Did you ever wanted to find a bra very similar to one you have but with a narrower wire? or a deeper cup? This has been an option that's been possible since day 0. Searching by measurements.

It took me over 6 years to realize that we needed a better way to do it >_<!

Anyway, now whenever you are looking at a specific bra size you will be able to further check what other bras have nearby measurements to this one. You will find a Explore by measurements link underneath the adjacent sizes table on each bra size.

Once there you will be able to tune the measurements and see which bras match.

This is version 1 of this feature, there is more stuff to come like enabling, disabling measurements, gore and wing height filtering and type filtering, but I just wanted to put this out there so you can start using it.

Some other features that were added recently

If you've been using the site the last month you would have noticed that the bra adventures now can be categorized, and you can browse through those categories.

But another small improvement that went unnoticed is the bookmarking of adventures!

This has been around for a while, when you comment or vote on an adventure you automatically subscribe to it, but now you can pick to subscribe or bookmark them without having to vote or comment.

You can see all your bookmarked adventures from the bookmarked adventures link on the adventures section.

Other than that, there's been some work done lately on speeding up the site a little bit, it may not be very noticeable with most pages, but some that were very slow will be more decent now, if you ever got a 404 error.. we addressed most of those with some smarts, and rewrote a couple of important bits of the site that were getting on the way of making improvements.

And we've actively started to work on the Breast Shapes project, so please keep up with your submissions, it will start with a very small size range as we've noticed that we cannot launch certain ranges until they have enough data to protect users and to browse effectively.

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Many of you may have received those annoying emails that are being sent through the site explaining that your bra has been taken out of calculations and please check a measurement.

The biggest part of these emails is regarding the cup width measurement, and this is happening because a mistake I made when I created the site. I deliberately did not specify whether or not you should include the wire channels on this measurement. My thinking was that some will measure with, some without and some in between, and the average at the end will contain the same error for all bras. Well, 16000 bras later, I was wrong.

We've decided now that the cup width measurement should not include the underwires, and we’re marking off all the bras that did consider it (most bras).

Cup width measured including underwires, 18.3cm

Cup width measured without underwires, 16cm

If we do this to one of your bras, you will get an email, while the bra is marked, the calculations will not include its measurements, so we would only consider those measurements without the wires.

If you re-measure your bra while it is marked, we will be notified and verify that the new measurement does not contain the underwire.

How do we know?

There are a number of places we can use to check if a cup width measurement is too big (includes the wires).

First we look at the rest of the bras in the same size, we assume that it should not be much bigger than the smallest one. we start by the assumption that it will be very hard to make a mistake and measure this smaller than it is, but it is easy to go bigger.

If there are no other bras in this size, then we check the sister size, then we check the next size up and make sure that the measurement provided is not bigger than the underwire for the next size up.

We also have bras with the same cut, and also can check that the increase between sizes is not too small or too big. Usually the cup width from consecutive sizes should not be much over 0.5cm.

Sometimes, we will find re-measurements that keep the original size with which the bra was marked, then we find ourselves in a problem. If after instructions the cup width is still too wide, what should we do?

There is the possibility that we were not clear explaining, or that this bra is indeed that wide. This can happen if the bra has been stretched, but we can know if it is within expected values based on surrounding bras.

On those cases what we proceed to do is to just disable this measurement for this particular bra, so all the other measurements are still considered, but not this one. Why? So when providing recommendations based on measurements we don’t recommend based on a very wide one case bra.

If we do find that all the bras in that size have consistent wide sizing, then we go ahead and enable all those.

What are the steps if your bra gets marked?

• You will get an email, please reply if you need further help.

• You will see your bra with an extra message indicating that it has been marked.

• Then you are invited to re-measure your bra or just plain confirm the current measurements if you’re 200% sure that this is correct.

We will be notified of the actions and evaluate and proceed to unmark the bra. I’ve noticed some users sending pictures while measuring the bra, yes, they do help!

What are the next steps on ensuring correct measurements?

We will add some more checks on the site.

First, when measuring a bra we will do an automated check for an expected cup width and ask to confirm if it seems a bit odd.

Also, if you do have a marked bra which is listed, we will ask you to please double check the measurements before getting rid of it.

Where I messed up

When we started marking the bras, we did not verify if the bra was owned by the user anymore, which caused a lot of frustration having to have a bra marked off forever without being able to do anything about it.

We also sent emails for marked bras without checking how many bras a user had already marked, so for users that consistently measured including the wires it became a nightmare to receive 15 emails for the same subject, this caused anger, and anger leads to hate, and hate leads to suffering. So no bra ever got measured and we just got ourselves an angry bird^W user The message indicating that the bra was marked, was too harsh and made it feel as if it was your fault that something was wrong, when it was actually my fault for not being clear from the beginning.

We addressed this, by an internal screen we use to make these marks which shows us when the bra was added, last measured, the date it was marked and also if it was marked as owned or not in the site. Then if the bra is not owned we just proceed to disable the bad measurement and not mark off the bra.

On this same screen we visualize which other bras a user has currently marked, so we can make a better decision on how to communicate with her and try to solve this.

The messages have also been changed, where we now ask for a verification for the measurement and not accuse you of doing it wrong.

When displaying a marked bra, we changed the tone from bloody red, to just a different font color so it is not too harsh on view.

Again, I am very sorry for making this initial bad decision, but we’re trying to fix this and we need your help to do so.

We have noticed a lot of bra fixes recently and numbers that are starting to make much more sense, for which I am very thankful!

Who is I and who is We? For the past few months Nesoa has been helping me day and night to keep up with cleaning the database, she helps deciding and marking the bras on and off so many of these decisions have been possible thanks to her help and thinking when I could not bra any further . If you receive emails from the site, they could be wither from me or her.

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When the Panache sports bra first came on the market in late 2011 it was seen by many as an answer to prayers. The underwired, molded cup bra that would give you no bounce while exercising was deemed as revolutionary by many.

There are several features of the sports bra that make it different from others on the market:

• Relying on encapsulation instead of compression. Encapsulation (as opposed to compression) lifts and supports from all sides
• Silicone wrapped wires that are sewn between the fabric for maximum support
• Molded cups to reduce friction
• Wide padded straps to reduce discomfort
• J-hook to convert to racerback
• Shown to reduce bounce by 83% when compared to exercising without a bra

I decided to order the Panache sports bra for several reasons. Firstly, it received starred reviews from blogs like Invest in Your Chest, Fuller Figure, Fuller Bust, and Undercover Lingerista. I was also looking for a sports bra to replace my Freya Active that is supportive, but a size too small. I found it on sale at Large Cup Lingerie and a few days later it arrived.

Upon first glance, you almost can’t tell that it’s a sports bra. It’s...pretty and functional.The molded cups of the bra give you a smooth rounded look unlike other cup sized sized bras. The Panache Sports Bra definitely receives major points on looks alone.

Based on the bra’s measurements for the 34GG size I selected, it should have been a perfect fit. Unfortunately my experience was similar to that of Bras I Hate & Love. Great bra, just not for me.

When I first tried the bra on there was a good amount of room in the cup. Enough room so that I could easily put my hand inside the bra and pinch the excess material.

The band of the bra was not as firm as I was hoping; I didn’t feel secure in it. I was used to the band on my Freya Active, but more to come on that bra later.

After I did a small bounce test by running in place, I could feel my breasts still moving around in the bra. I will say that using the racerback hook on the bra helped to minimize the gap, it still wasn’t enough. I was a little disappointed but decided to ask for fitting help for this bra.

After putting this bra up for fitting help and receiving some suggestions, I have decided that this bra just isn’t for me I would have preferred it if the band was a bit more “true to size” than the other Panache bras I have tried and if the cups didn’t run large for me. If I were to try this bra again, I would be sizing down in the band.

If anyone is interested in owning this bra, it has been listed for sale.

The Freya Active Underwired Sports bra has also been a popular favorite with a lot of women. This bra comes up to a K cup in some colors and was recently reviewed by Bras and Body Image. In comparing this bra with my Freya active, I feel that the band of my Freya is more to my liking because of its firmness.

The Freya active also relies on encapsulation as opposed to compression. The most common complaint with this bra is that it tends to give a pointy shape. As you can see, that does not occur with me, but my breasts aren't as uplifted as they are in the Panache.

Even if it did, I would not sacrifice function for fashion.

Do you have a favorite sports bra? Do you prefer the ideas of encapsulation or compression?

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This one is for the bloggers here at Bratabase or users in general that want to share their bras

I've noticed t hat many of you are religiously adding your bras to the site! Which is superawesome (seriously, that is great!) and then you're writing a review for your bra in your blog and want to include your measurements, but it becomes a pain to have to type the measurements you just entered here or link to the bra distracting your readers.

Now I've added the ability to embed your specific bra's measurements in your blog.

On your bra's page you will see a link:

Share or embed this bra in your blog

You will find yourself with a screen that has two sections

One that contains the link to your specific bra. Sharing this link will lead users to the specific entry of your bra with your measurements and your review and pictures (if shared)

The other section will provide you with a number of code snippets that you can use on different places to embed a table with this bra's measurements:

Depending on your platform you will be able to select the snippet that works best for you

Here's a sample on how it will look:

Hope you guys find this useful!

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Well... Brands only for now, but you can follow brands now!

This weekend, other than fixing a good number of bugs, Nesoa helped me shape the path into following brands, and we managed to come with a good start for what will be a bigger merge between different parts of the site. HUGE thanks to her!

How to follow a brand?

To follow a brand, you simply have to go to their page and click the big "Follow" button, and you'll start seeing in your home activity new things that happen with this brand.

What should I follow a brand for?

Right now a brand will register activity whenever it is mentioned or it has new models added. You will see this updates on your home activity when following.

How can I see what a brand has been up to?

Right under the follow button there's an "Activity" link, it will show you all the activity for a brand

Who is following what?

Just like with normal followers, you can see which brands a user is following from her profile.

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When there aren't many updates on the site it is because there is probably something a bit complicated that's being worked on.

I'm going to talk about a few recent updates on the site.

You can now filter listings by keyword

This was a long asked for, in the listings page you can make a few filters with the options given but you could not search for "Deco" or other models, well. not you can

Inline votes and comments

When voting or commenting on an entry, you'd get a full page refresh which made things a bit jerky as sometimes you'd loose the position were you were at.

Well now, when you vote or make a comment, it will get added inline without a refresh.

Delete adventure entries and comments

You can now delete an adventure entry and a comment for it, but only under certain conditions.

For an adventure you can only delete it as long as nobody has either commented or voted on it.

For comments, you can delete them only if you are the last comment on the thread.

Reserving listings

When dealing with listings, there is a moment when a user asks you for the bra but cannot close the deal or confirm for a few days, it is a bit of a problem if you keep getting more requests for the bra.

You can now mark your listing as "Reserved" so it will be publicly displayed. Of course anybody is free to keep asking for your bra, but now they know

Mentions!

This one is the exciting one! When sharing a bra adventure, you can now make reference to other users, brands or bra models from them, when you do they will get automatically linked and the users referred will get notified that you were talking about them!

This works like it does on Twitter and Facebook, by first typing @ and then typing the name you want, and you are able to make a selection from the suggestions.

Right now this exists only when you share a bra adventure, but will soon be arriving to all other places, comments, reviews, etc.

Non editable measurements

Among other changes, now the profile measurements can only be edited within a week from creating them.

This is very important so every time you want to measure yourself you do it as a new entry and not altering the previous entry. This is useful because we can individual fit information for each of your measurements and you can also use them to keep track of your size fluctuations.

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All good things have to come to an end

It breaks my heart to have to take this decision but things are getting too good for my own good

The $10 shipping coverage for shipping will be no more. It has been 586 days, that is over a year and a half that we've been doing this since it launched.

But it had not really picked up since the last 5 months.

In this time near $2000 has been invested in finding homes for new bras and flying them around the world. It has brought me with so much joy to be able to help this way to so many people, but I think that it has served it purpose very well.

So this is what is going to happen, coverage will work the same until Monday February 18, 2013 23:59 (GMT -5). All deals closed before that are still covered.

After that, a $200 budget will be separated to cover for shipping coverage and each bra in a listing will get the first $5 covered until the budget runs out.

All give away bras will remain fully covered.

Update: Here's the spreadsheet with the budget available

Update 2: The budget ran out in a week - Feb 26th

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On the analysis made for 2012 I mentioned how the Favorites feature on the site never really took off and talked about how there was a better idea for this.

So this is it, I upgraded the Favorite bras into Bra lists, where your favorites is just one of the lists you can make.

Why is this cool?

These lists contain a group of bras under an arbitrary criteria that can be shared anywhere you want to refer to them.

For example, a list of molded bras, or a list of bras with polka dots, or bras I want for my birthday

How to make a list

Whenever you see a bra you will see a "Add to Favorites" option below the picture, mouse over that and it will expand to allow you to create a new list.

You can choose to add that bra to your favorites list or to a new one. Next time you visit another bra you can pick on which list you want it.

Managing your lists

You will see that the "My favorites" menu is gone in favor of a "My lists" option, here you will see all your lists and will be able to manage them, add notes to them, edit, etc.

How to find them

You can find all the lists made by a user on their profiles, you can see the lists that they've decided to share.

Alternatively you can see on which lists any given bra is, and not only that but also have a look at which other bras is it mostly grouped with

More to come

This is the first iteration of the lists, some improvements will follow.

Share them!

The idea of lists is to be able to easily express and point to any set of bras you want, just copy the address on the address bar and you're done!

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Vee got a free sample from Braologie and was kind enough to write an in depth analysis of the bra.

Please keep in mind that this is a very experimentally designed bra and many of the standard bra fitting rules seem a but bent in order to understand how it was expected to work.

In depth analysis of the Braologie bra

A little while a go Braologie, a new company in the bra manufacturing market, contacted me and asked if I would test their products.

It was after this heated debate in the fitting section (yes, I know how funny this sounds) where I disagreed with some points they were making and they were determined to prove me wrong.

I didn't agree with their claim that breasts should be pushed as high up and together as possible and remain concentrated on chest.

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I'm very excited to share that this week we surpassed the 10,000 bras on the site!!

This does not mean 10K measured bras, but we got a pretty high measurements ratio

You can see on this graph how the site has been growing lately, we reached 1000 bras added on the last 30 days!

Not only that, but the number of pictures added has also increased like crazy! We're topping 1400 pictures added on the last 30 days!

This is crazy! Thanks SOOO much to everybody that's collaborated with your information!

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