Last updated: August 24, 2026
Custom bra fitting at Lioness doesn't happen in a fitting room with someone circling you with a measuring tape. It happens after you place an order: you send us your numbers, a real person on our team checks them against the piece you chose, and you get a short window to correct anything before we cut the fabric. That sequence, not a walk-in appointment, is what "custom bra fitting" means here, and it shapes what to expect from ordering through what happens if something still isn't right once the piece arrives.
Key Takeaways
- Custom fitting runs through the Order Note field at checkout, not a live appointment.
- A person checks every order against the chosen style before it goes into production.
- You have 12 hours after ordering to correct measurements or details through Instagram DM.
- Band, strap length, and gore depth can be adjusted beyond a standard size chart. Cup construction has more limits.
- Self-measurement error is normal and expected, which is the actual reason the adjustment window exists.
What "custom bra fitting" means here
It means every bra is cut to the measurements you provide at checkout, not pulled from a pre-made size run sitting in a warehouse. There's no in-person appointment and no showroom to walk into. The fitting process happens through the order itself: the numbers you enter, a review by someone on our team, and a fixed window to fix mistakes before production starts. If you're picturing a department store bra-fitting service, this is a different shape of the same idea, done remotely and built around a made-to-order workflow instead of in-stock inventory. For why we build this way at all rather than stocking standard sizes, see why every Lioness piece is made to order.
What we actually ask for, and where it goes
At checkout, the "Order Note" field is where your measurements go: bust, underbust, waist, and hips, taken the same way we walk through in how to measure your bra size at home. That guide covers the technique itself, tape placement, tension, when to measure. This one covers what happens to those numbers once you've submitted them, which is a separate question most fitting content skips entirely.
Along with the four core measurements, it helps to note anything unusual about your shape or the fit you're after in that same field: a noticeably fuller or smaller side, a preference for a slightly looser band, a strap length issue from a previous piece. None of that is required, but a bra built from four numbers alone assumes a fairly average proportion between them, and a short note lets us build closer to your actual shape on the first attempt.
Who actually reviews it
A person on our small team checks every order against the measurements and the style before cutting starts. This isn't a size chart auto-matching your numbers to the nearest bucket. Someone reads what you wrote and checks it against the construction of the specific bra you ordered, for example the shorter, more angled wire on a piece from our Ariana collection versus a fuller-coverage cup elsewhere, and flags anything that looks off before it goes further. If a set of numbers looks internally inconsistent, a very small band paired with a very large cup, for instance, that's usually when we reach out first, rather than waiting for you to notice something is wrong after the piece ships.
The 12-hour window: what you can still change
You have 12 hours after placing an order to correct measurements or request adjustments through Instagram DM. That window exists because of how order timing works: production starts shortly after, and once cutting begins, a band or gore change means starting the piece over rather than adjusting it. Twelve hours is enough time to double-check a number you weren't sure about at checkout, but it isn't unlimited. If you realize three days later that you measured your underbust wrong, reach out anyway. We'd rather know late than not at all, but a same-day correction is the version of this process that works as designed.
What we can adjust beyond a standard size
Band length, strap length, and gore depth are the three adjustments we make most often outside a standard size chart, since they're a matter of moving where a seam or a hook sits rather than re-engineering the cup itself. A longer strap for a longer torso, a band taken in or let out by a centimeter or two, a gore sitting slightly lower for a specific neckline: these are realistic requests, worth mentioning in your order note if you know you need them.
Cup construction is a different matter. The underwire shape, the seaming, and the internal support structure of a given style are built into that style's pattern, and changing them isn't a small tweak, it's closer to designing a new piece. If a specific cup shape doesn't work for you, the more reliable fix is choosing a different collection built around a different wire and seam pattern, not asking us to rebuild one style into another. Our bra fitting guide covers how to tell whether a fit problem is a cup-construction issue or something a band or strap adjustment can solve.
When your numbers don't land on a standard size
Sister sizing, moving up a cup letter while dropping a band size, or the reverse, solves more in-between cases than people expect, and it's worth trying before assuming a custom adjustment is needed. If your band and cup measurements sit between two standard sizes, note both and mention the ambiguity. We'll usually recommend a direction based on the style's construction, since a longline piece and a soft-cup piece handle an in-between measurement differently.
Genuine asymmetry, one side measuring noticeably differently from the other, is common and not something a standard chart accounts for. Note it plainly rather than averaging the two numbers yourself. A bra built to an averaged number tends to fit neither side well, while one built with the difference in mind, even a small adjustment to one strap or one side of the band, usually fits better on both.
Why self-measurement error is normal, not a personal failing
A 1994 study in the journal Human Factors had 103 women measure 19 dimensions of their own bodies with a standard tape measure, then compared those numbers to lab-grade measurements. Self-measured figures were off by an average of 4.1 centimeters, with errors on individual dimensions running as high as 6.15 centimeters. Measuring yourself accurately is genuinely harder than it looks, for everyone, not just people who are "bad at this."
That's the actual reason a review step and a correction window exist. Nobody expects your first set of numbers to be perfect, and the process is built assuming it might not be, rather than treating a measurement error as something you should have caught yourself.
From confirmed measurements to finished piece
Once your measurements are confirmed, either because the 12-hour window closed without changes or because you responded to a note from our team, production takes three to seven working days, plus shipping. Nothing is cut before that point, which is also why a same-day correction matters more than one submitted a week later: a change requested before cutting starts costs nothing, while a change requested after usually means starting the piece over.
If the fit still isn't right when it arrives
Because every piece is made to order, we don't accept returns or exchanges the way a stocked retailer would. That's a real limitation worth stating plainly: if a finished piece doesn't fit, the fix has to happen through us directly. Reach out through Instagram DM with specifics, which measurement felt off, where the fit failed, and we'll work through whether it's a correctable adjustment or a case for reordering with revised numbers. This is exactly why getting the original measurements right, or flagging uncertainty in the order note first, matters more here than with a retailer where a wrong size just gets mailed back.
Custom fitting versus an in-store professional fitting
An in-person fitting has one real advantage ours doesn't: someone can see and touch the fit in real time and adjust on the spot. Ours offers a garment built to your exact numbers instead of the nearest size on a rack, plus a review step a standard retail fitting doesn't include, since a store visit ends the moment you leave with a boxed bra in whatever size was closest. Neither approach is strictly better. A store fitting is faster; ours takes longer and depends on accurate information from you, but starts from your actual measurements rather than the closest size on hand.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to book an appointment for a custom fitting?
No. You submit measurements through the Order Note field at checkout, and our team reviews them from there.
What if I don't know my exact measurements yet?
Take a few extra minutes with a tape measure before ordering. Our measuring guide walks through bust, underbust, waist, and hip step by step, and getting these right the first time beats correcting them later.
Can I request a completely different cup shape than what's shown?
Not usually. Cup construction is built into a style's pattern. Band, strap length, and gore depth can be adjusted, but a different cup shape generally means choosing a different collection built around that construction.
What happens if I miss the 12-hour adjustment window?
Reach out through Instagram DM anyway. We can't guarantee a change once production has started, but we'd rather hear from you late than not at all.
Does the fitting process work the same way for sets, not just bras?
Yes. The same Order Note and review process applies across bras, panties, and garter pieces, including smaller accessories like the leg garters in our Simplering collection.
About Lioness Studio
Lioness Studio is the in-house team behind every piece in the collection, the same people who cut, fit, and finish each order by hand. We wrote this guide the way we build a bra: from actual measurements, not an assumption about what most people need. Pieces from our Black Swan collection, our broader bras, and our full lingerie collection all go through this same process, whatever style you choose.
