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?

When I was pregnant (years ago) a friend gave me her maternity wear. Then when I had finished with it, I passed it on to another friend who was pregnant. Maternity clothes were (in the early 2000s) very expensive but at least Mothercare was around for jeans and comfy leggings.

Exactly this - especially now athleisure wear is so acceptable there’s a smaller market for traditional “maternity wear,” it’s frustrating for us as customers but it doesn’t sell well and isn’t profitable. Most big retailers have a few key bits eg leggings or denim, but mainly stock online not instore. I used to buy M&S stretchy jersey dresses a couple of sizes up when I was quite far on in my pregnancy & that worked fine.

H&M have an OK range of maternity and it’s usually stocked in the bigger stores.

Doesn't make them money. They're a business.

I really don't mean this cattily, but I'd be pleased if this is the first time you've found yourself underserved because of a physical difference - if you're an average build you might not realise how tricky it is to get clothes that fit if you're very fat/thin/short/tall/large or small bosomed/in a wheelchair/an unusual shape etc!

No help, but they used to. My kids are 12&14 now and their maternity range was actually brilliant back in the day. I’m guessing it wasn’t a huge seller.

Maternity clothes aren't needed by every pregnant woman so then factor how many pregnant women there are, then the limited time they're big enough to require them, I suppose it's a limited market.

First time around I just bought a couple of maternity jeans and floaty tops and made do, second time baby was very high up and back to back which meant high enough for my normal bottoms but also quite a small bump so again was able to make do.