Made in Preston are a new brand, the latest lingerie venture from bra entrepreneur Nikki Hesford, founder of 2wenty8 lingerie and The Big Bra Bar. The brand create both lingerie and clothing for fuller busted girls, and have followed in the footsteps of the likes of Pepperberry and Bravissimo to create a ‘one size does not fit all’ size range, with the ‘Fit’, ‘Foxy’ and ‘Fab’ options, based on your bust size. Any gal on the larger end of the big boob spectrum who has attempted to shop on the high street will see the benefit of this. I’ve not tried the clothing range myself, however, there are reviews out there, such as this one by Undercover Lingerista and this one from A Rosie Outlook.

All garments are, as the brand name suggests, all made in Preston, a city in the North of England.

With so many brands these days outsourcing all manufacturing to China, and along with it the shocking decline of the UK-based lingerie trade, it’s a pretty cool thing to be getting involved in, particularly as it’s such a young brand. Whilst the clothing seems to be fairly popular amongst the bloggers that I’ve read, I can’t say that my experience with their lingerie line is entirely positive. The bra range is clearly trying to distance itself from the frumpier side of large cup lingerie, with a younger vibe and not a full cup bra to be seen, but for me the fit and cup shape just it’s up to scratch. I was sent the Polka Dot Balcony Bra to try for size, a lightly padded balcony bra with a striking, contrasting monochrome colour scheme.

The cups sit quite wide, and the cups are quite shallow, even on me – someone with slightly wider-set boobs. I felt like the construction resorted in a slight ‘east-west’ effect (perhaps partly due to the fact that the cups seemed quite wide apart from each other), and the uplift and support was practically non-existent. The wires are quite narrow, which may work better for those who get on with this kind of shape, but for me I found myself re-adjusting the sides of the bra as it kept moving around and digging into my armpit area. This isn’t because the cups were too small as well, as I’d ordered a 30G to accommodate as the 30FF (my usual size) ran extremely small in the cups.

The band feels true to size, and the satin fabric of the front of the band added a very pretty glamorous feel to the bra, however the shape of the cups is, from above, a very bizarre half-hexagonal shape which I have to admit I’ve never seen the likes of before. It’s such a shame that I’ve not gotten on well with this set from Made in Preston, as I still feel like the full cup lingerie market is missing a young, sexy yet sophisticated brand which make bras which shy away from the ‘cute’ and ‘fun’ styles of the likes of Cuvy Kate and Cleo. I had hoped that Made in Preston would fill that gap for me, but instead I’ve found myself thoroughly underwhelmed and disappointed. Made in Preston have recently launched their latest collection and have a 20% off discount code ‘TAKEOFF20′ for those who want to try them out!