Kirkdale Costcutters

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Wells Park News
Posts: 27
Joined: 21 Apr 2013 13:56

Kirkdale Costcutters

Post by Wells Park News »

I just went passed the old CostCutters shop in Kirkdale and its a Bra fitting shop- massive (the shop I mean).
I have been wondering what it was going to be...
Rachael
Posts: 2455
Joined: 23 Jan 2010 13:42
Location: Sydenham / Forest Hill Intersection

Re: Kirkdale Costcutters

Post by Rachael »

Relocated from Forest Hill.
JMLF
Posts: 629
Joined: 12 Dec 2013 19:41
Location: United Kingdom

Re: Kirkdale Costcutters

Post by JMLF »

It’s the place in FH that has moved (presumably to expand and/or take advantage of cheaper rent per square foot)
El Cid
Posts: 128
Joined: 19 Feb 2015 18:49
Location: Sydenham

Re: Kirkdale Costcutters

Post by El Cid »

I have to be honest and say I've been past the bra fitters in Forest Hill and always wondered how this could be a business. Presumably, you can't measure breasts online.

My wife has never been to this kind of shop. Surely when a woman goes to M&S or wherever, the bras say what size they are.

I've also never seen a shop devoted exclusively to shoe fitting. True, some shops measure your feet, but selling shoes is the main point. - and most of us simply try on a pair.
JMLF
Posts: 629
Joined: 12 Dec 2013 19:41
Location: United Kingdom

Re: Kirkdale Costcutters

Post by JMLF »

I was under the impression it was a mix of not knowing how a bra is meant to fit/sit/support the body in the best way as well as different makes have different sizes even for the same fit - something which does happen across male and female clothes but to a far far larger extent for women from what I’ve seen - eg: a 12 in h and m vs a 12 in top shop vs a 12 in m and s are the equivalent of three completely different sizes. 3 medium t-shirts or trousers won’t have quite the difference. Additionally, having an incorrect sized top or bottoms might cause you a little discomfort but having an incorrect bra size (like shoes in a way I imagine) can really do your posture done damage/be extremely uncomfortable from what I know.

Therefore think the shop seems to be a mix between education (as it says on the shopfront), fitting to the specific items/brands they sell and I also know they cater for a much greater range of sizes (specifically bigger sizes) than are available in the vast majority of shops.

I’ve just copied and pasted an excerpt from an article to do with this to I guess give a bit of back - up to my points above:

Jenny Burbage, a sports biomechanist at the University of Portsmouth in Hampshire, England, has made studying breasts (and how to support them) her life’s work... In one of her studies Ms. Burbage noted that “it has been suggested that 70 to 100 percent of women are wearing the wrong bra size. There aren’t many scientific papers available which have effectively looked at issues of bra fit and the number of women who may be wearing the wrong size bra” Ms Burbage said in an interview. Anecdotally she sees “hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of women” who come through her lab struggling with fit issues.

Dr. Burbage said the issue was not that people were simply wearing an incorrect size but that they often didn’t know how to check for the best fit. “Women are going to be different sizes in different bras,” she said. “I might have three or four different bra sizes based on what bra I’m wearing and what manufacturer that comes from.”

The lack of standardization can be frustrating, but it also gives women more opportunity to find styles and shapes that work for them.
El Cid
Posts: 128
Joined: 19 Feb 2015 18:49
Location: Sydenham

Re: Kirkdale Costcutters

Post by El Cid »

JMLF wrote: 21 Dec 2019 09:27 Jenny Burbage, a sports biomechanist at the University of Portsmouth in Hampshire, England, has made studying breasts (and how to support them) her life’s work...
The mind boggles!
RJM
Posts: 152
Joined: 2 Jan 2016 15:30
Location: Sydenham

Re: Kirkdale Costcutters

Post by RJM »

El Cid wrote: 20 Dec 2019 22:25 I have to be honest and say I've been past the bra fitters in Forest Hill and always wondered how this could be a business. Presumably, you can't measure breasts online.

My wife has never been to this kind of shop. Surely when a woman goes to M&S or wherever, the bras say what size they are.

I've also never seen a shop devoted exclusively to shoe fitting. True, some shops measure your feet, but selling shoes is the main point. - and most of us simply try on a pair.
No idea how online works for that really, but M&S are notoriously poor at fitting bras properly (They told me my back size was three sizes up from what it actually was at the time, which sort of fits, but isn't as good for you). Bravissimo make a pretty good business out of properly fitting and selling bras for larger sizes, so presumably this shop does much the same! And the FH shop apparently was a drop off point for recycling old ones, which is a good thing.
alywin
Posts: 919
Joined: 27 Aug 2009 12:33
Location: No longer in Sydenham

Re: Kirkdale Costcutters

Post by alywin »

RJM wrote: 23 Dec 2019 09:33
El Cid wrote: 20 Dec 2019 22:25 Surely when a woman goes to M&S or wherever, the bras say what size they are.
No idea how online works for that really, but M&S are notoriously poor at fitting bras properly (They told me my back size was three sizes up from what it actually was at the time, which sort of fits, but isn't as good for you).
And I have bras from M&S which are allegedly the same size but actually differ by a couple of inches along the under-bust part.
hotchocolatejunkie
Posts: 1
Joined: 9 Jan 2020 23:43

Re: Kirkdale Costcutters

Post by hotchocolatejunkie »

I'm so disappointed another 24hr shop didn't replace it. As a pure nightowl I was at the costutters at 3/4am most nights lol and the one near wear the bra place used to be is just too far for me to walk to with my health the way it is.

Also the bra place seems pretty pointless to me... They don't measure you... They just give you a load of different bras to try on to see the best fit and charge you a tenner for the privilege. I can do that for free myself at m+s!
Parkrunner
Posts: 27
Joined: 27 Jun 2014 21:56
Location: Sydenham

Re: Kirkdale Costcutters

Post by Parkrunner »

I'm assuming that the posters saying they don't see the point of a bra fitting service are men :lol: (or should that be :roll: ?)

Bravissimo, who have a nation-wide business doing this, don't measure you either - they look at the size of the bra you come in wearing and its fit on you, to determine whether you need to stay with that size, or go up/down in the back and or cup size to get the right fit and therefore support. Boob and back size both change over a lifetime (hormone changes as well as weight gain/loss) and in a way that doesn't simply mean the next size up or down will be right.

M&S fit bras by tape measure and they are appalling at getting you in the right size. They also don't do bras in larger sizes (very few high street shops do). Great to have a business doing this locally - far easier than getting up to Covent Garden or Oxford Circus to Bravissimo.
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