Corset Jargon

Having been in love with corsets for nearly half my life and then having worked in the corset business for a few years now, I frequently find myself dropping words or phrases, which perhaps common to me, are not so to everybody.
So here is a quick little compilation of some of the most commonly used terms, phrases and abbreviations when it comes to corsets:
1. Seasoning your corset: The process of gradually increasing the tightness of your laces and the duration you wear your corset over the course of 7-10 days, in an effort to have the bones shape smoothly to your curves and avoid discomfort and bent or warped bones.
2. Waist training: The practice of wearing your corset for an extended period of time on a regular or daily and/or nightly basis. Some people only waist train from the time they get dressed in the morning to the time they return home from work, and others choose to wear their corset all day and night long, removing it only to shower/bathe or to exercise.
3. Tight lacing: The practice of reducing your waist through the use/wear of a corset. Though there is no set measure that denotes tight lacing due to different body types, how muscular or squishy a person's middle is, etc. it generally does involve a waist reduction of or greater than 6" to 7".
4. OTR or RTW: OTR stands for off the rack and RTW stands for ready to wear. Both suggest corsets that are made based on a standardized size model, rather than being tailor made to one person's specific measurements, or a custom made corset.
5. The corset diet: The practice of wearing a corset either throughout the day or specifically at meal times in an effort to reduce one's overall food intake based on the idea that the added tension around one's waist from a corset will help one to feel fuller faster and as such, reducing one's overall daily caloric intake.
6. Cincher: A corset that does not cover one's chest/bust or, an underbust corset.
7.Waist training corset: Either an over or underbust corset with 20-24 steel bones (i.e. double the average amount of steel bones found in your average steel boned corset), which allows the waist trainer to bear greater tension and as such, can reduce the wearer's waist by up to 6" to 7".
Any words I didn't cover that you are unsure about? Send your questions to sabrina@truecorset.com and I will be sure to add them to a future blog post.
Happy lacing!