There is no good reason. The bad reason, which I am fairly sure is the actual reason, is that bra manufacturers don't like to admit that sizes other than A, B, C, and D exist (and they're kind of iffy about D). So back in the mists of time, some manufacturer who had only those four sizes thought "Hey! I can make bras for people with itty-bitty breasts and also great big ones! I will call my new sizes AA and DD, because they're off the ends of the scale!"
European manufacturers generally just use letters: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, but American ones do all kinds of bizarro wackiness, like A, B, C, D, DD, E, EE, G, or A, B, C, D, DD, E, EE, F, FF. Note the total inconsistency!
The system A, B, C, D, DD, DDD, G, H or A, B, C, D, DD, F, G, H does seem to be most common, I think because it gets the higher letters in the right place (DD = E, DDD = F) and means that women who've been getting bras from manufacturers who only go up to DD (most of them, expect for the ones that stop at C or D) can switch to the brand that goes higher without having to convert anything.
It's a mess. But it's better than women's pants or shirt sizing. Isn't that a depressing thought?
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Date: 2007-06-09 01:01 am (UTC)There is no good reason. The bad reason, which I am fairly sure is the actual reason, is that bra manufacturers don't like to admit that sizes other than A, B, C, and D exist (and they're kind of iffy about D). So back in the mists of time, some manufacturer who had only those four sizes thought "Hey! I can make bras for people with itty-bitty breasts and also great big ones! I will call my new sizes AA and DD, because they're off the ends of the scale!"
European manufacturers generally just use letters: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, but American ones do all kinds of bizarro wackiness, like A, B, C, D, DD, E, EE, G, or A, B, C, D, DD, E, EE, F, FF. Note the total inconsistency!
The system A, B, C, D, DD, DDD, G, H or A, B, C, D, DD, F, G, H does seem to be most common, I think because it gets the higher letters in the right place (DD = E, DDD = F) and means that women who've been getting bras from manufacturers who only go up to DD (most of them, expect for the ones that stop at C or D) can switch to the brand that goes higher without having to convert anything.
It's a mess. But it's better than women's pants or shirt sizing. Isn't that a depressing thought?