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Wacoal's AI-powered myBraFit app scans your body to give you sizing advice
The company promises the app will deliver the perfect fit.
Finding a bra that fits perfectly is a complicated task. Sizing varies wildly by brand and measurement systems aren’t the same in every country. Even if you do know your band and cup size (both of which requires you to take several different measurements and do a bit of math), breasts come in all sorts of shapes and sizes that aren’t easily worked out by those measurements alone. The easiest way around this is to get a professional fitting in a physical store, but that’s not always feasible for a lot of people. Wacoal, one of the country’s largest intimate apparel brands, has come up with another solution: an AI-powered app that scans your body and then recommends, hopefully, a perfect bra.
AI-powered bra-sizing apps aren’t new. Perhaps the most well-known is one developed by ThirdLove a few years ago. The app asked you to take photos of your front and side while wearing a tight-fitting top; it was supposedly able to figure out the appropriate bra size based on those images. But the company eventually scrapped the app after customers found it a little too finicky to use. Instead, ThirdLove pivoted to using a Fit Finder Quiz that it still uses today.
Wacoal’s myBraFit app operates on a similar principle, but instead of a couple of photos, it needs a 360-degree twirl of your whole body. I tried out a quick demo of the app, and the first instructions were to wear a bra (preferably with an underwire) as well as a pair of leggings. Then I had to prop up my phone on a table at 90 degrees with the front-facing camera aimed towards me. From there, the app said it needed the camera to see my entire body from head to toe. Then I was to stand with my feet apart, then my feet together, and then to hold my arms up. Finally, it asked me to rotate my body 360 degrees. This whole process took a long time (I had to keep adjusting my phone so the camera would frame me correctly) but I finally got it done.
The app then asked me a series of questions such as the slope of my shoulders (“average” or “extreme”), how firm my breasts were, and their shape and size (options included “round” and “pendulous”). Last but not least, it asked me what sort of bra coverage that best suited my lifestyle. The app then calculated my bra size to be 38DD and sent me to the Wacoal website, where it had selected a few bras that it deemed were the most suitable for me. My usual size is around a 38C, but I haven’t really had bra-sizing in several years, so it’s quite possible that a 38DD is more accurate, at least when it comes to the Wacoal brand. I can’t say for sure if it worked, however, as I’ve yet to try one on.
As far as privacy is concerned, the company says it never stores any image scans; they’re used purely for measurements. Yet, I still found it disconcerting that the app insisted on capturing my whole body instead of just my torso. Wacoal says the app “needs to capture the entire body in order to calibrate its measurements,” but it never offered any additional reasons why. On top of that, the app can only do the measurements if you can rotate your body, so if you’re wheelchair bound or can’t turn around on your own, then it won’t work.
Obviously, the only bras that the mybraFit app will recommend are those from Wacoal. It’s worth knowing that the company sells bras in band sizes from 30 to 46 and cup sizes from AA to I, but not all bras are available in all sizes. Plus, if your breast size falls outside of those ranges, you could be out of luck. It’s unclear whether the mybraFit app will give any recommendations if it can’t find a bra in your size.
If you’re not particularly keen on trusting Wacoal’s bra-fitting app, I highly recommend taking your own measurements and using this online calculator from the ABraThatFits subreddit and then looking through the forum for additional tips on specific brands. You might also find luck with ThirdLove’s aforementioned Fit Finder Quiz (the company offers half-cup sizes, which Wacoal does not) or True&Co’s Fit Quiz. Regardless of which you choose however, be warned that there might very well be some trial and error involved, so be sure to save your receipt.
If you do want to try the myBraFit app, you’ll be able to do so starting today. It’ll be available for both Android and iOS.
