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Their cups runneth over
Wednesday 6th May 2009, 9:00AM BST.
So, M&S – the store where women normally flock to buy their underwear – is effectively taxing those who have bigger breasts, writes Rebecca Lawrence.
The High Street retailer is charging more – about £2 extra – for bras size DD or bigger because it claims it uses more material to “engineer” them with wider straps and greater support in the cup.
But their decision has caused outrage among women – and quite rightly so.
With today’s computer networking age, a Facebook group quickly sprang up with a campaign, ‘Busts 4 Justice’, gaining support from thousands of bigger-breasted women.
Now the feisty women have bought shares in M&S so they can get access to the annual general meeting and fight the issue.
Although sadly I’m not actually affected by the price hike on larger bras, it seems very unfair to punish women for the size of their breasts – just as long as they don’t put the price of smaller bras up to match the double Ds, that is.
And surely M&S’s logic would imply the company should charge more for a size 18 jumper than for a size 10.
Perhaps as a size eight, I should be feeling mightily hard done by that I have had to pay the same price for my clothes as a larger lady all these years.
Maybe I will start a campaign for size eight pants to be cheaper than larger sizes as they certainly use less material.
But this really does seem unfair – it’s punishing people for being bigger and that’s surely discrimination.
Big breasts, I imagine, can certainly at times be hard to deal with – trying to find the right tops to suit them and giving them enough support – so why create extra trauma by having to pay a ‘breast tax’?
Even though £2 is not a huge sum to pay, it’s still more – £1 more per cup – and other lingerie retailers don’t feel the need to charge extra.
It’s not as if most women have any control over the size of their breasts – unless, of course, surgery has lent a helping hand.
Perhaps if all the big-breasted women got together to boycott M&S until bosses change the pricing policy the company would sit up and take notice.
The company says its bras are some of the cheapest on the High Street, which may be true – but it doesn’t make it right to charge more for those lucky enough, or unlucky enough (depending on your point of view), to need a little bit more material.
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It is hardly punnishment, it is fact that a larger size requires more material. I don’t really see what people have to complain about here.
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I agree that larger sizes = more material. However, I find it hard to imagine that the extra material (and machining time) really amounts to £1 per cup!
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Being married to a lady with an ample bosom i sympathise. I would also be available to join a working party to discuss this matter further along with other gentlemen from Shropshire if it is needed!
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As always it’s the things we need that go up in price.
The fact is bigger breasted women need to wear bra’s, we can’t get away with not wearing one!
If the clothes / shoes retalers want to tread that line, then maybe all retailers should charge a little less / more for every single size.
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Larger size clothes always cost more – get over it.
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People do not object to paying more for a Jag than they do for a mini, so why moan about paying more for a big bra than a smaller one.
Sounds like a bit of a storm in an “F” cup to me!!!!!
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Rallyguy, The difference is that people choose between a jag and a mini. But Women can’t choose larger breasts unless they’ve had them done.
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Rallyguy I don’t mean to be funny, But People choose to have a jag or a mini. Most people don’t choose to have large breasts.
It would be different if this was the norm, but it’s not. People don’t pay more for larger sized jeans, jumpers or shoes, so why should they pay more for bras.
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i think that the people on here who agree with m&s charging extra the larger bra are a bit jealous of them, girls if your not busty,get over it and boys if your partners not busty pay for the op for them or get rid of them and get a proper woman, like i have…lucky me
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Excellent news! Now all they need to do is realise that bigger boobed ladies like pretty bras too and then to actually have more of the bigger sizes in the stores
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Larger clothese do NOT always cost more! When did you see an XL jumper costing more than a S jumper. Or when did you pay less for 32 short trousers rather than 40 extra long and there would be loads more material in them! It is the manufacturing that costs most of the price not the fabric!
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