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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To be incredibly irritated by the lack of maternity clothing on the high street...

56 replies

Bixxy · 01/12/2015 06:18

Yes, I know I can order things online. But I actually want to try on a pair of work trousers - of which, there are worryingly few - in a shop, without having to order and pay for multiple sizes to be delivered for me to send back.

I live in a fairly decent sized city and only four shops stock maternity wear. Not even Next. Or M&S. Only one of those (Mothercare) have smart work wear (one pair of trousers), none in my size obviously

It seems entirely ridiculous that when your body is changing so rapidly, that retailers have decided the ideal solution is to take everything online so you can't even try it on without paying for it then traipsing to the post office to return!

Swear it wasn't this bad four years ago when I last was pregnant.

AIBU (or possibly hormonal)?

OP posts:

Paintedhandprints · 01/12/2015 08:40

Oh, new look have a mat section, but of course the sizing is aimed at teens and the products don't last very long.

AnchorDownDeepBreath · 01/12/2015 08:43

It's not profitable. People want cheap maternity clothes as they won't fit for long, and most people will stay in "normal" clothes for as long as possible, so it's more profitable to have them online and not taking up store space. Baby clothes are slightly different because there is more demand, and people will buy as gifts.

It sucks, but that's why.

strawberrypenguin · 01/12/2015 08:43

It is really bad. I've been looking for work trousers, luckily I had a pair from last time that will do for a few more weeks but I remember they didn't fit by 20 weeks last time (only 13 at the moment so they'll last for a while.) I spent the second half of my pregnancy last time wearing over bump jeans from jojo - but my job is different now and I can't really get away with that. But if I can't find anything else I'm going to get a pair of black ones from jojo online because I know they fit and they'll have to do.
I'm sure shops would sell a lot more if we could actually go and try stuff on!

Archer26 · 01/12/2015 08:48

I got a lot of my stuff off eBay. Huge choice on there if you're willing to go second hand. I got some of my favourite maternity pieces from there, often for pennies.

noeffingidea · 01/12/2015 08:49

They probably don't stock it because many women don't bother with maternity wear any more. They're not going to use valuable floor space for something that only a very small minority are going to buy.
I agree with Peacocks, I noticed they had some maternity clothes in the shop. Can't say what they were like though because I'm one of those people who just wore leggings and big tops.

SiegeofEnnis · 01/12/2015 08:56

I don't think it's true that women 'no longer bother' with maternity clothes, they find it too difficult to buy them, other than online, with a rapidly changing body and an understandable reluctance to return sizes until they get one that fits, so they stop bothering and make do with bigger sizes, men's shirts and jumpers, stretchy yoga trousers etc etc. If high street shops stocked more maternity clothes, more women would buy them.

I was pregnant in London in 2011/12 and as someone else said, it was pretty slim pickings. I was completely taken aback - it's not as if pregnancy is an offbeat niche phenomenon, like Steampunk or dressing like a Japanese Lolita!

You would go into a huge branch of a high street women's clothes shop on Oxford St and someone on the staff would look at you as if you'd asked for the power tools section, would consult a supervisor, and tell you they only did maternity clothes in Distant Branch X. As if you should have known that, duh.

Half the time I felt as if I was joining some strange minority cult.

noeffingidea · 01/12/2015 09:20

seige I don't know anyone who wears maternity clothes (or wants to). My last pregnancy was 15 years ago and I just wore my normal clothes. So does everyone else I know. I certainly never bought maternity tights or underwear.
The only market I can see for maternity clothes is for women who have to dress professionally for work,or for the odd special occassion.

Touchacat · 01/12/2015 09:25

Totally agree. My nearest New Look had maternity wear - and what a load of over-priced shite it was. I think I liked H&M the best, partly because you could browse their normal racks for oversized stuff.

DannyFishcharge · 01/12/2015 09:30

YANBU x 1000!

Original poster

Bixxy · 01/12/2015 09:30

I think it depends on your size noeffingidea

I have friends who were size 16/18 when they got pregnant and carried on wearing normal clothes for quite a while, then just upped a size.

I'm normally a size 6-8. When pregnant I get a decent size bump and humongous boobs but the rest of me stays the same. There's no way I could wear normal clothes, they wouldn't stretch over my bump and boobs and would look odd. A next couple of sizes up and I'd look like I was wearing a sack!

Archer26 yep, I'm with you there. Been raiding maternity bundles from mum's groups on Facebook to find a few gems. No trousers as of yet though...

OP posts:

RonaldMcDonald · 01/12/2015 09:41

I used these guys

PassiveAgressiveQueen · 01/12/2015 09:42

our local shop has shut

Kittymum03 · 01/12/2015 09:44

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

outputgap · 01/12/2015 09:54

Yeah, Bixxy. I'm a tall size 10 and basically look like a snake that has swallowed a slightly asymmetric football. I look like a child who is dressing up in her mum's clothes if I buy clothes in a size up. I need stuff that fits on the arm and the leg.

I've got some very voluminous stuff from Cos this time, but I'm only 5 months. I don't want to do another maternity shop right at the end if I burst out of all that. It feels like such a waste if I only get a month or two out of something!

LovelyFriend · 01/12/2015 09:56

It is frustrating but also perfectly understandable when you consider how many customers a shop might have looking for maternity wear.

Use a credit card. Order from a place with free delivery and returns, or collect in shop. Order multiple sizes and return swiftly. That way it won't cost you anything and you get to try the items on at home at your leisure.

Original poster

Bixxy · 01/12/2015 09:56

Lovely stuff RonaldMcDonald but way too expensive for my modest wallet!

OP posts:

SexDrugsAndSausageRoll · 01/12/2015 10:02

Matalan proved surprisingly good, though their maternity leggings and normal dresses/ tunics got me to 36 weeks at work. Try non mat wear, especially empire line, I had a wonderful smart monsoon dress. I only tried mat wear for my first, I do agree avoid trousers. Though if you do eBay, I had normal Strechy boot cut black ones, good with a jacket. Next did some too

Dandelionandburdock1 · 01/12/2015 10:06

Not read the whole thread so this may have been mentioned but have you tried Gap maternity? It's in the Gap Kids store in our town and I got some things that I still wear now..

SexDrugsAndSausageRoll · 01/12/2015 10:07

Some monsoon dresses have a pleat at the waist that expands uk.monsoon.co.uk/view/product/uk_catalog/mon_11,mon_11.1/8458860814

I'm also a tall size 10

wornoutboots · 01/12/2015 10:23

Peacocks do maternity but their stuf fis always small for it's label size

Callmecordelia · 01/12/2015 10:25

When I looked into getting some Gap maternity stuff, the website said it was now only stocked online.

mrsleomcgary · 01/12/2015 10:35

the only place within 50miles of me that sells maternity wear is mothercare. Unfortunatly i've commited the sin of being pregnant AND plus size, i'm an 18-20 usually and everything in mothercare stops at 18. Next maternity is usually a good fit but when I tried to order work trouysers they were going to take 20weeks to come into stock. I was 20 weeks pregnant at the time.

SiegeofEnnis · 01/12/2015 10:39

But surely noeffingidea many women need to dress a certain way for work? I certainly had to look smart and professional all through pregnancy, including my third trimester (the last thing I did before I went on maternity leave was to give a conference keynote where it just wasn't possible to rock up in yoga trousers and DH's shirt) and I was happy to spend money on doing so, even though I knew this would be my only pregnancy - but couldn't find many places to take it! And absolutely I had to buy maternity tights and bras by the end of the second trimester or so.

I think all the maternity clothes I bought, in fact - and I didn't buy many - were comparatively expensive, good-quality garments, both because they needed to look professional, but also because I was going to be circulating all garments every few days for work, so they had to last with frequent washes and a lot of wear. If I'd gone on to have another child, they would have done perfectly well again. I did try on non-maternity clothes a couple of sizes up, but the fit was all wrong. (For slobbing around non-work clothes, I lived in non-maternity yoga trousers and old jumpers, and did actually manage to wear one pair of non-maternity jeans under my bump for more or less the entire pregnancy.)

I'm not suggesting it would be good business sense for all high street women's clothes shops to devote massive amounts of space to maternity clothes, but in my experience and that of my friends - all in jobs where we had to dress well in pregnancy - there are women with money who want to buy good-quality maternity clothes that can be tried on in an actual shop. It's hardly that niche.

tuilamum · 01/12/2015 10:45

Yup I hated this, I couldn't find anywhere in my city that did them at all. Luckily I had a small bump so just wore long tops so you couldn't seen how low my jeans sat! I also bought a maxi dress from Primark but I totally get the wanting trousers that fit!

noeffingidea · 01/12/2015 10:49

seige I did agree there was a market for professional maternity wear.
Even that is probably lessening though, as dress codes seem to be getting more relaxed in a lot of companies.
I think it's a matter of fashion as much as anything. At one time women felt a need to hide the bump and maternity clothes were designed to do that. Nowadays it's fine to wear stretchy pants and jumpers or t-shirts because no one cares if their bump is on show.

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