Why don't M&S sell maternity clothing?

[Ladybird888]

I'll preface this with, I know they do sell maternity bras and leggings, but I mean clothing that pregnant women want to wear.

Just a general question really, why do M&S not make maternity clothing? They are generally good (in my experience) for various leg-lengths and a wide size range, so why no maternity?

As a woman in my early 30s, finding maternity clothing that I actually want to wear is almost impossible, I want 'normal' clothes just adapted to my new shape, I want to feel and look good without having to wear leggings and jersey tops as my only option (nothing wrong with that! Just not my personal taste). The general feeling among my 'mum' friends is that maternity clothes are awful, but sometimes you can't just get away with sizing up in your normal trousers!

M&S is somewhere that I go to often (more recently, their clothing has improved or maybe I'm getting older!) and I buy their jeans, basics, etc. I suppose there must be a reason they don't make maternity clothing, but why would this be?! Surely there's a market of pregnant women in their customer base?

Sorry for the links, it seems to be automatic, not added by me!

Isn't their target customer base a bit older and not likely to be pregnant? I'm mid 40s and still not ready to shop in there. My mum who is nearly 70 does.

I don't know about this but both times I was pregnant I found the limited range and quality of maternity clothes frustrating. I'm not sure if you want recommendations but I'll give them anyway!

1. Lovall maternity leggings. Lovely. They do flares and cropped as well
2. Seraphine for smart things/work. Had trousers, a skirt, several dresses from there, also a baby wearing coat. Loads of it on vinted. Also Think they do the best nursing bras.
3. Buying bigger clothes which are not maternity! I bought some oversized things the second time as I found casual maternity clothes so crap. E.g. an aligne Gabriella dress . There are loads of these on vinted. Oversized aesthetic which is in at the moment plus a pair of maternity leggings/flares whatever.
4. Lindex for pants, tights.
5. Beyond nine. Really expensive but again, some of it on vinted. Works for the whole of pregnancy and breastfeeding.

Basically you have to abandon the places you normally buy your clothes. Hardly anywhere does maternity stuff and nearly all the high street maternity is crap, awful quality and really frumpy or ridiculous (looking at you'd ASOS, don't need pleather maternity skirt).

The sad truth is that maternity clothes don’t sell well. It’s a hard market. Most of the market (pregnant women) makes do and buys only a few essential bits (leggings, jeans etc) and is otherwise cost conscious.

If it sold better, they’d stock it in store.

It's not cost effective for them.

There are businesses that specialise in maternity clothing (someone has already given ideas ) and also there's good second hand sales as its only really worn for a few months.

I'm late forties and love M&S. They nail fashion for me at the age I am now. When I was mid 30s and pregnant, I was happy buying maternity clothes from H&M. In fact 90% of my stuff came from there. Different age they're marketing to.

They did sell maternity clothes about 22/23 years ago, as I was pregnant, amd they did a kind of maternity capsule wardrobe. I imagine it wasn’t profitable enough to pursue as they didn’t do it for very long

I didn't wear leggings or jersey tops once throughout my pregnancies i know what you mean about wanting to still feel like you. It was ten years ago and I found asos to be great with loads of choice. I mixed in a few larger sized tops and dresses with a couple of maternity jumpers, a pair of maternity work trousers and a few pairs of maternity jeans.

Last time I was in h&m they had quite a large maternity section, might be worth checking in there.

They did once back in the day, but the offerings were so boring. I suppose most entity clothing now is Lycra based and very fast fashion because people wear it so rarely. Probably not a very big profit margin in it.

Not cheap, but possibly some of the best maternity wear out there https://isabellaoliver.com/

They also have a bit on their website for renting maternity wear, for buying "pre-loved" and an outlet store.

I was disappointed by this too, pregnant in my late twenties & early thirties!

What are you struggling to find? I feel like across all the high street brands there is a pretty wide selection of maternity clothes available. The reality is women only use maternity clothes 6 months at best during the later part of their pregnancy, it’s not a large market.

Oh wow, @Jeezitneverends - I had that set! It was a black set of five(?) pieces. A jacket, sleeveless top, long sleeve top, trousers and a kind skirt I think. All sold together as a set. Useful for work as I remember.

But most of my maternity clothing was stuff that was in rotation around our group of friends as we all had babies in succession and then the first ones had second babies etc!

No. They are definitely aiming for a younger demographic these days, and doing a decent job IMO.

But I feel your pain OP. I spent so long trying to find nice maternity wear I’d given birth by the time I’d procured a few simple pieces I really liked. And I guess that’s the answer, the market isn’t there (odd as that may sound). Say they make 500 pairs of wide leg trousers and in regular size and they are an average selling item, the same trousers designed as maternity wear are only going to sell a fraction of the quantity before the new season trends come in.

That would be my guess. Shops only sell stuff that they make money from so it has to be down to that somehow. Annoying as it is.

I'm guessing it's a mix of just not being profitable and their target market being older.

I had some great maternity stuff from mothercare while they were closing down and second time around I had Seasalt but they've stopped selling that range. It must just not be profitable to provide maternity ranges.

The prices in places like seraphine are just ridiculous.

I second the suggestions made above. Next, H&M and Mamalicious also have some nice bits.

Because it’s mainly aimed at old dears, with a tentative foray into things younger folk might like.

I’d like to know this too. So few places stock maternity where and barely anywhere has them actually in a bricks- and- mortar shop. I don’t want to buy online.
I have found that the large H&M stores stock their ‘Mama’ range which is nice and quite varied for a maternity line.
To the person saying M&S was too old for pregnant women- don’t be ridiculous. You clearly haven't been in for some years.

I think you might be surprised at the age range who shop there. It isn't just for us oldies 😁

I found this hard for most shops. As I need the tall range too so it’s like gold dust. The only places I found were ASOS and Next….all online!

I was always frustrated that nowhere had maternity clothes in store so you could try them on. I understand why, but it was a real pain in the bump!

Their target market is the over 50s and children.

I didn't wear any maternity specific clothes, and I had twins.

Bump bands, empire line dresses, oversized shirts. All the maternity stuff was so frumpy.

I found New Look surprisingly good. Though I haven't been pregnant for 12 years, so I've no idea what it's like now.

Because there's so little profit to be made and the cut of some ordinary clothes is so generous around the belly that it's hard to tell the difference.

I didn't need specific maternity clothes until the last four weeks and I didn't want to waste money on things I wouldn't wear for long.

I had a pair of maternity jeans, one cotton top from JMB and a maternity top and a dress I made myself, plus a couple of ordinary cotton tops and an elastic waisted skirt from Matalan that went in the recycling as soon as DS arrived.

He was August born so I didn't need many clothes. I was too hot.