Maternity clothes rant

[NewMummy5July2011]

Just a rant - it irritates me SO much that even the biggest shops have a teeny tiny rail of maternity clothes - half of which they only seem to have in teeny tiny sizes. I'm especially irritated by Next - I've been into 5, yes 5 branches and NONE of them stock any maternity clothes.

When I ask the salespeople if they have them, they rudely tell me I can order them online. Yah, and then have to pay the delivery charge for them, and faff around with returns (and losing said delivery charge) if they don't fit.

In my hometown there are only 3 shops that even stock clothes - with the amount of pregnant women I see around you'd think there be more choice!

Sorry, rant over... pregnancy rage is seriously kicking in. :-)

BeautifulBlondePineapple I share your pain with the H&M trousers. Bought three pairs from there this week. Am normally size 12 but got size 14...waaaay too small.

Didn't try them on in the shop because I was feeling too tired. So now I have to make a special trip to take them back. So disappointed, thought I'd got some bargains there.

No other shops in my nearest town stock any maternity stuff. I used to live near a Mamas and Papas, so will probably have to make a special trip to go there for some decent stuff.

During last pregnancy I made a special shopping trip to Oxford Street in London and even there found very little in the way of maternity clothes. The M&S maternity section was tucked away in a corner - I think their stuff is online-only now? I live near a massive out-of-town M&S and nothing doing there. Surely they could just have a couple of rails?

I live in germany and ordered all my maternity stuff online from the uk.
I got things from m&s, debenhams, topshop and seraphine - plus I got 2 pairs of jeans in zara but actually ventured into a shop to buy these!!!

I'm having the baby this week so I will have some thing going spare in about a month if anyone is interested?

They are all around a 14-16 and include:-
2 pairs of seraphine jeans
2 pairs of zara jeans
1 other pair of jeans (can't remember the make but will post when I am ready to get rid of them)
Seraphine black fold over trousers
Topshop fold over black mini skirt
2 camel colour topshop thin jumpers
black maxi dress
navy t-shirt dress
M&S tops
seraphine tops
seraphine belt
......................
Can't remember the rest!

I couldn't believe John Lewis don't stock maternity clothes - their children and nursery department is vast in Cribbs Causeway Bristol, and they only stock concessions anyway - why not some JoJo, Seraphine, Isabella Oliver etc? A missed opportunity.

Next do free delivery into a store of your choosing. Can then try it on straight away and if it doesn't fit you return it to the till for it to be refunded back to your online account

Hi, just to add, use this code:
L7001
on the next website and it will give you free delivery. Has been working for ages and loads of people use it, I literally haven't paid for any delivery from Next for about 6+ months. If you ever need to look up promotional codes there is an area of talk under 'legal and money' which has any promotional codes that people have come across.
I order loads from Next, sometimes just one packet of pants for one of my girls, just because it means I don't have to go shopping!

Give it a go!

Boden do maternity clothes now too. New this season.

I have found finding maternity clothes a nightmare. there is no where in mansfield that does them apart from peacocks (last time i went in the range was vastly smaller than usual!). went to meadowhall last night expecting loads more range and there was nothing. topshop was disgraceful - it looked like they'd stepped back 20 yrs and it was all rammed on to a little rail in the corner. not set out nicely at all!
all i went is a nice skirt/ dress to wear out in derby tonight and icannot find a thing. apparantly pregnant women who liek to shop in shops rather than online dont have social lives and just want to wear jeans and tshirts all the time ( i do usually lol but theres always that one occasion!!)

rant over......until i try matalan and peacocks today and still find nothing!

Ebay!

Also, some ASDA stores have started doing maternity stuff, our local ASDA Living have actually got quite a bit in. Shame they started doing it just after DD was born

i live in a small town with not one single shop selling any maternity wear :-( so am stuck with internet shopping-and cant find the jeans i want, apart from one pair that r much more £££ than i want 2 spend

Had a look today and the selection was dire. I live in Exeter, which is not that small, but all the stores had tiny crap Maternity sections. Work clothes were limited to black trousers and all the tops looked naff or had stripes. Nothing looked smart, just frumpy and unstylish. Am depressed...

Finally got some H&M maternity jeans that fit me today....had to get size 16 (am normally size 12).

But they are waaaay too long, so now I have to get them altered.

FFS!

Have to second (or third) the ebay recommendations. I bought several size 10-12 maternity bundles and a few odd dresses and jeans from there and have been really pleased. Seen me through the whole of my pregnancy for about £50, and can sell them on again afterwards.

It seems silly to invest a lot of time and money buying this stuff... the only bits I have bought new are Bras and knickers.

My problem is that alot of maternity clothes don't fit my bump. I carry low down and everything slides down my bump eventually. I have resorted to wearing normal leggings that stop under the bump with long maternity tops which hide the "brickies bum" that I would show otherwise! I can't stand the feel of anything that has a waistband across the bump, it feels like im getting squeezed.

Froggy have you tried the jojo maman bebe in Exeter on Gandy St? Their stuff is pretty good and I think they will order things for you if the shop doesn't have what you want.

Dorothy Perkins, Next, ASDA and M&S all do free delivery to the store. Order online, go and collect, try on, return what you don't want and get a refund/reorder in a different size.

Hi all,

I have been having the same issue and have found that the best thing I have done is just buying regular clothes in the next size up to accmodate my ever expending bump. I am loving winter jumper dresses and leggins at the moment, warm, office friendly.

YM1 xxx

I've just bought two pairs of trousers from Topshop. I love elasticated waists! Why did no one tell me about them before I was pregnant?! I will never go back to normal trousers.

Do NOT get me started. When the twins finally come out and maybe at some point in oo 2020 when I have time/energy...there should be a high street maternity shop. Why on earth not? I will open it and you're all invited.

In the meantime, trawl the catalogues/online posh stores - JoJo, Seraphine, Isabella Oliver - find the things you like, then set up eBay alerts for when they come up. I just got the same grey jeans January Jones wore for a fiver Well, not the exact same ones she wore, as I doubt she uses eBay much, but you know what I mean...

I usually don't mind shopping online for some clothes when I know the size will fit, since I have learnt my size over the years!! But with maternity, its not something you know for long, so its noce to try stuff on, which means i dont want to buy online and have the hassle of returns. And I dont want to join the next catalogue as I dont want to then start paying for it when i rarely buy out of it the rest of the year.
I have been to 2 large debenhams stores which have had hardly any maternity. Two dorothy perkins, one had nothing, the other had 1 par of size 16 shiny black trousers and a few t shirts, which when you are looking for maternity wear, loose fitting t shirts arent generally the thing you look for, as something like that can just be bought in regualr clothese just larger. New look was the only place i found decent work trousers that I could actually try on two sizes and check which fitted. i bought a pair of jeans online from dorothy perkins and they are just totally elasticated they are sagging already, it really bugs me they can jsut be ordinary denim, but i like the colour

A friend of mine works in a shopping centre in Derry and even she said the town could do with some decent maternity wear shops as loads of people ask her do they stock maternity wear. I know its a smaller market than general ladies wear, but really, there are a lot pf pregnannt women out there that would like to try the clothes on first in a shop! Especially trousers and jeans!!!

My sister was pregnant about a year ago and she gave me some Maternity clothes she had from Crave Maternity, the quality is quite good, everything looks like new and I liked the designs, also the few things I've wore are comfortable, try at www.cravematernity.co.uk/