One horrified woman criticises the sale of ‘padded bras’ for girls as young as 7

Mums of daughters will know that the pre-teen years are tough to navigate - not least when it comes to clothing.

However, a difficult job is made more so when some brands target young girls with altogether grown-up clothing. Indeed, one woman has now called out Primark for seemingly selling padded bras aimed at tweens. She said she was "horrified" and shared an image of the underwear on Twitter. https://twitter.com/MissTylerB/status/888134823432343554 However, Primark - which of course trades as the ever-popular Penneys in Ireland - is adamant that the bras in question are not padded.

"We would like to be absolutely clear that these bras are moulded, not padded," it said in a statement to Cosmopolitan.com.

"My first bra ranges are designed and constructed purely for support, comfort, and modesty and adhere to the BRC’s childrenswear guidelines. There is no enhancement."

https://twitter.com/QuaysideW/status/796365509554032640 Last year, Primark also came in for criticism when another woman shared an image of its pre-teen bra range on Twitter. A US study in 2013 stated that girls are hitting puberty earlier than before. Published in the journal, Pediatrics, it found that girls on average began developing breasts at a median age of 9.7 years - around four months earlier than a separate 1997 study had found.