Seeking Maternity Clothes Advice
March 5, 2022 4:17 PM Subscribe
Asking for a friend. Her needs are this:
1) must be online (and does not want to support Amazon)
2) ideally with free returns (since she finds it really hard to figure out her size)
3) she is not in the corporate world or anything, so it does not be super formal but should still look professional. I guess what you'd call "business casual"
4) she wears pants, skirts, dresses, blouses - so is pretty open to different types of clothing.
5) would rather not spend a lot, so nothing too expensive.
Thanks!
Old Navy or Gap (which can be pricey sometimes but also has good sales) both have maternity stuff and ordering/returns are super easy.
posted by lovableiago at 4:25 PM on March 5, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by lovableiago at 4:25 PM on March 5, 2022 [4 favorites]
Macy's has the best search engine, a huge variety, and free shipping and returns over $100. Prices range, but on sale their stuff is super reasonable. You just buy a few things and then return what you don't like, super easy.
posted by fingersandtoes at 4:34 PM on March 5, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by fingersandtoes at 4:34 PM on March 5, 2022 [2 favorites]
In addition to Gap and Old Navy, H&M Maternity.
posted by sizeable beetle at 4:40 PM on March 5, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by sizeable beetle at 4:40 PM on March 5, 2022 [2 favorites]
Check secondhand like Facebook Marketplace. People often sell their maternity clothes in big lots and usually things are in very good condition.
For affordable maternity clothes, H&M has the best jeans and Old Navy has the best t-shirts. For office wear there’s Gap but it’s super pricey for some reason.
I had ok luck buying things online from the “mall maternity” shop - in Canada it’s either Motherhood or Thyme. Shop ahead because maternity stuff tends to be really overpriced, so it’s best to get sales.
Also tell her to join a local mom group on FB and ask if anyone’s selling. I have a huge bag of hundreds of dollars worth of almost-new maternity stuff that I’m too lazy to list, and it would be my dream to sell it all for $80 to a neighbour. I’m sure there are moms in every city in the same boat.
posted by nouvelle-personne at 4:54 PM on March 5, 2022 [3 favorites]
For affordable maternity clothes, H&M has the best jeans and Old Navy has the best t-shirts. For office wear there’s Gap but it’s super pricey for some reason.
I had ok luck buying things online from the “mall maternity” shop - in Canada it’s either Motherhood or Thyme. Shop ahead because maternity stuff tends to be really overpriced, so it’s best to get sales.
Also tell her to join a local mom group on FB and ask if anyone’s selling. I have a huge bag of hundreds of dollars worth of almost-new maternity stuff that I’m too lazy to list, and it would be my dream to sell it all for $80 to a neighbour. I’m sure there are moms in every city in the same boat.
posted by nouvelle-personne at 4:54 PM on March 5, 2022 [3 favorites]
Target does a really good job with their online ordering and free returns. Often, once your return package has been scanned you get the refund -- long before the package arrives back at Target. The only trick is that if Target, in its logistics wisdom, separates your order into multiple packages, that's exactly how you have to return it -- you can't combine all the items into one bag, say.
Old Navy -- easy ordering, and in theory easy + free returns...but in practice I have found that it takes them an extremely long time to process the return and get your money back to you, so I'm now only ordering from them if/when I know I'll be able to take the returns to a local store. If that's feasible for you, it's quite easy and it's okay to return online-only stuff (like maternity) to the store even if the store doesn't usually stock the items.
posted by BlahLaLa at 5:33 PM on March 5, 2022 [2 favorites]
Old Navy -- easy ordering, and in theory easy + free returns...but in practice I have found that it takes them an extremely long time to process the return and get your money back to you, so I'm now only ordering from them if/when I know I'll be able to take the returns to a local store. If that's feasible for you, it's quite easy and it's okay to return online-only stuff (like maternity) to the store even if the store doesn't usually stock the items.
posted by BlahLaLa at 5:33 PM on March 5, 2022 [2 favorites]
Huge plus for secondhand through local moms groups especially if she's in a dense-ish urban area. Because of the limited useful duration for maternity clothes (and lots of other baby related stuff) it's really common to see offers of nice things in fairly good shape for quite cheap.
Otherwise, yeah, exactly as everyone else says, the big retailers are a good bet. I liked Target especially, and Motherhood Maternity if they had sale pieces. Reduce the quantity of maternity specific stuff you need by wearing normal cardigans/flannels/etc open over maternity tees, and using a hair elastic to get a few extra inches in regular jean waistbands plus a Bella Band over it (until sometime in second trimester).
posted by february at 12:35 AM on March 6, 2022 [2 favorites]
Otherwise, yeah, exactly as everyone else says, the big retailers are a good bet. I liked Target especially, and Motherhood Maternity if they had sale pieces. Reduce the quantity of maternity specific stuff you need by wearing normal cardigans/flannels/etc open over maternity tees, and using a hair elastic to get a few extra inches in regular jean waistbands plus a Bella Band over it (until sometime in second trimester).
posted by february at 12:35 AM on March 6, 2022 [2 favorites]
ThredUp. It's an excellent online consignment/thrift shop where I get 80% of my clothes from. They have plenty of maternity clothes but actually I'd recommend looking outside of maternity-specific clothes as much as possible.
Most pregnant people can get through pregnancy with just regular extra-flowy dresses, soft-waisted skirts, relaxed-front tops, etc. She can buy roomy clothes in her own size if most of the weight gain is in her belly, or else buy roomy clothes a few sizes up if the weight gain is all over/elsewhere.
The real need for a bigger clothing budget will be postpartum if/when she is breastfeeding: nursing bras and nursing tops make breastfeeding so much better.
I'd say the most important pregnancy-specific apparel purchase is a support band to go under her belly - again preferably one made of soft material, nothing scratchy or hot.
IDK about your friend but I hated both my pairs of maternity pants - one pair of jeans and one pair of nice quality leggings - with every fiber of my being. 90% of the time the pants felt as uncomfortable as wearing tight jeans and an underwire bra to bed all night. The only upside to maternity pants was that when they sat "correctly" they supported my belly from underneath and somehow managed to distribute the belly weight to my back. This made it much easier to sit down and stand up. But your friend can get the same benefit from a support band under the vastly more comfortable dresses and skirts. So unless she's going to be heavily pregnant during cold weather, say no to pregnancy pants!
posted by MiraK at 5:45 PM on March 6, 2022
Most pregnant people can get through pregnancy with just regular extra-flowy dresses, soft-waisted skirts, relaxed-front tops, etc. She can buy roomy clothes in her own size if most of the weight gain is in her belly, or else buy roomy clothes a few sizes up if the weight gain is all over/elsewhere.
The real need for a bigger clothing budget will be postpartum if/when she is breastfeeding: nursing bras and nursing tops make breastfeeding so much better.
I'd say the most important pregnancy-specific apparel purchase is a support band to go under her belly - again preferably one made of soft material, nothing scratchy or hot.
IDK about your friend but I hated both my pairs of maternity pants - one pair of jeans and one pair of nice quality leggings - with every fiber of my being. 90% of the time the pants felt as uncomfortable as wearing tight jeans and an underwire bra to bed all night. The only upside to maternity pants was that when they sat "correctly" they supported my belly from underneath and somehow managed to distribute the belly weight to my back. This made it much easier to sit down and stand up. But your friend can get the same benefit from a support band under the vastly more comfortable dresses and skirts. So unless she's going to be heavily pregnant during cold weather, say no to pregnancy pants!
posted by MiraK at 5:45 PM on March 6, 2022
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posted by coffeecat at 4:19 PM on March 5, 2022