings.

These are product-specific findings based on HerRoom’s firsthand examination and evaluation of the garment.

Depending on the product category, the Findings can include actual garment measurements, fit and sizing observations, construction information and other details that help you understand what you’re considering buying.

For bras, that can include measurements and characteristics that aren’t normally part of a manufacturer’s product information—including the thickness of padding when padding is present.

Consistency Makes Products Easier to Compare

HerRoom Fit Lab Findings don’t appear in random order.

Within each product type, HerRoom records Details and Findings in a consistent sequence. That means the same type of information appears in the same place as you move from one product to another.

The result is product information that is easier to find, understand and compare.

The label may say what the product is. Fit Lab Findings tell you more about the actual one in front of you.

Product-Specific Size Charts

A Generic Brand Size Chart Is Rarely Enough

A single brand can make many different kinds of products—bras, panties, shapewear, sleepwear, swimwear, hosiery, and more. Different styles and categories can use different sizing conventions and require different measurements.

Yet shoppers are often expected to use one broad manufacturer size chart across many of them.

HerRoom creates a Size Chart for each individual product.

Size-Specific Details Can Matter, Too

Some product details can even change from one size to another within the same bra style.

Hook-and-eye counts are a good example. Many bras use a different number of hooks as sizes increase. HerRoom tracks the hook count by size for bras with hook-and-eye closures and includes that information in the style’s product-specific Size Chart.

This is not static information that HerRoom simply publishes and forgets. If a customer receives a bra whose hook count differs from our listing, our team investigates. When necessary, we verify the current construction with the manufacturer and correct our information.

Over the years, those checks have sometimes identified production changes or discrepancies the manufacturer itself had not yet recognized.

It is another example of why HerRoom’s information about the actual product can go beyond the information originally supplied by the manufacturer.

That means the sizing information you’re looking at applies to the product you’re actually considering, rather than being a generic chart stretched across many different products from the same brand.

A brand-wide chart can be a starting point. The product-specific chart is where you should make your final size decision.

Learn How to Find Your Size → Section 2

Universal Cup Sizing®

Same Cup Volume. Different Letters.

Cup sizing gets especially confusing above D because bra manufacturers don’t all use the same cup-letter progression.

The same cup volume can have different letters depending on the brand’s sizing convention.

For example: 38DDD, 38F and 38E can represent the same cup volume. In HerRoom’s Universal Cup Sizing®, all three are 38D3.

An H cup is D5 in U.S. and EU sizing, but an H cup is D8 in UK sizing.

Same letter. Different cup volume. That’s an easy and potentially expensive mistake to make when shopping across brands.

UCS® Gives You a Common Reference

Universal Cup Sizing® (UCS®) gives you a consistent way to understand cup volume regardless of the letters a particular brand uses.

Once you know your UCS®, you can recognize your cup volume across different sizing systems instead of assuming that the same letter always means the same thing.

It Can Show You More Bras in Your Size

If you wear a larger cup size, unfamiliar lettering can make you skip a brand because it appears not to make your size. It may. That brand may simply call your cup volume something different.

Knowing your UCS® helps you recognize those options and shop across more brands without losing track of your actual cup volume.

LEARN MORE: Universal Cup Sizing®

Measured Bra™

Compare Bra Coverage Across Brands

This is where shopping across brands gets difficult.

You find a Chantelle bra you like and a Wacoal bra you like. Both come in your size. But how do they actually compare?

Which gives you more upper-cup coverage?

Which has straps that sit closer to—or farther from—your neck?

Which has the lower center panel?

Which center panel is wider?

Which has the taller underband?

Ordinary manufacturer photographs aren’t designed to give you a consistent way to make those comparisons. Measured Bra™ is.

HerRoom’s proprietary Measured Bra™ lets you visually compare important coverage, proportion and placement information across bras and across brands.

• upper-cup coverage

• how far the shoulder straps sit from the neck

• center-panel height

• center-panel width

• underband height, when an underband is present

Compare a Chantelle With a Wacoal

If you already know how one bra fits you, Measured Bra™ can help you evaluate how the proportions of another bra compare—even when the two bras come from different manufacturers.

Measured Bra™ creates a consistent visual reference across brands that manufacturer photography alone cannot provide.

Instead of asking whether two bras look similar, you have more information to judge how their coverage and placement actually compare.

See It Under™

Will This Bra Work Under Your Neckline?

A bra can fit perfectly and still be wrong for your outfit.

Will the cup show?

Will the center panel peek above your neckline?

Will the straps be visible?

Traditionally, the surest way to find out was to put on the bra and then put your clothing over it.

HerRoom’s proprietary See It Under™ helps you answer the question before you order.

See It Under™ lets you view the bra in relation to six challenging necklines, helping you see whether and where the bra may show under different clothing shapes.

An Online Advantage

This is one area where shopping online at HerRoom can actually give you information you may not get during ordinary in-store shopping.

Unless you take the exact outfit into a fitting room and try it over the bra, you may still not know whether the two will work together. With See It Under™, the information is available while you’re shopping.

See the bra. See the neckline. Know more before you order.

360° Spin

Look Where You Want to Look

Front, side and back photographs show you the angles someone else chose. But your fit question may be somewhere in between.

How high does this bra come under my arm?

How much side coverage is really there?

How far are the straps kicked in toward the center of the back?

HerRoom’s 360° Spin lets you rotate the product and inspect it from the angle that answers your question.

That makes it useful for understanding coverage, strap placement, side and back construction, and other details that may be difficult to judge from standard photographs.

Sometimes you simply need to see the part of the bra that matters.

Bounce Test™

High Impact Should Be Seen in Motion

A still photograph can’t show breast movement.

That’s why every high-impact sports bra at HerRoom has a Bounce Test™ video.

HerRoom’s Bounce Test™ shows a professional human fit model moving in the sports bra with simultaneous front and side views.

That lets you observe breast movement and support from two perspectives at the same time.

The manufacturer can tell you that a sports bra is designed for high-impact activity. Bounce Test™ lets you see the bra in motion and add your own observation to the decision.

SHOP: High-Impact Sports Bras With Bounce Test™

Original HerRoom Photography

We Show You What Matters About the Product

HerRoom doesn’t rely solely on manufacturer photography.

Our photography team photographs products on the professional human fit models who wear them during our evaluation process. We also create mannequin photography and additional product imagery when it helps answer questions standard product photographs don’t.

Sometimes You Need to See Inside

Important bra construction isn’t always visible from the outside.

When internal construction helps explain the product, HerRoom may photograph the inside of the bra so shoppers can see details they otherwise couldn’t.

HerRoom uses interior photography when seeing the construction adds meaningful information. Every medium- and high-impact sports bra includes an internal image so shoppers can see support construction that is not visible from the outside. Interior images are also used for other products, including strapless bras, when the construction is important to understanding the design.

EXPLORE: Medium-Impact Sports Bras | High-Impact Sports Bras

Sometimes You Need a Closer Look

HerRoom may also create close-ups and annotated images that call attention to useful product features and show you where they are.

And when a manufacturer provides an image that communicates something particularly well, we may include it.

The goal isn’t simply to show you more pictures. It’s to show you more of what you need to know.

Tomima’s Tips™

One More Thing You Should Know

Not everything useful about a product belongs in a standardized measurement or finding.

That’s where Tomima’s Tips™ come in.

Every Tomima’s Tip™ is personally written by HerRoom founder Tomima Edmark and highlights something she believes may help you make a better choice.

• call attention to a unique feature

• suggest a size change

• identify a replacement style

• point to a similar product

• share another useful product-specific insight

The information behind a Tomima’s Tip™ can come from HerRoom’s product expertise, fit-model observations, customer experience and Tomima’s ongoing communication with manufacturers and the intimate-apparel industry.

Unlike HerRoom Fit Lab Findings, Tomima’s Tips™ don’t follow a standardized checklist. They’re there because Tomima believes there is something else about the product worth telling you.

Cassie Callouts

On selected full-figure products, shoppers may also see a Cassie Callout, providing additional guidance relevant to women with average band sizes and larger cup sizes.

Customer Reviews With Fit Context + Expert Responses

A Review Is More Useful When You Know Something About the Reviewer

Fit is personal. A review that says a bra ran small, felt tall under the arm, or worked well for a particular body is more useful when you know something about the woman who wore it.

HerRoom collects additional fit context with customer reviews, including the reviewer’s bra size, general age range, and height category.

• Petite — 5’3” or shorter

• Average

• Tall — 5’9” or taller

That context helps you interpret another customer’s experience in relation to your own size and proportions rather than assuming every review will apply to every body.

Every Review Is Read by a Qualified Lingerie Fitter

Every customer product review submitted to HerRoom is read by a qualified lingerie fitter, and every review receives a HerRoom Response.

In the HerRoom Response, a fit expert replies to the customer’s experience and can add useful context about fit, sizing, product characteristics, or another issue raised in the review.

The result is more than a collection of customer opinions: the review includes useful information about the reviewer, and HerRoom adds professional lingerie-fit expertise to the conversation.

Manufacturer Information + What HerRoom Checks and Adds

We Don’t Just Repeat What We’re Told

Manufacturers know their products, and their information is an important part of every HerRoom product page. But it isn’t the whole product page.

HerRoom’s Content Team has the actual garment in hand. We examine it. We compare manufacturer information with the physical product. We add our own measurements and observations. And we organize the information in HerRoom’s consistent format.

A number of times each year, our team identifies inconsistencies between the physical product and information supplied by a manufacturer or shown on the manufacturer’s own website. When that happens, we alert the manufacturer so the information can be reviewed and corrected.

Several brands have told us that when they really want to know their own products, they look at the detailed information on HerRoom.com.

Some of the information we add isn’t supplied by manufacturers at all. Bra-padding thickness is one example.

Size-specific hook-and-eye counts are another example of the detailed product information HerRoom tracks. Because hook counts can change across the size range of the same bra—and can change with production—we maintain this information by size and investigate reported discrepancies rather than assuming the original information remains correct.

For contour cups, T-shirt bras with modesty padding and other padded bras, HerRoom measures the actual thickness of the padding and includes that measurement among the product’s Fit Lab Findings.

Other HerRoom information comes from fit-model observations, product measurements, construction examination, original photography and the relevant proprietary tools.

Manufacturer information: what the brand tells us about the product.

HerRoom Fit Lab information: what HerRoom learns by physically evaluating the product.

Together, they give you more information for making your own decision.

What Are You Trying to Find Out?

You don’t need every HerRoom tool every time you shop. You need the right information for your question.

Your question	Where HerRoom helps
How did this product fit when HerRoom evaluated it?	HerRoom Fit Lab Findings
What are the actual measurements and construction details?	HerRoom Fit Lab Findings
How thick is the padding in this bra?	HerRoom Fit Lab Findings
What size should I order in this particular product?	Product-Specific Size Chart
What is my cup volume called in another brand?	Universal Cup Sizing®
Does another brand make my cup volume under a different letter?	Universal Cup Sizing®
How does this bra’s coverage compare with another brand?	Measured Bra™
Which bra has more upper-cup coverage?	Measured Bra™
Where will the straps sit relative to my neck?	Measured Bra™
How high or wide is the center panel?	Measured Bra™
Will this bra show under my neckline?	See It Under™
How high does this bra come under my arm?	360° Spin
How much side coverage does it really provide?	360° Spin
How are the straps positioned across the back?	360° Spin
How does this high-impact sports bra look in motion?	Bounce Test™
Can I see the internal construction?	HerRoom construction photography, including internal images on all medium- and high-impact sports bras
Is there something unusual or particularly useful I should know?	Tomima’s Tips™
What did other customers experience, and how does their body context compare with mine?	HerRoom Customer Reviews
Can a fit expert add context to a customer review?	HerRoom Response

The Fitting Room teaches you what to look for. The HerRoom Fit Lab helps you find the answer in the product you’re considering.

From Knowing How Fit Works to Choosing the Right Product

The Fitting Room can teach you how intimate apparel works. It can help you find your size, understand bra construction, identify your shape, check your fit, solve fit problems and choose styles for different needs.

But eventually the question changes.

How should a bra fit?

becomes → How does this bra fit?

Would center-pull straps work better for me?

becomes → Which bras have center-pull straps and the other features I want?

What does upper-cup coverage mean?

becomes → Which of these two bras gives me less upper-cup coverage?

What kind of bra works with this neckline?

becomes → Will this particular bra work under my dress?

Those are product-specific questions. That’s where the HerRoom Fit Lab becomes part of shopping.

Once you know the feature combination you want, HerRoom’s filters can take you directly to products that have it.

SHOP EXAMPLE: Bras With Center-Pull Straps + Contour Cups