Maternity-Wear: Fashion or Faux-Pas?
As the market expands in the maternity-wear industry, many still struggle to find comfortable, sustainable options that accommodate both pregnancy and postpartum changes. By Manaswini Pillai
Nausea and vomiting marked the entirety of Bansri Vyas’ first trimester of pregnancy. In those first months, she lost weight instead of gaining it. As an early-career doctor juggling a residency, Vyas tried to plan ahead and have professional maternity clothing ready to go. But the unexpected way her pregnancy unfolded proved challenging.
“I thought that I’m going to gain weight and I’m going to order clothes according to my size and everything, which I did,” she said. “And I couldn’t fit into them because the first three months I actually lost weight instead of gaining it.”
Marie-Eve Faust, who holds a doctorate in 3D Body Scanner Anthropometry, researched and interviewed pregnant women about their bodily changes. Her research backed up Vyas’ experience with scientific inquiry. “I was able to understand more pregnant women in the first trimester. For example, they do feel pregnant,” she said. “But their body did not necessarily change.”
Artwork by illustration major and animation and visual effects minor, Mohamed Keita.
Despite this, the maternity and personal care market, which was valued at $58.1 billion in 2021, is estimated to reach $106.5 billion by 2031. According to a report by Allied Market Research, it is growing at a CAGR of 6.5% from 2022 to 2031.
Kirsten Schoonmaker, assistant teaching professor of Fashion Design at Syracuse University, who also had a baby last year, researches textile history and its connection to society. Even for her, navigating the maternity wear market proved daunting.
“It’s really interesting to think about how this is an artificial marketplace that’s been carefully cultivated and developed,” she said. “I think I’m reacting this way in part because I was inundated with all of this marketing. I’m not sure how it permeates lives but the algorithms are suddenly feeding you all of this.”
Artwork by illustration major and animation and visual effects minor, Mohamed Keita.
Vyas, who is also pregnant for the first-time, echoed Schoonmaker’s confusion. “Even the maternity websites say that you don’t have to increase your size. So if I’m medium, I would order medium,” she said. “But that’s not how it works. If you’re medium, you have to order large. I don’t know why they say order a pre-pregnancy size.”
Vyas’ search eventually led her to brands like Seraphine and Target, with Schoonmaker also recommending the former, for clothes that accommodated both comfort and style. But finding options that provided the right support and fabric quality – particularly with sensitive skin in mind – was quite the journey for Vyas. She described her disappointment when a much-anticipated Lululemon purchase turned out to be uncomfortable. “It is good for back support and oh my god that thing is comfy, but it’s recycled polyester,” she said. “It is so warm and bad for your skin. So even in pregnancy, if I’m wearing it, I don’t feel as good.”
Dr. Sheryl Ross, an Ob/Gyn, author, and women’s health expert, talked about adjusting to the heightened sensitivities that pregnancy and postpartum life can bring, as well as what it demanded from the maternity-wear industry. “Pregnant women are more sensitive to skin changes,” she said. “And things you wouldn’t even think about - like seams - seamless clothing is going to be more preferred for comfort on the skin.”
Artwork by illustration major and animation and visual effects minor, Mohamed Keita.
Brands like the French-born Seraphine, the Swedish company Boob Design, and American labels like Hatch, Skims, and Lorna Jane have responded by offering adjustable waistbands, stretchy fabrics, and moisture-wicking underwear, alongside nursing-friendly options, recognizing that postpartum requirements often differ from pregnancy needs.
Vyas said she avoided recycled polyester, as she felt it is not good for baby skin. Instead, wool, muslin, and cotton were her top choices for maternity- and postpartum-wear clothing, while Dr. Sherry advised sticking with materials like nylons and mesh bamboo that prevent moisture buildup.
Schoonmaker also credited Spandex and elastane in contributing to the rise of athleisure as a maternity-wardrobe staple, and their “level of stretch and ability to accommodate a growing pregnancy belly” that “makes a new space for maternity wear that celebrates that form.”
Faust, too, touched upon the change from oversized, loose garments used to hide pregnancies like Grace Kelly did when she was pregnant, to women preferring the more modern “leggings and tops that are really showing that they’re pregnant.” She characterized this change citing comedian Ali Wong’s Netflix special, where Wong wore “a very body conscious striped dress when she was very pregnant.” “Not only is she a female comic in a male-dominated industry, but she is celebrating and making the point of her act and much of her comedy about that bodily experience,” Faust said. “So making maternity very visible is, I think, a part of celebrating a major transition or a major change in a woman’s life.”
Despite these advancements, both Faust and Schoonmaker pointed out a fundamental gap in the maternity-wear market: sustainability. Faust recalled her own experiences with pregnancy, and how changes in the season affect the choice of purchase, with a pregnancy due in April requiring different kinds of clothing items than one due in November. “When you’re pregnant and you’re buying your pants, what do you do at the end of the day?” she said. “You give them away, unless you have another pregnancy the year after in the same period.”
Artwork by illustration major and animation and visual effects minor, Mohamed Keita.
Schoonmaker emphasized sustainability via keeping maternity-wear circulating in an underserved second-hand market. “They are valuable and made very well with really high quality material, but they are serving a very limited time,” she said. “So it’s not enough to put it out there and say, oh, sell it when you’re done. I think that these companies have a responsibility to provide that service and to see their product through to future users.”
Now a mother to a baby boy, Vyas advises finding clothing that functions as both maternity- and postpartum-wear to be sustainable, as it accommodates both the physical changes and practical demands of new motherhood. “The one thing that I started doing after I turned five months pregnant, is buying front open clothes,” she said. “So you need to think if you’re buying new clothes, you’re going to wear it for next one year or something, you have to be able to nurse the baby.”