Zivame: A Fitting Lesson for Women

Zivame.com, a leading lingerie e-tailer, has kick-started an on-ground campaign titled 'Fit is my Right', through which it is helping women find their right bra sizes. The brand aims to help over five lakh women over the next 12 months.

Beginning in Mumbai, the brand, along with experts, is visiting colleges and undertaking educational workshops with free counselling and fitting sessions for students. The aim is to educate women about the importance of wearing the right bra, and the health and wellness implications involved.

Zivame has installed a mobile van called 'Mobile Fitting Lounge' that travels to colleges in the city. The all-woman, customised fitting van has three trial rooms and bras of all sizes required for the fitting exercise. The fitting lounge houses three fitting experts who will help women in identifying their right size.

The campaign comes in the wake of some alarming facts that were revealed in a recent Zivame survey, involving 1,400 people, on the usage of bras among Indian women. The survey showed that four out of five Indian women do not know their right size and have been wearing wrong-sized bras all their lives. Women are also not aware of the life of a bra and 53 per cent were still using bras that were 'too old'. 82 per cent of women in India have never received professional help in finding the right bra, though all of them buy lingerie at least once in six months. Most women end up wearing a larger band size than the actual.

"With this campaign, we aim to correct this by making young college going women aware about the importance of wearing the right bra. This will not only help them personally to adopt a healthy practice for the rest of their lives, it will also get passed on to others in their circle of influence - their mothers, friends & relatives and, most importantly, their daughters later," she adds.

Priyanka Wadhwani, senior physician, says, "The bra is a constant presence in the life of a woman, and it is critical to make sure that it is chosen and worn well. Women face a lot of physical discomfort and pains from wearing bras that are not right for them, and they do not even know that the bra is the culprit!"

Not wearing an appropriate bra has implications that go beyond mere physical appearance. There are a host of health and wellness concerns that arise out of wearing bras that are either too old or the wrong size or both. They include, scars, pain in the shoulder and chest area, poor body posture, among others. This is not counting general discomfort, sliding and poking bra straps, inadequate coverage and such problems.

Kar further says, "I launched Zivame because I saw a desperate need in the market. Lingerie is a shockingly underserved category, considering that it is such an essential part of everyday life for women. We want to make lingerie mainstream and acceptable. We want women to feel confident and lingerie plays an important in this. 'Fit is my Right' is a result of that thinking. As leaders in the category, we believe it is our duty to create awareness among all women - whether they are online or not - about something that isn't openly talked about."

The Zivame Fitting Lounge in Bengaluru is a first-of-its-kind in India and has already been used by hundreds of women to discover their correct size of bra.

Launched in August 2011, Zivame features over 5,000 lingerie styles, 50 brands and 100 sizes. It has offerings such as 'Try at Home', 'Fit Consultant', 'Discrete Packing' and others.