7 Reasons This Tank Fit Women Over 70 After Every Bra Size Failed
The band climbs, the straps slide, the drawer fills up. A home care nurse on why, and the one tank that fit.
Two of the bras that didn’t fit, and a good laugh about them.
One of my ladies showed me her dresser drawer last month. It was packed with bras. Different band sizes, different cup letters, a couple with the tags still on.
“I’ve tried every size,” she said. “I must be built wrong.”
She’s 81. I’m a home care nurse, and I see that drawer in a lot of homes. So let me ask you what I asked her.
- Does the band climb up your back by lunch?
- Does a strap slide off your shoulder when you reach?
- Does the cup gape in one spot and dig in another?
- Does your drawer keep filling up with bras you don’t wear?
If you said yes to even one, you aren’t built wrong. The size is wrong for the body you have now.
Here’s what I see. After 70, a body changes in ways a bra size can’t follow. One lady told me she went two sizes bigger around her ribs and three sizes smaller in the cup. Another went from a 34B to a 38DD. One lost a lot of weight, and nothing fit right after. Another had her husband measure her twice, and she bought both sizes, and neither one fit.
Nothing is wrong with any of them. Their bodies changed, and the band size and cup letter didn’t. When Susie asked her buyers what made shopping hard, about 4 in 10 named the same thing: the right size was hard to find.
1 One Size Instead of a Band Size and a Cup Letter
A pile of wrong sizes on one side. One tank on the other.
A bra asks you to get two things right at once. If the band is a little loose, it climbs your back. If the cup is a little big, it stands away from you. Go tighter or smaller, and it digs in. So you try the next size, and the next.
Susie got tired of that too. She’s 67, and every bra she owned hurt her in the same spots. So she built Susie’s Comfort Shaper Tank. It has no band size and no cup letter. The cups are molded and built into the front of a long, soft tank. There’s no wire, no band and no hooks. It pulls on over your head.
No bra math. You go by your weight on Susie’s chart, and you get one size.
“My old bra was halfway up my back by the time I got to the grocery store. This one stays put if I tuck it in my slacks.”
Barbara · Verified buyer2 Nothing Climbs Up Your Back, Because There’s No Band
Up on her toes for the top shelf. Nothing rides up.
Some of my ladies have a rounder upper back now. They tell me their bra band ends up near their shoulder blades before lunch, and they pull it down all day.
The tank has no band to climb. The long body tucks into your slacks, so when you reach for the top shelf, it stays where you put it.
FIND MY SIZE →The One Thing to Know
Tuck it in. Left untucked, it can creep up when you bend over. Carol, 71, says the same: “Tucked in it stays down all day. Untucked it creeps up when I bend over, so I tuck it.”
3 You Already Know Your Size. It’s Your Weight.
Just out of the mailer, in the size her weight picked.
One tank can fit when a drawer of bras couldn’t, and here’s why. The body of the tank is soft nylon with spandex, so it stretches around the shape you have now. The molded cups up front keep their shape. And each size covers a range of weights, from S all the way up to 265 pounds in a 6XL. So you only need to land in the range, not on an exact number.
So go by your weight on Susie’s chart. One warning: the letter will probably be bigger than you’re used to, because it goes by weight, not by your dress size. Susie is 5’6” and 137 pounds. On her chart, 121 to 143 pounds is a 3XL, and that’s what she wears. A bigger letter says nothing about you.
If your bust is fuller than your weight suggests, or you land between two sizes, take the larger one. Susie’s size box will ask for your bust over your bra, so keep a soft tape handy. It should feel snug, never tight. And if it isn’t right, you have the 90-Day Guarantee.
When Susie asked women over 80 why they ordered, one put it plainly: “I just want them to fit.” Another wrote: “Looking for comfort and this is guaranteed to fit.”
Picture tomorrow morning. You open one package. No band to fasten, no letter to second-guess. You pull the tank on over your head and button a blouse over it, and it lies smooth across your back. You reach for the coffee cups on the top shelf, and nothing climbs. The wide straps lie flat on your shoulders. And that drawer of bras in the wrong sizes? You can leave it shut.
4 Cups That Keep Their Shape, Wash After Wash
A pie on the table, and cups that haven’t moved.
If you’ve tried a shelf cami, you know the loose pads. After a wash or two they fold over and bunch up. Susie’s cups are molded and sewn into the front of the tank, so they keep their shape and stay put through the wash. It holds a full D and up with no wire.
FIND MY SIZE →5 Held From the Front, With Wide Straps That Rest on Your Shoulders
A full watering can in both hands, and wide straps flat on her shoulders.
A bra hangs you from two thin straps and a tight band. Thin straps slide. One woman over 80 told Susie what her old bra did: “Left strap sometimes falls from shoulder.”
Susie spread the work out. The molded cups hold you from the front. The straps are wide and flat, so they sit across more of your shoulder. And the long, snug body takes its share of the weight, with no band squeezing your ribs.
FIND MY SIZE →6 A Smooth Back Under Your Favorite Knit
Thin cream knit. No line across the back.
A tight band leaves a line across your back that shows through a thin knit. The tank has no band, so the long body lies flat from your shoulders to your waist.
“The back bulge my old bra dug in for years? Gone. Smooth across, and I feel good from behind again.”
Linda M. · Verified buyer7 You’re in Good Company: 9 in 10 Women Susie Asked Are Over 70
The old bras go in a bag by the door.
More than 50,000 women have bought it. Susie asked 129 of her buyers about themselves, and 9 in 10 of them were over 70.
Give it a day or two. After years of bras, you’ll still reach back for the hooks at first.
“Took me a couple days to stop reaching back for a band that isn’t there.”
Carol, 71 · Verified buyerMy lady with the drawer went by her weight and ordered one in Burgundy. It fit the first time. The next time I came by, the old bras were in a bag by the door. “So I wasn’t built wrong,” she said. “I was buying the wrong size for the body I’ve got now.”
Right now Susie has her Early Black Friday Sale on, with Buy 2, Get 1 Free. A lot of women use it to get one to wear and one in the wash.
Your Day in a Bra, and Your Day in the Tank
| In a bra | In the tank | |
|---|---|---|
| Picking your size | A band size and a cup letter | One size, by your weight |
| Getting dressed | Hooks behind your back | Pulls on over your head |
| On your shoulders | Thin straps that can slide off | Wide, flat straps |
| Holding you up | Two thin straps and a tight band | Molded cups, wide straps and a long, snug body share the weight |
| When you reach up | The band can climb | No band to climb |
| In the wash | Pads can slide out of place | Molded cups keep their shape |
Questions Women Ask First
How do I pick my size?
Will it hold me without a wire?
What if it isn’t right for me?
One tank in one size, instead of a drawer full of wrong ones.
Eight colors. Pick yours after you pick your size.
Look up your weight on Susie’s chart and pick your color from eight. Her Early Black Friday Sale is on right now: Buy 2, Get 1 Free, with free US shipping. When the sale ends, so does the deal. Every tank comes with a 90-Day Guarantee, and that’s a big part of why I send my ladies to Susie.
FIND MY SIZE →Early Black Friday Sale · Buy 2, Get 1 Free · Free US Shipping · 90-Day Guarantee · Sizes S to 6XL
Nine bras in my drawer. And I wear the same one every day because it’s the least bad.
Joan, every lady I visit has a “least bad” one.
The band riding up is my problem. I’ve got a bit of a curve in my upper back now.
Marlene, there’s no band on it, so there’s nothing to ride up.
My weight put me in a 4XL. I almost ordered smaller out of pride. I went with the chart.
Ordered two in Coffee for the sale. Will see how they do.
My straps are always sliding off. I spend the whole day pushing them back up.
Same. I thought it was just my shoulders.
How does it hold if there’s no wire? I’m a 40DD.
Shirley, it holds a full D and up with no wire. The cups, the wide straps and the long body share the weight.
Ordered one. Will report back.
Took me a couple of days to stop reaching back for the hooks. Now I don’t think about it.
I’m 84 and I get dressed sitting on the bed now. Pulling it over my head is easier than hooks I can’t reach.
My granddaughter asked why I was bagging up bras. I told her I’m done buying them in five sizes.
Do they come in black? I wear a lot of dark tops.
Margaret, yes. Black is one of 8 colors.