Meet the two women on a mission to transform post-mastectomy bra fitting

---

We’re Kate and Sarah, aka The Bra Sisters. We’re both in our 30s, have two young boys and live five minutes apart but up until 2 years ago, we’d never met each other and probably never would have done – until we were both diagnosed with breast cancer.

We were introduced through a mutual friend and hit it off straightaway. We began to meet up regularly, sharing our experiences and supporting each other through our treatment. Our journeys were different. Sarah had a single mastectomy without reconstruction surgery and Kate had a double mastectomy, and later a hysterectomy, as she carries the BRCA gene. But when it came to post-surgery bra fitting our experience was the same – terrible!

Bras have always been important to us, be it squeezing our boobs into a push up for a night out with the girls (back in the day) or breastfeeding our children, but they became even more important after surgery. All women need support with finding the right bra but breast cancer survivors need even more, yet at our most crucial and vulnerable time we had never felt more alone.

Sarah was initially ‘fitted’ in her hospital bed by the breast care nurse shortly after surgery, given a couple of bras which were too big for her and was left feeling as though she’d never wear a decent bra again. She didn’t venture to a bra fitting for another year, where she met with a specialist fitter in a medical consulting room who had a suitcase full of bras and prosthetics. It was an improvement, but it was far from an empowering experience.  

Kate braved a traditional department store service, but the fitters appeared utterly petrified by the prospect of a post-treatment breast cancer patient. She left with one bra that even her grandmother would have been embarrassed to wear.

No one could refer us to a specialist service that could fit us in a knowledgeable and positive environment and offer us a range of bras that we might actually want to wear. It became a common talking point when we met up over the months that followed our treatment and, meeting other post-mastectomy women, we realised we weren’t alone. 

Together, we decided that we could do better. We both became qualified bra fitters in standard and post-surgery fitting and The Bra Sisters was born. Our mission is to provide a positive bra fitting experience in a safe, comfortable environment with a fashion forward and contemporary selection of underwear. Whatever your age, style, taste and needs, we want to help you find the bras that make you feel confident and beautiful.

We’re really excited to be working with clinics, charities and suppliers to make sure that we can be there in the right place, at the right time, for women going through breast cancer treatment. By offering a professional yet personal service and wide range of bras, we hope to make you feel good about yourself and as positive about your future as we now feel.

The Bra Sisters is about support. The support you need as you move on from your treatment, the support to feel confident and positive about your body and, most importantly, the support that your breasts need.