The capsule drawer

Two everyday bras

The same style, in the size that actually fits, in a colour close to skin tone. These do most of the work and should be the most comfortable things owned. Replace them when they fail the tests on when to retire a bra.

One moulded bra

A t-shirt bra for fine knits and anything where a seam would show.

One soft bra

A wire free bralette with a proper wide band, for long days, travel, tender weeks and evenings at home.

One sports bra

Fitted for the actual activity. Low impact and high impact are different garments and one will not do both.

One strapless or convertible

For the necklines that need it. Fit it properly or it will not be worn: see strapless.

One piece kept for a specific outfit

A plunge, a low back, a particular colour. One is enough, and it should be a piece that has been worn at least once.

One in reserve

An unworn or lightly worn version of the everyday bra, so a failure does not create an emergency.

That is eight, and it covers a year for most people. Anyone whose life includes a genuinely different second context, a uniform, a sport, a job with a dress code, adds for that context specifically rather than adding generally.

Enough that a delayed laundry day never forces wearing something uncomfortable. For most people that means between ten and fourteen: a week's worth plus a margin. Within that, a working split is roughly half everyday cotton or modal briefs, a few seamless or bonded edge pieces for fitted clothing, and one or two pieces for a specific purpose.

• Everyday briefs in cotton or modal, in a shape that does not roll. See shapes.
• Seamless or bonded edge briefs for anything fitted.
• One or two shorts, which solve thigh chafing outright.
• Sleepwear briefs, if that is a habit, in loose cotton.
• Nothing kept purely because it was once liked and no longer fits.

The reserve piece is the one that makes the system work. Without it, one failure turns into a week of compromise.

1. Take everything out of the drawer. All of it, onto a flat surface.
2. Run the four tests from when to retire a bra on every bra. Anything that fails the band test goes.
3. Try on everything that passed. Anything that produces a symptom from signs of a bad fit is either the wrong size or worn out.
4. Sort what is left into the eight categories above. Note which categories are empty.
5. Discard briefs with slack elastic, a worn gusset or a rolled waistband. These are usually the majority.
6. Put the survivors back in a single layer with dividers, cup inside cup, nothing stacked under weight.

Re measure once a year, and again after any noticeable change. Rotate rather than reaching for the same piece daily. Wash by the routine in the care section. Replace one piece at a time as it fails, rather than replacing everything at once, which spreads the effort and means the drawer is never entirely new and never entirely worn out.

One habit worth adopting: when a piece is replaced, note what actually failed. If the band always goes first, the band size may be too small or the wash routine too hot. If straps always go first, they are probably carrying load the band should be carrying, which points at a fit problem rather than a laundry one.