I guess, K8 and dolfette, we 3 in this thread really know what we are talking about because we will have stood in an M&S store and looked at their range of bras. What a lot of men won't realise too is that, in certain bra styles, the sizes are so similar you can't tell an E cup from a C cup. "What??", think many of the men, "that's ridiculous, the E cup will surely be HUGE in comparison!" Well, no - it won't - when I bought my last 3 t-shirt bras (see link in a post above) I knew the size I wanted, because I had bought one from that store a few months earlier, and knew I wanted 1 white, 1 pink and 1 black - so I just picked them of the shelf, went and paid and went home. When I got home I discovered that someone had put a 36E on a 36C hanger - the three bras looked, for all intents and purposes, exactly the same - bar the label. I tried the 36E on and of course my tits looked like a single-scoop floating in a double scoop waffle bowl! I had to bring it back.
That is the kind of bra we are talking about - there are no extra panels, no extra fastening and often perceptibly fuck all difference between the sizes they are charging extra for.
ScorpioSlut - We're not saying a US perspective is completely irrelevant. You, however, pretty much said that dolfette was wrong about different size clothes costing the same. But she's not wrong, she's correct about the market she is discussing - and you are correct about the market you are discussing.
dolfette makes another good point about this clearly not being OK for UK consumers as M&S have, in fact, backed down. I would add that it isn't simply a question of UK consumers but of M&S customers. M&S are not the kind of store that attracts the typical young, skinny late teen / 20-something market - It has an older, more professional client base. They are slightly more expensive than other highstreet stores but are also known for quality. One might argue that larger-breasted women would go in there expecting to get a better quality bra - they will be paying more for it than at Asda, Tesco, Primark or wherever but it will do a better job. So to charge them extra again for what is, to their eye, a product no different to what the smaller breasted woman is getting, is going to be very off-putting. It will encourage them to look elsewhere and take more than just their bra business away from M&S. I do believe that M&S have made the right descision to keep a flat pricing system.
Is it fair on flat chested girls? Yes, because, as pointed out above, the smaller sizes can also be more expensive to produce - so no surcharges for them either.
Is it unfair on 'average' women. Well, I am one such average woman. I have always worn between 34B and 36C - that's about as average as it gets. I can ALWAYS find good quality, good value for money bras. I am spoiled for choice. Every store always has my size in every style I could possibly want and in all the colours that style comes in. Do I mind if my common bra costs a wee bit more so that my bigger and smaller friends can pay the same for the same style bra? No - not one little bit. The bra world is my oyster - I'm happy to subsidise a few euros, (or pounds or dollars) per bra to make that the case for more women.
