Build a Bra Workshop (Pad-O-Matic)

In all honesty, I think I have had this idea floating around in my head for several months at this point, at least in some form or another. With a heavy nod to popular the Build-a-Bear stores, I loved the idea of a semi-customisable bra-building experience that was both quite a cool and clever idea, and yet also, like most retail ordeals, fairly mediocre.

Within the BrasByDesign Universe (you can read more about it here in BrasByDesign - Lore, The Universe and (Almost) Everything) it felt like the kind of place that a gimmicky, yet in some ways quite useful commercial operation such as Build-a-Bra might flourish. Whilst the store caters to busts of almost all sizes, large or small, the real draw is the ability to customise your lingerie and give it that personal touch.

Of course, one advantage Build-a-Bra also has, is its ability to cater to larger sizes than many of the regular high-street retailers are willing to stock - after all, they don't have to waste shelf space displaying more specialist sizes, they simply make them to order, as and when needed by a customer. Admitedly, as sizes increase, choices do become a little more limited, but Build-a-Bra has steadily become one of the few mainstream retail outlets where the reasonably over-endowed can at least get something that fits their bust well.

There is more than one catch, though. Firstly, as you can probably imagine, getting any custom bra made isn't cheap. That's fine for those with more modest bustlines that are looking for the occasional treat, but when you're shopping for a daily driver on a regular basis, it can get costly.

The second issue is that, let's be honest, it isn't the most sophisticated or sensual of lingerie stores. The process can be fun and engaging, if you're actually in the mood for it, but with every stage of your bras construction being interspersed with flashy contrivances, it can make regular, basic bra buying quite tiresome and long winded. Can you order online? You sure can - but only for off-the-shelf sizes, which Build-a-Bra considers to be an LL-cup or below. Made to measure lingerie needs to be, well, measured.

So just how large will Build-a-Bra build... well, a bra? Well, luckily for our huge-bosomed customer, she just about fits within their custom range, measuring in at a whopping 32W-cup. They will cater up to a triple-Z cup, but won't venture into the second alphabet (you can learn more about the extended bra sizing system in BrasByDesign - Lore, The Universe and (Almost) Everything). Even then, it is only the larger stores that tend to extend their sizing this far, mostly due to the need to carry stock of heavier duty components and much lower demand - it does however still let them boast about their compartively (at least for a high street store) wide range of sizes.

As for padding, that may sound like an obviously dumb question for Bobbi to ask someone as huge and over-developed as her client, but actually padding provides various roles in bras. In smaller sizes, it can be used to boost and enlarge the breasts, or likewise used to shape it, such as in push-up or plunge bras. However, it can also be an option to line bras, often refered to as lightly padded, and that has a number of benefits, such as smoothing and shaping, adding some thermal properties and also helping to reduce the appearance of the nipples. However, on almost all plus-cup bras, padding of any sort is rarely used, as most wearers prioritise reducing the size and appearance of their chests. Unfortunately, this does also highlight one of the other downsides of the Build-a-Bra shopping experience, and that is the quite often pushy upselling tactics used by the employees, who, don't forget, get a commission from every sale.

So, distopian commercial giant cashing-in, or handy, helpful high-street store? I'll let you decide...