Kiwis’ bra secrets revealed

Most Kiwi women own about 12 bras but they only wear five of them regularly — and a quarter are never taken out of the undie drawer at all.

This was just one of many brawearing habits revealed in a recent survey of more than 4000 women around the country.

Rose and Thorne lingerie’s second annual “bra census” also discovered 8 per cent of Kiwi women wore their bra for a week or longer before popping it in the wash.

Most people will wear a bra four times before washing it.

Rose and Throne director Debra Hall said women said they delayed washing because of the perception it would wear their bra out.

“One of the interesting things our bra guru said is that actually all of the body lotions and deodorants we use attack the lycra in the bra and it collapses faster than if you wash it more regularly.”

Hall said the company ran the census again after overwhelmingly positive responses from customers after the first survey ran last year.

“I’ve got a market research background so I’m very aware of the wonderful things you can find out if you just ask people,” she said.

The number of bras owned and regularly worn remained the same over 2015 and 2016, she said.

“The other thing that was the same was the most common favourite bra — black and lacy.”

The rise of the active wear trend was also reflected, with about a quarter of women saying they would wear a sports bra other than for exercise.

Women mainly said they valued comfort and support in a bra.