In the 1970’s we banned our bras or we burned our bras in an effort to exert our rights as women. I was a little too young and under- developed to fully appreciate this movement at the time, but the slogans and the whole politicalness of it remains a strong sentiment of the 70’s to me. At the time, I would never admit it, but I coveted those bras that came packaged as L’Eggs. Does anyone remember them? First, there were the pantyhose in the cute plastic eggs, and then there were the bras. The bras were comfy triangles of some stretchy material, with an elastic back band and shoulder straps and they came packaged in the break apart plastic egg. What a great marketing idea, what bad timing!  And when I finally grew breasts, these huge mountains burst out of nowhere and L’Eggs, banning bras, and burning them were left in the dust.  

It is different now. We proudly wear our bras, showing our shoulder straps to the world, complaining on national TV that we can’t find the right size – in fact 85% of us don’t wear the right size and wouldn’t even know our size. We suffer day in , day out with uncomfortable bras, yet none of us are banning or burning them.

 This is my opinion , and I am  speaking for myself only. I think we have let cheap prices and great marketing practices fool us into thinking we are getting a good deal. Global markets have opened up and we see brand new jeans range from $14.95 to $300.00 + ( I speak in Canadian dollars). At $14.95 I don’t need my jeans to last too long, if they shrink in 3 washes, I can use them to paint in, or do the laundry, no big deal. My bra has to look good every day. It has to support my girls, who not only are mountains, but are not young and self supporting any more. Failure in any way is just not acceptable. I don’t care if the bra was cheap, if it is broke, the girls are sagging. So what does politics have to do with this? Well , not long ago, Barak Obama spoke of protectionism.  Up front, I have to tell you , that I think Barak  Obama is just plain yummy, but I do also admire his vision of hope for the world. In other words, I really like the guy. But about this protectionism, as North Americans, I think we need to have a good hard look at what we have . We need jobs. We have the knowledge, technology, and the work ethic to make our economy healthy.

We can do this. How, you say? At Bra-Makers it has always been our policy to buy North American. Back in the day, our province of Quebec, was one of the highest producers of lingerie , and of bras specifically, in North America. Montreal had a huge garment district and around the province there were many factories producing fabrics , elastics and findings for bras that were made in Quebec. There were also many manufacturers in Ontario. It was our good fortune to be able to work with these companies and to acquire top of the line fabrics and findings for bras. Our philosophy has always been to provide you with the best possible products to work with. After all, if you are going to put your precious time into it, you want it to last. We maintain this philosophy, but it is harder and harder to find North American made products as the global market opens. With very few exceptions, all the products at Bra-Makers are North American made ( OK, so maybe the bows aren’t ) 

What does all this mean? What on earth am I going on about? Get to the point, Linda!

If you make your own bra, you can proudly say that you are supporting your country. This bra was : MADE IN CANADA! I know I have many friends and students in the US who are making bras- please send me your photo of a MADE IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA  bra. To qualify for the Made in the US, the bra must be made of North American fabric and findings, excluding the bow! 

Let us bring the bra back into the political news!