Trending 23rd March 2018 by Cara Croke

One In Ten Women Keep Their Bras For More Than 11 Years

A new study has shown that Irish women have bad lingerie habits.

A new study by leading retailer Debenhams has shown that Irish women have pretty bad (and kind of disgusting) lingerie habits.

The survey of more than 1,500 women has revealed how long on average Irish gals keep their bras for, how often they get measured and how many days in a row they’ll wear a bra for.

The results are as follows, and they’re pretty worrying.

  • Women in Ireland keep their bras for an average of 5 years before throwing them away.
  • One in ten (6%) admitted that they had kept their bras for more than 11 years.
  • On average women wear the same bra for three days.
  • A fifth (18%) of those interviewed in the region admitted that they wear the same bra for more than 5 days.
  • Women in the North East wear their bras the longest – more than a week – along with those across the country aged between 35 and 44 years old (24% and 14% respectively).
  • Northern Irish women and those across the country aged 65 plus are most likely to change their undergarments every one to two days (24% and 54% respectively).
  • Nearly half (47%) of those questioned leave it more than 20 years before they are measured for a bra.
  • A further third (29%) admitted that they had never been measured.

So what are the complications with not wearing the correctly fitted bra? Debenhams designer Aliza Reger says that:

Women’s’ bodies change over time and when you couple that with the fact that when you wash a bra it loses its elasticity, a bra that was well fitted ten years ago could now be causing pain, effecting posture and in some cases generate scarring around the side of the breast where the straps have rubbed.
Lingerie is the foundation of how we dress to face the world so it is important that it fits properly and makes you feel confident and sexy. The right bra can transform the way you walk, talk and stand.
To combat these dodgy statistics, Debenhams is launching a bra‘mnesty which offers women across the country the chance to bring their old bras into store in exchange for a private bra fit appointment with the retailers newly trained bra fit experts. The collected bras will then be donated to charity. It’s a win win!
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