30 years ago an F-cup was the largest available bra size, now there is also J-cup and is working on a K-cup. How is that possible? I suppose that women do not #borstvergroting to get impossible unmanageable breasts?


Every two minutes, a PrimaDonna Deauville bra is sold somewhere in the world. The model designed two decades ago is the bestseller of the Belgian brand, part of lingerie company Van de Velde (annual turnover 205 million euros). PrimaDonna specialises in large cup sizes. This is literally a growth market: thirty years ago an F-cup was the largest size available, now the Deauville is also available as a J-cup and is working on a K-cup. Each season PrimaDonna brings the Deauville to the market in new fashion colours and designs.

These are chosen by the fifty employee design department in Schellebelle, Flemish. The bra in the picture, color Heather blue, has 54 parts, from six European countries. These parts may have been stitched together in their own workshop in Tunisia, or at a subcontractor in China. Making a bra, says head of design Liesbeth van de Velde, is a laborious and accurate process that involves about thirty pairs of hands. The seam values, the margins when the parts are stitched together, may vary no more than one millimetre.

In terms of price, the Deauville (102 euros) is at the top of the market. According to Van de Velde, the colourless pieces of textiles, which are invisible in the ready-made product, you can see the difference with lower priced models. These parts, which are lacking in cheaper bras, form what in technical terms is called the bodywork: the construction that offers the desired support.

In addition, Van de Velde points to embroidery and patterned parts.After all, the eye also wants something.
Source: NRC.nl

Globalisation has brought about thirty pairs of hands to this bra