On a Sunday in September I emptied my bra drawer onto the bed. I had been collecting them for twenty-three years. I threw twenty-three of them in a bag before I made coffee. Here is the itemized list, with photos, prices, and the reason each one died.
26
Started with
23
Thrown out
3
Kept
Jen Mori, 48 · Chicago · marketing consultant · one bra-drawer, now empty
Flat-lay · Sunday 2:14 PM. Twenty-three bras. Approximately $1,680 of accumulated regret.
I did this because my cousin did it last March and because I had been waking up at 6:30 every morning for a year, opening the top drawer of my dresser, looking at the pile, and closing it. There were twenty-six bras in there. I was wearing two of them in rotation. The other twenty-four were a graveyard of hopeful Saturdays at the mall and midnight orders during a sale.
Here is the itemized tally, in the order I threw them in the bag.
01
The Thrown-Out · 23 items
01
Nordstrom fitting-room purchase, beige underwire
$68 · 4 wears · 2019
The fitter said it was the one. It was not the one.
02
TJ Maxx black lace, "sexy" category
$22 · 1 wear · 2021
The lace itched the moment it crossed the fitting-room door.
03
The "I'm going to work out" sports bra
$54 · 2 wears · 2020
I bought it on January 2nd. I think you can see where this is going.
04
Strapless convertible — wedding, 2017
$74 · 1 wear · 2017
Rotated off my body during the first dance. Has not been worn since.
05
The hopeful shelf-bra camisole
$38 · 6 wears · 2022
The foam pad folded in half on the second hot wash. Classic.
06
The "seamless" t-shirt bra, nude
$58 · 18 wears · 2019
The nude is three shades too pink. Also, it is not seamless.
07
Push-up with the plunge neckline
$89 · 3 wears · 2016
Reader, nothing was pushed up. Everything was pushed sideways.
08
The 70%-off impulse at the mall, patterned
$29 · 0 wears · 2023
The pattern was my first clue. I did not listen.
09
The one with the escaped underwire
$62 · 87 wears, probably · 2015
The wire has been coming out for four years. I have been in denial.
10
The "I will become a Parisian" balconette
$96 · 2 wears · 2022
I did not become a Parisian. I became a woman with a band mark.
The thing I noticed, pulling them all out: I had been buying the same bra over and over for 23 years — and it had been failing me in exactly the same way every time.
The pattern I didn't see until I made the pileEvery one of them had a band. Every one of them had straps that bore the entire weight. Every one of them had a wire or a foam pad in a pocket. No wonder they all failed. They were all the same engineering problem in slightly different wrapping. I had bought twenty-three variations of a thing that didn't work for me, in the hopes that one would start.
02
The Kept · 3 items
Here are the three I kept. They are the same tank in three colours. My cousin texted me the link in June and I ordered one. The one worked. I ordered the three-pack three weeks later. On the Sunday of the Great Bra Audit, these were the only three items I pulled out of the pile and put back in the drawer.
The tank, white · worn 46 times
under t-shirts, blazers, pretty much everything
The one I pull on at 6:45 AM every weekday.
The tank, sage · worn 31 times
it looks like a smart layering piece, not a bra
The one I wore to a dinner where I forgot I was wearing anything.
The tank, black · worn 28 times
bed, airport, the whole weekend of a bad flu
The one I slept in and did not want to take off.
Why I stopped
Twenty-three years of buying bras had convinced me that I was the problem. The sizes didn't fit, the straps dug, the band rode up, the pads folded. I would read the tag and think it was the tag's fault. I would stand in a fitting room and think it was my ribcage's fault. On the Sunday of the Audit I understood, finally, that it was none of our faults — it was the engineering.
I will not go back to the band. I will not go back to the clasp. If one of these three tanks dies I will order another one. If all three die I will order the three-pack again. I will not spend a Saturday at the mall rebuying the same failure.
I did not need twenty-six bras. I needed one piece of clothing that worked. Nobody told me the choice was that simple.
The three I kept — the Freeform Tank
★★★★★ 11,482 verified reviews
As low as £14.55 a tank with the three-pack
Shaped cups stitched into the lining — no foam pad to fold in the wash.
No band, no wire, no clasp — the three failure points, all removed.
Two-inch flat straps that anchor, not bear — no trenches on the trapezius.
Six colours, S through 3XL — I own white, sage, and black.
"I did my own audit after reading Jen's. 19 bras out, 3 of these in. Twenty-three years of mall receipts."
Audrey B., 52, Hartford★★★★★ · Verified
"The pattern she describes is my exact pattern. Nobody has written this piece before. I keep sending it to the group chat."
Val K., 58, Tucson★★★★★ · Verified
"I counted mine. 31 bras. I'm doing the audit this Saturday and I ordered the three-pack to replace them."
If your top drawer is heavier than it should be, do the Audit. Pull them all out. Count them. Count the wears. Count the money. Keep the ones that worked. Throw the rest in the bag.Jen Mori · Chicago, IL
This is an advertisement and not an independent article or medical review. Daily Health Insider may receive a commission on purchases made through links on this page. Jen Mori is a reader writing about her personal wardrobe audit; prices, counts, and verdicts reflect her own experience and are general information, not advice. Specific brands referenced in discarded items are not identified by brand name. For fit guidance, consult a certified fitter.
