Lace and Haze

Katherine Hamilton Intimates – Sophia set

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September last year, I was looking at trying a different fuller bust brand. Just as I had made up my mind, a post from dontlook_lingerie appeared in my feed. I read her review on the Sophia set in white and it had me sold, KH intimates was the new fuller bust brand I needed to try! So it’s been well over 6 months since I made my initial purchase and you might be wondering why it’s taken so long to review. I have a lot of thoughts on this set and some issues…

 

After thoroughly consulting the size chart I ordered the bra in a 28F and the suspender in a Small and brief in size 10. The set arrived wrapped in tissue and in a beautiful box that’s perfect for storing your lingerie in. It’s these little details that set brands apart especially in the luxury market.

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Its all in the details.

When it arrived I was impressed with the quality and presentation. When I tried on the bra I’d realised I’d ordered a size too small. I’m always in-between sizes so buying from a new brand can be risky.  I decided to wear it a few times to see if it would give a little in the cups. Unfortunately it did not, so I put the set back in the box until I could save up the money to buy the bra in the 28FF.  Finally that day came in January when there was a promotion, so I jumped at the chance. I ordered the 28FF and I was excited for it to arrive so I could finally get some wear out of the full set. A few days after I got the email saying it was shipped out, I received another email. This time it was a personal one from Katy saying that since my last order they had relabelled the sizing as they had feedback from customers saying that the bras were coming up small in the band and cup.  So instead of the size range starting at a 26 band it now started from a 24. My original bra was now considered to be a 26F and the one I would be receiving would be the old size 30FF now labelled as a 28FF.  If you are confused, don’t worry so was I. After I received my second bra, it fit quite well in the cups but was slightly too big in the band, but only by a bit.  I sent that back in exchange for the newly sized 26FF or the old 28FF! I do agree that the sizing came up a smidge on the small side in cup and band, but I think changing sizes has added more confusion to buying bras online. A note in the size guide on the specific product would have helped as the fitting guide on the website gives a very broad option of sizes you could possibly be.

So after all that I’m still not sure if it fits perfectly. I think it’s down to how different it feels on compared to other bras I own in both a good and bad way. The upside of having tried 3 sizes in the same bra is that I can compare the difference of the sizes and how the style varies when you get above an F cup. Both the bras I have from KH intimates are considered to be a 26 band. My new bra at most would be a non-existent 27 band. It is too small to be labelled as a 28 but not small enough to be a 26. If it was a 26 it would not fit around me. My first bra feels like a true 28.

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Top 26F, Bottom 26FF

The reason the bands feel so different even if they are technically the same band size, is because between the F and FF cups, the bra changes slightly to hold the extra weight. The hook and eye closures go from 2 to 3 and the band height increases to accommodate this.  The elastics increase from 1.3cm to 1.5cm, bra straps from 1.3cm to 1.6cm. The gore is also almost a centimetre higher as well and this is the part that has given me a slight issue. Because the new bra is more ridged, it has taken a few wears to break in to be truly comfortable to wear all day.

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My 2 year old niece approves of the ‘pretty flower’ lace used in this design.

I’m not going to go say much about the construction as it is very good and high quality as you would expect from this price bracket. The one thing that is important to mention is the cups have little to no stretch. So if you are used to buying bras that do, it might be hard finding your true size. For most of the month I can wear the 26FF happily. When it gets to that time right before my period and my boobs swell up like the rest of me it’s not happening. I need a 26G for those days! The only reason is flesh has nowhere to go but up and this causes a bulge over the top of the cup which is hard to do in a full cup bra!

The suspender and brief are comfortable and fit true to size. I was tempted to order the size 8 brief but I’m glad it didn’t as it uses the same lace as the bra and has little to no stretch. The back of the brief is made of beautiful soft mesh, so perfect if you are blessed in the booty department as the only stretch that is in the knickers is in the back.

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So would I buy from this brand again? To be honest I’m not sure at this stage. The issue with sizing has put me off slightly as there is no way I could wear a 26 band and to have mine labeled as that irrates me. I know it’s unimportant but I feel like it’s vanity sizing. Apart from that KH intimates provides good luxury lingerie basics for petites and the smaller fuller bust customer. I like that they offer multiple choice of bottoms and a suspender which is surprisingly hard to find with bras that offer more support. The customer service was fantastic and they made the process for return very easy. I do think this brand is still finding their feet in the market and I’ll be watching closely to see what they bring out next.  If I did purchase anything again soon it would defiantly be the high waist brief. Or maybe the full set in red? If I do purchase from them again I will be emailing customer service to triple check the sizing first!

Have you tried KH intimates? If so let me know your thoughts!

 

E. x

Comments

6 responses to “Katherine Hamilton Intimates – Sophia set”

  1. Katy Avatar
    Katy

    Thank you for writing such a thorough and balanced review of our Sophia and for modelling the set so beautifully. Reviews provide such incredibly valuable information for those considering a new brand or product.

    The size change certainly became confusing for those who purchased from us beforehand. It was a very difficult decision to make. As a new fuller bust brand our sizing is greatly affected by the brands currently leading in the market. In an effort to assist customers finding their size with us first time we faced the challenge of aligning our sizing with those of leading brands that have set the benchmark. Unfortunately, many leading brands offering smaller bands tend to vanity size, however, many of the larger band brands don’t, and so as a brand that offers 49 bra sizes we span both types of sizing. So where do we position ourselves? Our conclusion was to place ourselves in the middle, making it easier for customers across our size range to find their size.

    We had made our sizing decision prior to our launch, however, as is often the case in manufacture, garments produced in large numbers tend to fit a little differently to the individual samples made for fit tests due to different make-up processes. How they will fit differently can only be discovered after the first production run. Following our first production run last year our garments fitted a little more snug in both the band and cup compared to our samples and so we made the decision to amend the sizes attributed to each garment to ensure that our sizing continues to align with leading brands. The sizing change was a difficult decision to make having already launched but was better done sooner rather than later to minimise the number of customers affected.

    Interestingly, by trying on a few sizes you stumbled across an element of our underwires of which many may not be aware. Due to how breast shape and weight changes from smaller to larger sizes, our bras change. In a sense, we offer two bras; one for smaller sizes and one for larger sizes. This largely goes unnoticed as we have tried to ensure that all of the bras look the same aesthetically. When we expand to even larger sizes the design will again be a bit different to offer sufficient support and contouring. In addition to the deeper band and wider straps that you have detailed, the underwires change from more shallow, wider wires to our bespoke, more narrow and deeper wires. At a certain point in growth breasts tend to grow deeper rather than wider. To ensure underarm comfort and forward projection, our bespoke underwires reflect this change and so rather than getting wider, our wires become deeper with very little increase in width. It just so happens that by trying a variety of sizes you stumbled across the point at which our bra design changes from more standard wires with a narrow band and straps to our bespoke wires with deeper band and straps. The difference in wire height that you have noticed only exists between the smaller bra design and larger bra design and not between all sizes.

    I do hope our description isn’t too confusing and that it highlights the complexities of developing bras for a very wide size range.

    Having now completed our first production run and resolved the minor sizing dilemmas our sizing should be smooth sailing 😊 For those seeking a little more flexibility in the bra cup materials our Louise tends to be a little more flexible and our upcoming SS18 collection utilises lace with greater mechanical stretch offering a little more give for breast shape fluctuations.

    For any of your readers who would like to try our brand, and as a thank you for your detailed review, we would like to offer the following 15% discount code (expires on June 11th 2017):

    laceandhaze2017

    Best wishes
    Katy

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    1. laceandhaze Avatar
      laceandhaze

      Thank you so much for the response! I love hearing from brands about the behind the scenes challenges that you can face while manufacturing lingerie. I was lucky to be able to try multiple sizes but I guess thats why it is noticeable for me the difference between the F and FF cups. I believe it states that on your website that at those sizes the changes occur. Thanks again for your detailed response and explanation of these issues.

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  2. Busty Diaries Avatar
    Busty Diaries

    This was so interesting to read! I’ve been stalking them for ages too, but again, hesitated because trying new brands can be a bit hit & miss. The sizing issue has confused me too. Does the current range now run big?

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    1. Katy Avatar
      Katy

      Hi Busty Diaries. The Sophia was originally coming up a bit small, according to customer feedback, and so we relabeled the sizes shortly after our launch to align with leading smaller band and fuller cupped brands.The best size to choose will be influenced by the brands and styles people usually wear and so we recommend contacting us for guidance and/or ordering a few sizes to try on and compare.

      We are currently testing a ‘try before you buy’ option which we hope to launch in a couple of weeks, enabling people to order up to 4 sizes and only pay for the size they want to keep 🙂

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      1. Busty Diaries Avatar
        Busty Diaries

        Great idea!

        Liked by 1 person

  3. Katy Avatar
    Katy

    Thank you 🙂 Whilst free returns can help a lot, it can be quite a lengthy process to exchange one bra at a time until you find the right fit, and when factoring in import duties as well it can be even more time consuming and costly if exchanging internationally. So this new option will hopefully make it much quicker and easier to find the perfect bra 🙂

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